It might surprise more than a few people that Shock-O-Rama director Richard Griffin, the individual behind such titles as Raving Maniacs and Splatter Disco, debuted with a modern day, corporate retelling of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. With that, it is not surprising that the Providence, Rhode Island native is currently in production with H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror. So what happens when you conjoin a filmmaker’s appreciation for both the Bard and the Father of Modern Horror with his love for Grindhouse and Troma cinema? A film which unrepentantly appreciates itself as well as its audience that houses no delusions as to its agenda or worth.
By combining the plots of Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead and Jack Arnold’s Creature from the Black Lagoon, Griffin produces Seepage! or, as the feature has been more aptly retitled, Creature from the Hillbilly Lagoon. Granted, the article “the” seems to imply that we need to highlight that said monster isn’t from a gaggle of other redneck ponds, but the Hillbilly Lagoon. (Yes, I get that it is keeping with the feature’s Golden Age forerunner but, with the title alone, does the demand for succinct reference exist any longer?) Amazingly, though Deliverance-esque locals populate the picture, they are juxtaposed by a group of biology students, thus counteracting the former’s Gump-level intelligence quotient. So what is left after toxic waste is dumped into a body of water and the titular antagonist follows as a result? Insanity atop one moment of inadvertent value.
As a shotgun-welding good ’ol boy guns down a paraplegic and biological mayhem and coitus accidentally collides, the bold lines “Daddy, you done smoked yourself a cripple” and “I fucked the Creature from the Black Lagoon” unapologetically ensue. However, in lieu of Griffin’s resume, for nary one second do we consider whether or not Griffin is another Ed Wood in the making for the director is well aware that the budget he has been given cannot, even with the greatest amount of creativity, fashion anything of value and, as such, he proceeds do the only thing left: have fun on someone else’s nickel. This is why we applaud instead of shaking our heads in embarrassed sympathy for the filmmaker when a trio of biohazard MPs appear, two in their requisite respirators and hazmat suits while the other, apparently the guy who resigned himself to the last spot in the parking garage because he hit the snooze button one too many times, dons prescription glasses and a dust mask.
So what is left after a collection of fish/human hybrids react accordingly when someone orders a fish sandwich in their midst, thus goading the question of whether Griffin is slyly inserting an Animal Rights motif or aiming far below the belt in a halfcocked attempt at irony? A very interesting pronouncement by a biologist who, being the Darwinist she is, forthrightly renounces anthropocentrism as she tries to realign the evolutionary balance with humans in their rightful place in the ecosphere. As such, the question is posed as to the ethical considerations of forcing evolution which, in turn, becomes a logistic möbius strip for, if we separate ourselves from animals, such permits us to pass moral judgment. As a consequence, it follows that, yes, we can and do have the right to do as we see fit (as a product of our, natch, evolutionary superiority). Conversely, if we do not draw said line of demarcation, thus pitting the human animal in the perpetual battle of survival of the fittest with all the other beasts of burden, our actions eschew ethical ramifications, thereby enabling us to do as we will (as a product of our, natch, evolutionary superiority). Hence, the Dawkins-cum-Gould visionary wins by argumentative default. So much for the otherwise ostracizing, blackball label of misanthrope, eh?
Even if one isn’t willing to trade an unintentional moment of thought provocation for a character named Bubba being fatally stabbed through the heart with an open can of beer as his diligent artery steadfastly ejaculates black humor blood from the opening, Richard Griffin is to be commended for somehow, someway, managing to issue something, anything, given his limited, all-but-non-existent resources. As such, should the filmmaker ever decide to solely produce again (he did with Titus Andronicus), I fear that he will make Quentin Tarantino’s 8-million-turned-20-million-dollar-looking effort, a.k.a. Pulp Fiction, look self-indulgent.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
