The jungle horror film seems to be creeping it’s way back into the genre slowly. With films like WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE and with Ruggero Deodato making another cannibal movie it looks like we might start to see more of them in the coming years. VINYAN is a different take, as it takes place in the jungles of Burma. Burma is a country that has no middle class, your either rich or poor, and the rich take advantage of the poor a lot in the country. I know this because a good friend of mine was born and raised there for most of his life before coming over to the United States. It’s a country that has it’s beauty and its ugly side. One of those ugly sides is human trafficking, which VINYAN is partially about.
The plot is pretty simple. After losing their only child in southeast Asian Tsunami, A couple goes on a quest to find him after Jeanne (Emmanuelle Béart) swears she has seen footage of her son in a documentary film about orphans living in the jungles of Burma. Her husband (Rufus Sewell) thinks that his wife might be going crazy because of the loss, but does not give up hope finding his son and agrees to take her to Burma to find him. While there they meet up with a group of dangerous human traffickers who agree to help them find their son in the jungles for an excessive amount of money. However the group of traffickers lead them in circles, that is until they are lead right into the jungles where a the group of children are, but these kids live like animals and things are about to take a turn for the worst.
While this film did start off very slow for me; after the film sets itself up; the story really starts to take shape and becomes one hell of a roller coaster ride. The script is very dark and full of the unimaginable. I don’t think it will have an effect on people who don’t have children as it would with someone like myself who does. Even the though of losing a child brings such sadness to a parent. Losing one would not only bring that sadness but other emotions as well. All those emotions are bought to light in this film, and the screen writers did a brilliant job putting the audience right into the minds of the two lead characters. We feel their grief and their pain, we’re on this unbearable journey with them. But there are no limits when it comes to finding your lost child. Whatever hope you carry with you, as a parent you’ll keep going, even if it means you’ll end up dead in the process. That is what this film is about.
The acting is great. Both Emmanuelle Béart and Rufus Sewell really became these characters and the acting is top notch. That also can be said for the films production value, which is also very good. The jungle sets are dark and dirty and reflect the same lost hope, grief and craziness of the characters. The effects are graphic and I don’t mean in the way that the film has a lot of gore and blood; I mean that the sense and feel of the film is so intense that you find all these “what if” type thoughts going though your head of what might happen to these people. The look of the film is very reminiscent to the jungle scenes in APOCALYPSE NOW. For you horror fans there is some blood and gore, but like APOCALYPSE NOW is takes a back seat to the mood of the film.
VINYAN is one of those films that just came out and grabbed me once the film got going. The fear of losing a child is something that no parent wants have to deal with. But losing a child and not knowing is that child is alive or dead is an even bigger fear. But imagine traveling to the far end of the world to look for your child only to become part of an even bigger nightmare. This is a great film and a scary one at that. You go into it with these characters who are already down on their luck, and when things can’t get any worse, your just hoping you’ll be able to get out alive with them in the end. Even if they find their son or not.
VINYAN will be available on DVD April 7th.
– Horror Bob
- 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
