Chaos
(2005)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: C
In the
1960s and 1970s, we had our cycles of exploitation and Horror films that pushed
the limits of disgust and what the audience could stomach, and those films hold
up in effectiveness because they had points to make and reflected their times
very well. Many are cult films, while
others are classics. Those films also
had political points of view that were interesting and uncompromising in their
bold graphicness to put the dark side of human nature on screen, no matter how
dumb they got. Writer/director David
DeFalco has made a film in that form and based on a 1970s serial killer with Chaos (2005).
The film
claims to be “the most brutal movie ever made” and the director/bodybuilder
might even believe this, but despite a couple of brutal scenes, it is
ultimately a pale imitation of The Last
House On The Left, Texas Chainsaw
Massacre and I Spit On Your Grave. The difference is that they were made with
more skill, were more original, even more brutal, has better acting and prove
that merely making your narrative so enclosed that the victims cannot escape is
not sufficient enough to make such a film work.
Like some
such older films, this one opens with text about how it is a warning to parents
and the public about teen abduction, because 24-hour-news stations obsessing
about JonBenet and Polly Klass mighty make us think only younger women are
abused and murdered. How stupid of us. Roger Ebert actually took this film seriously
enough to be offended, but since Kubrick’s A
Clockwork Orange (1971) troubled him, he can’t handle any subjection unless
he wrote it as in Beyond The Valley Of
The Dolls.
Ultimately,
though the scenes are brutal, the film is idiotically misogynistic. The girls go to a party and because they
happen to go somewhere with some guy, they therefore must be raped, abused and
killed. They did not even have
pre-marital sex with a boy friend!
To make
things worse, the worst scenes are more like a bad snuff or pseudo-snuff film
than anything having to do with a narrative.
Yes, going with strangers can be a bad thing, but with total Blair Witch idiocy, it seems all thrown
together and the acting is both overdone & underwhelming. DeFalco mistakes wrestling-style yelling for
psychotic behavior which renders his “most brutal movie ever made” claim a
joke. Why, in terms he may understand,
its just frontin’.
A truly
brutal film where evil wins out is beyond cutting up and brutalizing some
bodies. If you see films by Stanley
Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket) or Pier Paolo
Pasolini (Salo) that really
understand human nature and portray its inhumanity, they are far more effective
than hacking some violence together with half a story. Another problem is that any attempt to
portray the 1970s is a big failure and even at their cheapest and lowest
budget, films that tried to show reality before mass media (even when they were
hokey like the Sunn Classics) could at least be enjoyed within their own
confines. At 73 minutes, this film
cannot establish anything and ultimately is an expose about DeFalco’s
confusions than any cautionary tale or skillful filmmaking. At best, it is an interesting and overdone
failure, albeit a sometimes very graphic one.
The 1.33
X 1 image is weak and lame, even though some of the footage is letterboxed in
the featurette. Detail and color are an
issue, but it is passably watchable. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 is barely stereo and is a more recent recording, but nothing
to write home about. Extras include a
tour of the L.A. Coroner’s “Crypt” with the director, then producer Steven Jay
Bernheim joins DeFalco for a full length audio commentary and unintentionally
hilarious segment where the two respond to Roger Ebert’s negative review of the
film (dubbed a controversy by them) in a real hoot that makes Ebert look bad
and them worse. As a matter of fact, it
is better than the film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
