Cast: Max Caudell, Laura Shalotte Budget: $6000
Directed By: RJ Cusyk
So I got given an early copy of Decades Apart Productions newest film, Silver Stars on Red Velvet. sent over from my good friend RJ Cusyk, this of course won't change any views I have of the film you always get honest reviews from THN.
As usual it is what is commonly known as a micro budget movie generally anything under 100k is regarded as that these days.
RJ has previously warned me that 23 actors refused to star in the film. It's crazy that it's been 3 years since through the devil's eyes that's madness!. So the budget for that was $1500 so with 4x that 3 years later let's see what we get now.
Things I liked.
RJ has an amazing way of telling a very coherent story. Despite the restrictions that a micro budget movie can sometimes inflict.
It's clear (as was in Through the Devil's) that some actors aren't in the same place at the same time, or it seems like that at least. Yet (even though this is obvious in some scenes) the story moves on reasonably well (more on that later).
The soundtrack is great which helps pull certain emotions at the right time, such as feeling tense/suspense.
As with the last film Silver stars this is also not set in modern day it's in the mid 90s, this is why you'll not see mobile/cell phones being used. I think this helps add to tension in some points too.
I was initially worried about the acting as in the first scene seemed a little wooden, with delayed delivery. This was quickly remedied in the rest of the film.
Going back to the time period used in the film I loved little nods to era with things like a Pepsi bottle from that time, or the pulp fiction poster. All things like this add to the overall feel and believability, I'm personally interested to see if anyone even picks up on these things.
Mainly because in Devil's eyes some people didn't seem to realise it wasn't set in modern day either. Comedy was goofy and on point here as well, something I'm also interested to see if people pick up on. You see I'm sure knowing RJ that his characters asking actresses for a blowjob is a tongue in cheek way of viewing how things 'USED' to be in show business. I'm sure some people will easily misconstrue this as misogynistic or some other snowflake crap.
Now the things I didn't like, at the start of the film there's a grainy grey filter over the whole film for a little while this made things, in my opinion a little to dark.
Was it meant?, Was it something I missed that alluding to something? I'm not sure.
The typical night to day changes from scene to scene, I know it's a low budget thing, others I do know complain about it unfortunately.
Now the story-line, as I've said RJ is good at stringing a cohesive story together. What unfortunately doesn't help with this film is it's sense of urgency. These people are being stalked, killed, almost killed and seem pretty nonchalant about it until near the end of the film. Like oh you were nearly killed, ah don't worry about it lets get on with our day.
I'm sure this is to help pad out run time a little, I'm also 100% sure there's more of a comedy element to it too. It just might not be everyone's cup of tea and I can see it annoying some people. Oh and I'm no fuddy duddy or Mr do right but everyone who does smoke seems to be on at least a 40 a day habit, if you see someone without a cigarette it's a rare occurrence, but that's my own personal gripe. That's about it for dislikes.
Actor wise great choices, Max is a very relatable everyman, no rippling muscles, just a guy living in that era's world.
Laura is beautiful, naturally she is no stick thin model she is a real woman. Great line delivery.
Micheal as dick was a little odd and off at points, but I think this is due his character and the fact that I'm sure a lot of his lines/scenes were filmed without the other person there.
I loved Joseph as the detective wish we'd seen a bit more of him, great strong character and comedy relief.
Abigail was good a bit underused would have liked a bit more backstory on her, that was one flaw I did find, it's like no one knows who she is then everyone suddenly realises they did know her some way.
Main plot is basically Alexander (Max) is dating porn actress Madelyne (Laura). On the way home from a date one night a paparazzi is snapping pictures of them. He wanders out into the road and gets run over as a result of not paying attention.
The driver basically stalks them all film with twists and turns throughout, as well as killings. It's a very enjoyable way to waste 70minutes.
I always recommend that anyone working on low budget films look to others, too watch them and find ways to improve their own processes. Anyone looking to start out could certainly run to learn a thing or two from Decades Apart Productions.
the film is available Digital and DVD on October 29 through DecadesApartfilms.com
THN gladly awards this film a very solid 3 out of 5 stars, compared to Devil's eyes it's urgency is it's biggest flaw.
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