The dark corners of the old building. Lived in the north of these states of yours, Mark Borchardt is a simple informal who once decided not to work but to make movies. All would be nothing but Mark was able and talented, and the business of all life was not going to give up, because in the production of self-made films the dog ate. For his efforts, he was even rewarded with a whole mocumentary of the name “American movie”, look at it. But here Mark is not the director, but the main actor. And I must say that the film carries exactly the character inherent in the films of Broghart.
The thing is, Mark was born, he grew up, and he lives in Wisconsin, a sleepy state somewhere in the middle of nowhere. In fact, an industrial zone with a bunch of sleeping areas, and Victorian architecture, as well as a lot of bars and factories. That is why Mark’s vision is correspondingly gloomy, but not distant. Although the film is not the author’s project of Broghart, it clearly inherits Mark’s style. All this satanic panic, and shooting at 16mm.
Okay, now for the good. The movie has an atmosphere. There's tension, too. An empty house with a bunch of dilapidated apartments, the feeling that the ghosts of the tenants now appear, then disappear, not forgetting to obsessively ask how the day went, or when they will give gas. Heh-heh. At the same time, Duncan, the character of Mark's name, shoots everything perfectly, and manifestations of demonic aggression never soar. Such a long-haired informal with a pronounced infantilism. The film is lulling, because the first part of it is terribly monotonous, and then everything flows into a standard horror in the spirit of T. West on minimal films. That is, if initially you immerse yourself in these secrets of the old boarding house with ghosts, then closer to the end you find yourself in a dramatic film on a mystical theme. The positive fact is that the line between horror and author’s art house cinema here is very smooth. And Borchardt plays surprisingly well. All boo effects are achieved through naturalism. Not bed.
At first, I really enjoyed this semi-arthouse action, although the borrowings from Lynch and even Polanski are visible to the naked eye. Although knowing the amateur character, and sincere love of cinema, it is more of a tribute. There is no particular horror here, the film smoothly brings the viewer to mysticism and its vulgar manifestations.
And once again you notice Mark’s fascination with “district Satanism”, well, or cultism from the outback.
The black-white camera captures the chilling interiors of a strange house, freakish neighbors, and of course Duncan himself, a man too tired of feeling his own secret. Suspense turned out, and unspeakable arthouse too. One thing is clear - this film will be interesting only as an introductory experiment for those who are interested in the personality of Mark Borchardt.