Review by: The Bone Breaker
This film begins with Cincinnati Smith [think Indiana Jones] confronting his nemesis, Falken. Falken wants to summon Melpomene, The Dark Muse, via her amulet. [in the film, we learn that Melpomene is a daughter of Zeus, and one of the nine muses. Melpomene is the Muse of Tragedy & Fear. She is the bridge between the soul and darkness. She is the Shaper of Nightmares. . . Tragedy brings her and Darkness sustains her]
Just as Dr. Smith and Falken face off, the films pans back and we realize that we have been watching a film within a film. The film is being watched by Josh, a video store clerk [whose attitude reminded me of Randal's from Clerks!] :-) We then learn that Josh is an aspiring musician who has become disillusioned with life, and who is obsessed with stories of The Dark Muse. [He watches the above mentioned film, reads comics about her, and even dreams of her.]
We then realize that Josh has become so obsessed that he begins to murder call girls, and buries them in an old, dilapidated drive-in movie theatre. Josh believes that each murder will bring him closer to summoning Melpomene.
Eventually, Josh meets Sara, a college student new to Josh's neighborhood, and as their friendship develops into a romance, Josh turns his back on Melpomene, until he realizes that Sara just may be the sacrifice that Melpomene demands. Killing call girls is not enough - Melpomene asks for true heartache, pain, and suffering. In the end, Josh must make the ultimate decision. . .
This is a micro-budget film that was shot in black & white, and I think that Terry West [the director] made the right decision here, as it has an "artistic feel" about it. One of the other things that I enjoyed is that some of the background information is given to us via a comic book layout/format - this is especially cool since this film is actually based on West's 1998 comic book series of the same name]
The only "reality fauxpas" that I want to mention is that of all the call girls that go to Josh's home, and end up being killed, you would think that his phone number or address would be red-flagged! :-) Other than that, the film is very well written, and it shows just what can be accomplished on a micro-budget! The film also has an excellent ending!!
As the title of this post suggests, "The Omega Edition" should be released sometime this month. It is basically a polished , re-vamped, re-cut version of the film that was released in 2001. Extra Features are yet to be announced. For further information, visit: http://www.pleasantstorm.com/
I definitely recommend checking this film out!
Jason
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