Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Booley (2010)

Booley is the debut feature film for writer/director Christian Grillo and Potent Pictures.   I was lucky enough to get hooked up with this movie, being told that it's much like Falling Down.  I've never seen Falling Down but the IMDB summary tells me that it's about a guy who's having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  Angus Booley, on the other hand, is having a series of pretty crappy days.
 
Angus (Tom Detrik) just wants to live a quiet life in the suburbs, but things are just not going so well for him.  His wife is cheating on him, his daughter Rose (the lovely Carmela Hayslett aka Roxsy Tyler) is getting bullied at school, and his job is outsourced to India.  Unsure where to turn for a solution to his problems, he starts watching self-help videos by the eccentric Jack Harrington (Christopher Mann).  For some reason, these videos reminded me of Tappy Tibbons from Requiem for a Dream, in a good way.  Although the videos are supposed to boost his confidence and help him progress into the next stage of his life, Angus uses them as a catalyst for revenge.

His newfound set of cajones allows him to confront all who have wronged him, and even some random people as well.  This movie is light on the blood, but solid on the creepiness, especially the scene with the dog mask.  The acting is surprisingly good for an independent flick, and the camera work was stylistic, albeit sometimes a bit confusing.  The editing was really spot-on, and I loved the music choices, which really fit in well with the storyline.

Overall, I thought this movie was great.  It definitely wasn't a throwdown, drag-out slasher, but I love a thriller/horror comedy as much as I love decapitations.  The cast is a fun and campy combination of actors, from porn stars to horror hosts to Howard Stern Show regulars.  Booley is a diamond in the independent horror rough.

2 comments:

Roxsy Tyler said...

Awesome review!

Unknown said...

Arbis

We saw "Falling Down" pretty wierd movie, we have it if you need to borrow