From the independent production team of William Combs (producer) and Ron Ford (director) comes Dead Season, a low budget small town serial killer picture billing itself as “A smart little indie with a bite.”
After a rather nicely misleading introduction involving a double homicide, we find Jenny Barrett (Trish Haight) hitchhiking her way to the seaside town of Craven Cove. Something of a serial killer mecca, the Cove is home to her idol Lucas Swan (Randal Malone), a reclusive true crime author Jenny is dying to meet. When she finally reaches the town (not without her loudly opinionated fanatic’s personality rubbing a number of her drivers the wrong way), the fact that the bed & breakfast Swan House is closed for the off season and guarded by “mentally challenged” gardener Clay Rivers (director Ford) doesn’t phase Jenny a bit – she storms right up to the front door and begins banging away, and while the grumpy, effeminate, overweight Swan is none too pleased to be disturbed, when he finds out that Jenny is an online pal (from a site whose name plugs the film’s production company) he softens and invites her inside. And from there it doesn’t take long for Jenny to ingratiate her way into his life. (But not before a bit of Q&A provides some background: Sam Risher, the man suspected of the murders Swan wrote about, spent some time in that very inn before disappearing, and Swan’s discovery of the corpses years ago led him to write his one book and then lock himself away from the world in his garishly decorated home.)
As Jenny enjoys a place in the same room that Risher once occupied, Sam Risher himself (Ted Newsom) has come back to town. Stalking about at night Risher fails to catch Swan during one of his regular midnight walks, so he instead sinks his cleaver into the head of a random woman (after one of the film’s scenes of gratuitous toplessness). When the murder weapon is found on the gardener’s grounds Clay is arrested as the killer, and Jenny and Swan set out to prove his innocence. In the process Swan begins to do what Jenny has been nagging him to do for some time, and that is to start another book – this one called Dead Season.
But as Swan works away upstairs, Jenny unwisely rents the basement room to a new boarder: Sam Risher. The wizened Risher delights in reacquainting himself with Swan, who’s more than a little shaken at seeing the subject of his book return to the scene of the crime, his own home. Swan contacts the police immediately but they don’t buy his story, believing they have the right man in custody. And so Jenny and Swan resolve to keep tabs on the killer. As they spy on Risher, over at the police station Clay is removed from his cell and taken down to the basement. There he meets Marvin (Joe Estevez), the boyfriend of the murdered woman. Marvin pulls out an aluminum baseball bat, along with his best Dennis Hopper impression, and proceeds to work Clay over, but in a sudden fit of mentally challenged rage Clay grabs the bat and beats hell out of both Marvin and a guard. Left unattended, Clay runs off into the night.
Elsewhere Risher is off on one of his nighttime haunts when he comes across a white trash alley fight. After watching the man beat the woman’s head in against a wall Risher stabs him to death with a machete, just as Swan wanders up on a late night ramble of his own. In a true stretch of believability Risher manages to get a photograph of Swan holding the murder weapon and then runs off with the camera, despite the fact that Swan had a gun on him. Jenny shows up to help dispose of the bloody clothing, but they’re going to need that camera . . .
When they get back to the Swan House, Risher is waiting for them. But instead of pulling a massacre Risher seems rather calm, even telling the detective who’s shown up to look for Clay that he hasn’t seen a thing all night. When Risher retires for the evening, still in possession of the damning evidence, Swan decides that there’s only one thing to do. “We’ll have to kill him. We have to plot his death, dispose of the body, eliminate him from the face of the planet.” Jenny’s definitely on board for this plan, and after a brief struggle Risher is done in, shot right in the pillow placed over his face. Cleaning out his room the pair find a luggage-load of grisly artifacts, including organs, bones, crime photos, and even a decomposing head in a jar, all of which convince them that they’ve done the right thing. Risher and his “vile personal effects” are fed to the sharks, and with that it looks like the end of the serial killer problem in Craven’s Cover for the time being.
And yet the killings continue . . .
And without pulling a spoiler, that’s about all I can say. There are pair of cliches used in the final twists of the film however which, unfortunately, are none too unexpected (you’ll recognize them). These unoriginal devices dutifully cap a plot lacking the gripping suspense a true crime murder mystery taking place in present time really deserves, thanks not only to the script but also in part to the rather staged and lazy action scenes; the actors’ sluggish movements and over-enunciation bring a stiff quality to their performances, making them almost completely lacking in spontaneity and emotion. Especially the murders – the most savage and realistic scenes are those of Clay’s in the prison basement, coming as quickly and unexpectedly as they do. Director Ford steals the show here, as not only does he emote better than his actors but his character is the most believable out of an otherwise unconvincing cast. Of note however is Malone’s performance, particularly disturbing thanks to his overly made up face and a mincing sense of melodrama that make him every bit as creepy as the ghoulish Risher. (In fact, in some scenes Malone looks something like a mobile but glandularly-challenged version of the Goddess Bunny.)
The cinematography and production are pretty fair for a small indie film (beyond the screener’s cover, at any rate), and there are some quirky touches that brighten the film a bit (a roughened police detective’s fondness for the magazine Latin Inches, for example). The effects, well they’re fairly standard by low budget independent standards. With the gruesome concept, flowery décor, and theatrical performances Dead Season might have achieved a colorful gothic tone, but in the end falls short of achieving such atmosphere for all of the reasons listed above. A good example for independent filmmakers perhaps, but nothing really worth scheduling an evening around.
– 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
