South of Heaven (2008)
This is the story of 2 brothers, Roy and Dale. Roy is in the Navy and dreams of returning home to write the great American novel. When he shows up at his brother Dale’s house he is greeted by some very bad men. It seems that his brother has gotten caught up in a kidnapping that has gone wrong and the men mistakenly think that Roy is Dale. This leads to some unpleasant torture that eventually pushes Roy over the edge. He starts to call himself Nobody and goes looking for his brother after getting a little payback for himself.
This is a very interesting and different movie from anything else that I’ve ever received to review for Gutmunchers. It is a true independent movie that appears to have been shot entirely on a single stage with different sets. The cast is small and the budget looks to be even smaller. But the director, Jonathan Vara, has something really interesting going on.
The story is engaging and because it takes place in just a few sets is character driven. But the writing, directing, and acting are such that I found myself wanting to know what happened next for the characters. This is especially so of the 2 brothers that not so much drive the story, but have it happen to them. We don’t get a lot of background on any of them and the specifics of the kidnapping and deaths are played out that much. Also the father that is responsible for sending the men who torture poor Roy isn’t ever seen on the screen! He only serves to move the plot along and to get Roy on the trail of his brother Dale.
As I was thinking about this review I kept wondering why I dug this movie as much as I did. I mean there are so many reasons why it shouldn’t be that good. From the fake looking exteriors to the lack of locations or much in the way of set design. It really feels like a student film, which I normally don’t like. But here I just have to hand it to director/writer Jonathan Vara for creating such a good story and populating it with characters that can hold an audience’s attention. And to say the least the casting choices are key for this movie. I mean you can have the best dialogue in the history of film and if you don’t have a cast to bring it to life you aren’t going to make a good movie. The cast is made up of sort of familiar faces (mostly supporting actors/actresses) that are given something to really sink their teeth into. The best of the bunch is Shea Whigham who is awesome as the unstable Mad Dog Mantee. He owns every seen that he is in. This is such an excellent performance.
As far as the behind the scenes stuff goes I don’t have that much to say. The movie is competently shot and light. It looks like they used some sort of digital to shoot it on and it has a very surreally crisp look to the picture that works well for the movie. This sort of reminds me of some of the film noir flicks that I’ve seen from the ‘40s and ‘50s. Very small budget, shot mostly on sets, and they have a sort of almost unreal feel to them. I don't know if that is what the director was going for, but if so great job. The special effects are limited and the makeup on Roy after his encounters with the killer is okay. But it looks more like a stage makeup then a movie makeup. Easy to put on and works well at a distance.
Man can’t live on horror alone and South of Heaven is the kind of quirky change of pace that I’m looking for now and then. So if you want to watch something different then I suggest this one. For more information head on over to the Synapse website at http://synapse-films.com/ for more information.
3 out of 4
reviewed by John Shatzer
© Copyright 2011 John Shatzer
