The Divide 2011 - REVIEW

The one truth in life that you can count on is that no one is perfect and no one has ALL the answers. Growing up, when things were bad, I was always told "It could be worse". Of course when you're young everything bad that happens always feels like the end of the world. As you age, you realize it's true. Bad things happen and you get up, dust yourself off and either try again or start over because.... it could be worse.

In this graphic and violent, post-apocalyptic thriller, nine strangers, all tenants of a New York high-rise apartment, escape a nuclear attack by hiding out in the building’s bunker-like basement. Trapped for days underground with no hope for rescue, and only unspeakable horrors awaiting them on the other side of the bunker door, the group begins to descend into madness, each turning on one another with physical and psycho-sexual torment. As supplies dwindle, and tensions flare, they grow increasingly unhinged by their close quarters and hopelessness. Each act against one another becomes more depraved than the next. While everyone in the bunker allows him or herself to be overcome by desperation and lose their humanity, one survivor holds onto a thin chance for escape, even with no promise of salvation on the outside.

I get such enjoyment from watching Michael Biehn on screen. He has the ability to morph into any character he's given, becoming everything from a soldier to a maintenance man, and pull it off like very few others can. In my opinion, this is one of the best performances of his career. It also didn't hurt that he was surrounded by a very solid, talented cast. Everyone of them portrayed their characters quite flawlessly. Ashton Holmes, Lauren German, Ivan Gonzalez and Biehn stay pretty even keeled throughout, their personalities not really changing much but every other character makes a believable transformation into someone totally unrecognizable. Milo Ventimiglia and Michael Eklund make the biggest and probably the most convincing changes throughout the film. Rosanna Arquette takes on the role of a mother who is desperate to save her daughter (Abbey Thickson) from certain death. Even Courtney B. Vance, who I'm used to seeing as a mild mannered, sure of himself, never breaks under pressure type guy, succumbs to the paranoia of being trapped with no way out.

Director Xavier Gens shows us the best and worst of humanity in The Divide. It's an intense ride that delves into the psyche of the mind and shows how desperation can turn even the most mild tempered person into an unimaginable monster. I've seen a lot of films that attempt this and fail miserably but where others fail is exactly where Gens succeeds. The film is very well paced with some really great camera work. It's obvious that time was spent developing the characters and making their transformations believable. Writers Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean have crafted what I can only assume will easily become a cult classic among horror and Sci-fi fans alike. Whatever you can imagine about being trapped in a basement with eight other people is probably not near as bad as what Gens throws at you. This is a brutal, no holds barred in your face film with a haunting score that only serves to intensify the overall atmosphere. 

When it was all said and done, I was left with a few questions but it was more to satisfy my own curiosity than anything else and didn't really detract from the overall concept of the film. There was more blood and gore than I expected and it's all done very well. If you're squeamish in any way, I'd steer clear of this one. Not only does it have some pretty gory content, there are also some very violent sexual scenes that could make some viewers uneasy. I would recommend this to any fan of the genre, it's definitely worth a watch or maybe even two. 

The Victim 2011 - REVIEW by Scott Shoyer with Anything Horror

THE VICTIM is the solo directorial debut from genre actor, Michael Biehn (in 2010 he co-directed THE BLOOD BOND with Antony Szeto). I’ve posted a few articles about the progress of this film over the last year, and then suddenly it went silent. So I was pretty happy that THE VICTIM was being screened at this year’s Texas Frightmare Weekend and made a point to check it out. I’m glad I did for two reasons. First; it’s a fun film, and second; Michael Biehn, Jennifer Blanc, and Danielle Harris were all in attendance to watch the film with us and hold a Q & A after the screening (only Biehn and Blanc were there for the Q & A). It’s always nice to get the “inside scoop” from the director and leading actor/actress in a film. So let’s get to it.

THE VICTIM stars Michael Biehn as Kyle (a nod to his role in THE TERMINATOR), a self-imposed recluse who holes up in his uncle’s unused cabin in a very remote area in the woods. He’s there to get his life together and get over some trauma from his past (what this is is only hinted at in the early parts of the film). One night while he’s trying to get some work done, a frazzled and panicked girl, Annie (Jennifer Blanc), starts pounding on his door to let him in. He reluctantly does and she tells him she’s being chased by two guys who wanna kill her. Oh yeah; the two guys are cops. Oh yeah; and one of the cops is going to be the next sheriff of the county!! Don’t worry, I didn’t spoil anything. These facts come out very early in the film. Annie tells him that she and her roommate Mary (Danielle Harris) were partying with the two cops out in the woods when things got a little outta control. From this point the film twists and turns as it makes us question who is ‘good,’ who is ‘bad,’ and who is really the victim. You’ll find yourself putting every character in the film under a microscope as you try and figure out where everything is headed.

Biehn, who also wrote the screenplay, does a really nice job keeping the tension high and the plot moving along at a nice pace. During the Q & A we find out that THE VICTIM was shot on a micro-budget and there were a lot of things Biehn wanted to do in the film, but he was limited by the budget. The first thing you’ll notice is that for the content, there’s a surprising lack of blood and gore. Again, this is attributed to the budget (Robert Hall’s Almost Human f/x company handles the effects). But the film doesn’t suffer from the lack of gore. Sure it would’ve been nice to have a gorier film, especially since this is Biehn’s homage to grindhouse flicks, but he manages to fill the story with a lot of exploitation elements that all work together. We get sex, drugs, corrupt cops, a serial killer, torture, and violence towards women. As Biehn told us after the screening, he tried to fit as many exploitive elements into the film as he could that wouldn’t cost a lot of money (i.e, no zombies or excessive gore). He seemed genuinely happy with the film and he should be. It’s a fast-paced throwback film with a solid plot and overall good acting.

Starring as the corrupt cops are Ryan Honey as Harrison (the future sheriff) and Denny Kirkwood as Cooger (a narcotics cop). Both did solid jobs but Honey was the one actor who seemed to get a little over-the-top at times. In his defense, though, his character was the most complex one in the film. Harrison is essentially a wolf in sheep’s clothing; a sociopath who somehow got on the right career path. There are times, though, when his acting seems to get away from him and he over does it. He also has a really distracting, cheesy, 1970’s mustache that was a nice touch. It made him seem all the more crazy and it also situated THE VICTIM nicely in the grindhouse-era.

Biehn and cinematographer Eric Curtis do a nice job capturing some really nice scenes. Biehn told us that he utilized a “Day for Night” technique where all the night shots were filmed during the day time. This is a method he picked up from Xavier Gens, who used this technique in his film FRONTIERE(S). Biehn picked Gens’ brain about this technique when he starred in Gens’ film, THE DIVIDE. It was a nice choice because Biehn captured some very cool scenes and shots with creepy looking shadows and managed to make the ‘dark’ seem like a menacing character itself. At the screening the film played a little darker than Biehn would’ve liked (not a problem with the film itself but with the equipment and screen it was shown on) and let us know that on the right screen THE VICTIM plays a little “lighter.”

THE VICTIM is overall a solid film that will grab you from the opening shot. Biehn nicely builds up the tension throughout the film and delivers an explosive conclusion. There are times when watching where you’ll say to yourself, “This scene would’ve been even better with more gore,” but this lack of over-the-top gore doesn’t hurt the overall experience of the film as it is. At the end of the day, THE VICTIM is a fun and intense exploitation film that’s an homage to the grindhouse films of yesteryear. This is a solid directorial debut and I’m looking forward to seeing what Biehn comes up with next.

My Summary:
Director: Michael Biehn (& screenwriter)
Plot: 3 out of 5 stars
Gore: 2 out of 10 skulls
Zombie Mayhem: 0 out of 5 brains
Reviewed by Scott Shoyer (Anything Horror) at the Texas Frightmare Weekend 2012