Before sitting down to write this review, I went online to try and find out something about the movie, but there’s really just not much of anything. So before I jump into this, I want to say that the filmmakers need to be working on that. They need to get the word out about their film. And to be honest, a less generic name would help with that.
Now, with that said, Night Terrors is an anthology film, featuring three short films presented as stories that an older sister tells her little brother to make him go to bed and leave her alone. It’s written and directed by Alex Lukens and Jason Zink of Indiana and if IMDB is to be trusted, they were working with a budget of just around 5000 bucks.
If that’s true, then Lukens and Zink are financial wizards, because there’s no way I would think this movie was done on that small a budget.
Not only does the film look good, it’s also extremely entertaining. Yeah, the script isn’t the greatest and the acting could be better, but these guys tell three self-contained stories with solid beginnings, middles, and ends, while trying to be a little more original than a lot of films like this.
The first story, “Massacre on 34th St.” is the most straight-forward and traditional of the bunch, as a psycho in a Santa Claus costume murders a group of squatter punks (literally) on (or around) Christmas. There’s no explanation for what happens and there doesn’t have to be. All you need to know is that the punks are obnoxious and you’re kind of rooting for Santa to slay them.
The set design is solid, with what seems like a real abandoned house being used for the story, and Zink doesn’t skimp with the gore. And while the story may be a little on the blah side, I’ve got nothing but praise for the way he chose to shoot it. The lighting is excellent, and the cinematography is almost perfect. Zink does a very nice job setting up the shots and does good work pacing the kills.
The second story, “Baby Killer” isn’t quite as polished with Lukens directing, but is the most daring of the three stories. In this one, Doctor Herbert Cain (Richard Hackel) performs experimental stem cell research in an attempt to save his daughter, who is dying of cancer. He’s already been fired from his research facility and is in the news for stealing equipment and supplies. The police are keeping an eye on him, too.
Before everything is said and done, Cain goes off the deep end, kidnapping a child and eventually stealing a fetus (and abusing it) from a pregnant neighbor!! And while the story overall doesn’t quite all come together, the most fucked up scenes in the film come from “Baby Killer.”
The final story, “Abstinence” is about a bizarre V.D. outbreak on a college campus that sort of turns people into zombies. The whole zombie side of it isn’t really explored (that would have taken a budget), so instead we focus on two lovable losers, Mouth (Sean Jones) and Jonah (Joe Bachan), who are just trying to enjoy their first semester at college (although if they’re first year students, they must have waited a while before going to school).
This is the most entertaining of the three stories, with humor that works, characters you actually care about, and a more experimental approach to the editing. Plus there’s full frontal V.D. infected wang, if that’s your thang. Jones and Bachan have a nice chemistry together and if Zink was thinking about expanding any of these into a feature, “Abstinence” is the one with legs.
As far as the extras go, there’s no directors’ commentary — which would have been nice — but we do get a 16 minute outtakes featurette which makes it seem like the shoot was a lot of fun. Or maybe they just included the fun bits. Anyway, it’s worth a look. As are the isolated features (that could have been included in the outtakes, to be honest), “Product Placement,” “Saying Suspicious,” and “How We Slate.”
So, if you’re interested in low/no-budget horror films by new, independent directors, you can’t go wrong by checking out Night Terrors. It’s ambitious and fun, with gore, the occasional naked lady, some images that push the boundaries of good taste, and some nice direction. Keep your eye out for more work from Alex Lukens and Jason Zink.