Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Jul 31, 2011 12:11:53 GMT -5
Plot:On the outside Adam appears to be a normal teenager, but underneath...his mind has been so rotted by trauma from his past and the gory films he watches, that he has blurred the lines between reality and pretend! This prompts Adam to start killing people in similar ways to films he watches, making sure to put his own little spin on it.
Cast:
Alexei Ryan
Cory Jacob
Lisa Frantz
Christopher Chandler
Jd Fairman
Phillip Andrew Christopher
Kimberly Night
Emily Bordignon
Jon Bloch
Kevin Flood
Laura Meadows
Nathan Blaiwes
Bailey Gaddis
Mark Glasser
Carlo Figlio
My Thoughts:Disturbingly gory!
Review:"My Pure Joy" is the first feature-length film from young filmmaker James Cullen Bressack. The movie follows a young adult named Adam (Alexei Ryan). Things haven't been very good for Adam and his family after his father died. Now...Adam lives with his Mother, and the relationship between the two is a very tumultuous one. Strangely enough, the movie begins with the massacre of an entire family, of which the son of the family has some eerie similarities to Adam.
In his tendancies and his family structure and situation. The massacre scene is very well played at the start of the movie, and not only does it come completely out of left field. But it is also very realistically brutal, bloody, and gory. I pretty much was willing to give the film a chance after that scene, considering for an indie slasher pic...it made a nice change of direction and pace by being so edgy and brash early on in it's run. And also giving me something which actually surprised me. Something horror rarely does nowadays.
Everything in the genre these days is so predictable, drawn out, and telegraphed. It was nice to see an actual "shock" moment. Persay. Especially when you consider which member of the family ends up being the first victim of the masked and cloaked killer. A move which not only was a jaw-dropping scene to watch unfold, but also really pushes the envelope when you consider the "rules" ot today's horror pictures. When it comes to certain characters. After the brutal killing of the family, we find out that the culprit was Adam, a horror movie freak who's mind seems to have lost it's reality button.
Thus, sending him on a killing spree of epic proportions. But once again, the movie -- in another refreshing moment of offering up something new, does not allow the story to simply hand over too early, the answer as to why the killer kills. We get an in-depth backstory behind Adam, his family, their problems, how they affect him. As well as his environment. Adam as mentioned above, has a bad relationship with his Mother. But it's really the death of his father which has pushed him into being this dark, angry sort of person.
Then there's his late father, whom we learn via flashbacks, got Adam into horror films in the first place. But Adam in the movie, comes off as the A-typical white male, suburban loser type who just can't get it together. He lacks social skills when it comes to women, but seems to flourish socially when he's kicking it with his juvenilish male friends. Smoking pot, and drinking and stuff. Yet when confronted by someone who is tougher than him, he slinks away. Only to later on call upon his darker side to seek retribution.
There's a lot of intriguing layers to Adam as a character. What you see is not necessarily what you get. While the whole suburban white male loser thing may be the surface of Adam's persona, the movie as it runs it's course, peels back more and more layers to Adam as a character. Thus putting together a very complex profile of him as a person, character, and most importantly...what drives him to murder people. Soon, the character becomes larger than life of sorts.
And jumps way beyond being just another kook in an indie slasher flick. The movie takes all of this, and mixes it with some pretty good dialogue, and vital scenes which give us more puzzle pieces to use in putting together the jigsaw puzzle that is this character, Adam. In between the scenes where Adam is fighting with his mother, or having flashbacks about his dad, or hanging out with his "friends"...we get some insanely bloody death sequences.
Which occur mostly when Adam is crossed by someone, and seeks revenge via his alter-ego. The masked/cloaked maniac. Actually..."My Pure Joy" though doesn't necessarily predicate itself as a paper thin, one-dimensional slasher movie. It offers up as much story as it does, violence, blood, and gore. But the death sequences are long and drawn out. So while there are only a few in the movie, their lenth, effectiveness, and gore levels make it seem like the movie is like a typical mainstream slasher film.
Where 12 or more victims are dispatched of one by one. In reality, the film clocks about 5 death scenes at the most. But they are insanely brutal, and hard to stomach in many instances. Which heightens their effectiveness in this sort of environment. The films third act is a pretty strong one, and introduces us to Adam's older brother. Who eventually proves to be the last straw for the complex yet very dangerously mad Adam. Thus, the film ends on a very bloody note.
But also makes some key reveals about Adam which give the movie a very shock-worthy ending, and add on a disturbing twist as well. "My Pure Joy" does many things well, mixing slasherdom with drama, and even concocting a story and death sequences, which mostly mask it's limited financial budget. The movie at times rises above indie status, while always looking and feeling like a low budget picture.
But the gore, story, and acting...are all worthy of mainstream medium-budget status. While the movie could've used a better budget to smooth out a few of the rough edges, the good directing, and basial horror film instincts, of how to make and what makes a horror movie, truly...a "horror movie"...cannot be ignored. The film is definitely worth seeing atleast once.
Positives:Good directing, story, characters, dialogue, and acting. Awesome blood and gore scenes. Some seriously brutal deaths, which are surrounded by a quite good story of a seriously cracked person.
Negatives:At times, the rough edges of the movie caused by the low budget can be somewhat distracting.
Overall:Three and a half stars out of four.