Directed by Francis Xavier DeGennaro
What do you get when a dyslexic musician with a heart condition who can’t write and has no film experience sets out on a path of artistic direction that spirals from creativity to insanity? A dicey proposition at best – all of the above is from the autobiographical promo sheet, and with a byline of “What’s wrong with these people? Everything!!!” it’s tempting to twist the words a little bit: “What’s wrong with this film? Everything!!!” (The misspellings littering the chapter titles and credits do not bode well, as the picture promises to be “Staring” (sic) the mutilated names of cast and crew members.) As amateur independent efforts go however DeGennaro could have fared worse, and there are a few inspired fragments to be found within Torture Me No More, as we shall see.
Sal Santos (Jason Liebig), a Vandyke & gulagon-wearin’ New Yorker, is easily mistaken for another Vandyke & gulagon-wearin’ New Yorker, the one who happens to kill his half-witted brother Chancey during a dog-robbing home invasion. Nabbed on the scene Sal falls into the hands of a couple of fucked-up female detectives (Joanna Bonnaro as Detective Kellerman, Anna Kepe as Detective Fischer), but in a precinct house that very closely resembles somebody’s apartment/office complex the dicks’ power-tripping game-playing allows him escape.
Taking refuge with one of his brother’s mentally-challenged friends, Babe (Duncan Wright), Sal works on clearing his name and catching Chancey’s killer while the dicks work on tracking him down and the ever-more-psychotic killer works on what appears to be a furry little fuckdoll made out of dead pets. Furry-boy gets so keyed up that he begins killing women, and as he is repeatedly mistaken for Sal the manhunt for the innocent Santos intensifies.
In the developing plotline it turns out that Sal is a convicted computer hacker, and with the aid of the “Crack Cow” cyber-underground (cheap video editing meant to look like a crackerz online haven) he enters a secretive S&M underworld in the search for his brother’s killer. Eventually Sal is led to the film studio of egomaniacal slavemaster King Fachio, who even now is in the process of deconstructing a new victim. Several extended scenes of brutality later Sal has rescued the violated girl, Delila (Kristina Doran), and is making her breakfast.
Tender moments of bonding are almost ruined when Delila catches Sal torturing King Fachio in the basement, but when it’s explained that Fachio and the killer belong to the same deviant sex club Delila joins in the butchery with gusto. Before long Fachio coughs up the password (a catchphrase from The Usual Suspects), and to the strains of an awful soundtrack an awkward montage ensues of Sal and Delila frolicking while they hunt down, capture and brutalize the other sex offenders in Fachio’s circle.
Eventually the pair returns to the Internet and unearths the name of their target, Catslayer, just as the police captain’s tracking program zeroes in on Sal’s location. The cops miss him this time, but soon find their way into Fachio’s basement and watch some of his home movies – one of which has captured Sal’s entrance.
Meanwhile Sal and crew torture more information out of Fachio’s little club, information that leads them to Catslayer’s house just as he starts to work on another young victim, all as the police are closing in. Cue violent denouement and rocky wrap-up, then drag it out a little bit longer into what is supposed to be the fitting end that’s more than slightly overdue.
So there you go. Could have been worse, but as painfully amateur as it is it’s far from fucking great. Just for the record, I’m all for experimental independent filmmaking, but not every self-styled artist is born with a gift, and the majority of the time the semi-skilled result is an unpolishable turd with as much charisma and charm as a WalMart greeter. Torture Me… isn’t an absolute floater, but it’s neither brilliant nor hilarious, two factors which would go a long way toward covering for the half-assed script-writing and acting.
DeGennaro seems to have been suffering from the wide-eyed city-dwelling artiste’s “Hey-this-would-be-a-great-idea-for-a-movie” complex, but lacked the capacity to fully realize his dysfunctional vision of life and love. Somewhere within the film is a fable about serial killers being born in “The Boring Suburbs,” and finding love in the most extreme and unlikely places; but thrown in on top of that is a jumble of snuff, the mentally challenged, street crime, cop drama and computer hacking, an unnecessarily complicated mixture that the badly uneven accents and costumes don’t do much to clarify (the drab East Coast clothing makes many characters look alike, and the accents are just, well, bad).
Also perplexing is the lack of continuity and attention to detail. In one scene the police captain sneaks into Chancey’s home and makes a big show of putting on gloves, but then when she reaches for a framed photograph her hands are naked; and her evidence collection kit consists of a Ziploc baggie with a hand-written label declaring “Evidence.” In another scene you can see the printing on a character’s toy pistol. Etc., etc.
On the positive side, some good lines by Duncan Wright as Babe (“You know what a computer is don’t you?” “I even know what a sperm is!”) along with a bit of slapstick lets the viewer know that the filmmakers at least have a sense of humor, essential in lessening the pretension inherent in producing and distributing any self-taught effort. And while the moments of absurdist comedy aren’t all pulled off successfully, they do help make the picture a more entertaining one.
The film is presented largely in crisp clear widescreen, but this jumps to full-screen during moments of trauma, a jarring change of perspective enhanced by an accompanying boost to the soundtrack level that is rather effective in producing a jolt to the audience. Also well-handled are the moments of psychosis experienced by the killer, rendered in shuddery blurs of angry motion that well capture the violently disturbed thought process.
So on the whole it’s kind of a mixed bag. But to sum it up best, chances are slim that I’ll be watching this one again.
-Crites
- 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
