Surprise (UK 2018: Dir Dave Green and Dan McGee)

Anthology - or portmanteau - films have a habit of disappointing, and these days, with a plethora of short films being made, some filmmakers believe that stringing together a few loosely related existing shorts with a perfunctory linking story is enough to pass off the finished results as a complete movie.

Surprise does that rare thing: it fuses the wraparound narrative with the individual tales within in so that the two elements work together perfectly, and also manages to combine a reasonably scary film with a metaphysical rumination on the art of storytelling and the nature of identity.

An unnamed author (Joerg Stadler, Hannibal Rising), one of the greatest horror writers of our time, is struggling with his latest work. "I have a new story to tell the world," he says, "but even my ghosts cast shadows." He is visited by a figure called The Teacher (Elliot Reivers, first glimpsed in Lindsay Shonteff's 1990 spy spoof Number One Gun), a character who may be a product of the author's own imagination, but who has returned to lay claim to the characters that the writer creates.

The bulk of the movie is an enactment of the author's words, sitting uncompleted on his typewriter. We're taken to a Halloween writer's workshop in a local social club: 'Write Night' offers the chance for new authors to pitch their stories and offers a prize for the best one. In time honoured portmanteau film fashion, a group of disparate writers find themselves at the same table: nervy Patrick (Patrick J. Maxwell), optimistic Debbey (Debbey Clitheroe) and caustic Laura (Laura Ellen Wilson) all share with the others the stories they've prepared. The fact that the characters have the same names as the actors playing them is only part of this film's meta-ness; the three appear in various guises in each of the stories within the film too. The group is complete when they're joined by The Teacher, who it transpires invited them all to the evening, and has intervened on their story and in turn the author's.

Patrick tells the first story, 'Mr Chuckles' (or Chapter I as the film would have it). A little girl's party in a pub is brought to an early end by shirty landlady Gemma (Wilson); in retaliation the little girl curses her, and the pub owner is subsequently visited by a devilish clown (Maxwell). In Chapter II, Debbey's tale - 'Sweethearts' - an adulterous police inspector (Maxwell) discovers that the bodies of two dead girls are both former 'conquests' and that their killer might be someone well known to him. And in the last chapter, Laura's story, 'The Last Rites of Byron Vanderbilt,' a model, Irina (Wilson) gets supernatural revenge on a misogynistic client after being psychically enabled by Thana (Clitheroe).

Patrick J. Maxwell as 'Mr Chuckles'

Stylistically there's more than a whiff of Andy Nyman's Ghost Stories about the look of Surprise. It's an England of wet roads, deserted pubs and autumnal gloom. Directors Green and McGee get the balance of enigma and storytelling dead right. Watching the movie you're never quite sure what's happening, but the direction is so confident that you're happy to just go with what's unravelling. And there's lots of great touches here too, like the comic strip style animation to remind us that these are written stories first and foremost, the spare but classy score and the eloquent script, which mixes high concepts and witty put downs, mainly from the acerbic Laura. Every one of the small cast is excellent, but special praise should go to Laura Ellen Wilson and Patrick J. Maxwell in terms of the diversity of roles they are called on to perform.

It's also possibly the first portmanteau film I've ever watched where I immediately wanted to see it again! Intrigued, I decided to ask one of the co-directors, Dan McGee, a few questions about the film.

DEoL: So what was the inspiration for the film?
DM: Each chapter of the anthology was based on a a different era of horror cinema, from contemporary jump-scare horror, to the works of Dario Argento and David Lynch. Individually there are particular moments inspired by films we love, the opening segment inspired by The Seventh Seal for instance. Overall however, what I feel works more with Surprise is the main narrative, which is often never the case in anthology horror films. Throughout, we drew inspiration from any films of the genre we love.

DEoL: Was it always the plan to have the actors occupying multiple roles?

DM: Yes, one of the main selling points was re-using the actors. We wanted the actors in the main narrative to feature in each-other's storyline, being depicted in that fictitious tale depending on how the storyteller sees them, the events of one chapter affecting the next. Whether this comes across to the audience remains to be seen, but it was certainly easy to get the main actors involved, partly as their showreel can be filled with scenes solely from Surprise.

DEoL: The character of 'The Teacher' is recognisable as the 'collector of souls' archetype seen

A body is found in the 'Sweethearts' segment of  Surprise

in many portmanteau films, but he's also linked to the unnamed author. Can you tell me a little about that relationship?
DM: We worked with Joerg Stadler (from Saving Private Ryan), playing 'The Fourth Writer', who is set up as an aged, reclusive horror writer attempting to escape the ghosts of his past. One of those ghosts happens to be 'The Teacher', an antagonist from an unnamed horror series of books, manifested in the real world. As the writer attempts to deviate from his past work, 'The Teacher' arrives into his life to alter the course of his newest novel, turning it into a much darker tale. That story is the main narrative of Surprise, hence why the antagonist is re-introduced later in the film, writing himself into the story. To put it bluntly, it's an allegory of writers block, or at least that's what we intended. You can maybe see it as a Frankenstein tale of a creation coming back for his creator.

DEoL: How long was the shoot and how much prep did the actors get? I ask this as the performances are so assured.
DM: Surprise was filmed over 15 months, partly funded from our own pocket. With it being essentially a series of short films, it really wasn't an issue for us. The opening was filmed over one day in Whitby, with an average of three days given to each of the additional segments, including the main narrative. We were so impressed with the actors, given the fact that rehearsal was only given for the social club scenes, due to the heavy amount of dialogue. They brought so much to the characters. Also I think it helps that I've done quite a bit of acting these past 5 years, so I feel like we can put the actors at ease and really get the best out of them, whilst keeping them relaxed. It was a very informal set. The final day was our actress Laura Ellen Wilson's birthday, so drinks were flowing (more than usual, anyway).

DEoL: So what's been happening with the film since it was completed? Has it played at festivals and if so what's been the reception?
DM: Yes, we showcased it at a couple smaller festivals around the UK: however it recently played Starburst International Film Festival which was huge for us, and a large turnout as well. It was the first time we both could sit back and feel proud of our love-letter to horror since the cast and crew screening back in December 2018.

DEoL: Any distribution plans to give it a wider audience?
DM: I am just happy for it to be out there, as the next film is often better than the previous. We don't intend to make a feature without securing additional funding, so for Surprise we're trying to just get it out there, with the hope of returning to essentially pull an Evil Dead 2 and remake the film with a budget, and make it part of a trilogy which, in our head, is already written. I'm very proud of it, and considering the budget, we tried to be as ambitious as possible.

DEoL: And finally what projects are you working on at the moment?
DM: Currently doing a lot of writing, with the intent of doing a few acting showreel pieces later in the year (if the world continues to spin, anyway). Working on a feature that deals with isolation, this being a perfect time to keep motivated.

DEoL: Thanks so much and good luck with everything!

You can watch watch Surprise here for free. Enjoy!

Bailiwick (USA 2017: Dir Tonia L. Carrier)

Occasionally I get asked, out of the blue, if I'll review a film, and I'm always happy to oblige. Which is how I came, courtesy of the Michigan film industry website  mmm2weekender.com, to watch Bailiwick, written and directed by, and featuring Tonia L. Carrier. 

Described by distribution company Pinkie's Kids Productions as 'an ultra-low budget feature film shot in Michigan', it's principally the story of John, a classic 'quiet man' loner, exploited by his boss and shunned by his work colleagues. John visits a travelling magic show and is invited backstage by a conjuring duo, who pass the tools of their trade onto our unassuming hero, with the promise of bestowing great power.

John practises some tricks from a book given to him by the odd pair, and uses his skills to show off to his work chums, slowly integrating him into their circle. But he soon learns that the real gift that has been transferred to him is the ability to make people do what he wants just by asking them. It takes a while for him to believe this, but when he twigs what he can do, it can only be so long before his horrid boss gets his.

Essentially a riff on the classic Twilight Zone episode 'It's a Good Life,' Bailiwick is very ragged round the edges, but everyone looks like they're having a good time, and it feels like a collaborative project. However at over an hour and a half (and with the good stuff only really happening about twenty minutes before the end) Bailiwick is seriously in need of some trimming - not a good idea for the director to also be the editor - which is a shame as with some condensing of some of the more rambling sections this would have been a more fun watch.

As John, actor Dan Gerics does good 'awkward' although his transformation from geek to 'man with the power' isn't as dramatic as it could have been. But the star of the show (a relative term here, certainly) is Nicholas Joseph Mackey as boss from hell Kyle, with his home made haircut and shiny suits, he's a larger than life character who inspires real dislike. Mackey, like many of the cast, is a regular in Carrier's movies, and it's the camaraderie of the group that helps you see beyond the rather crude nature of the production. But as you can tell if you read my site regularly, I'd rather watch an independent effort than a major studio bland out any day of the week.

You can watch Bailiwick here. 

The Dirties (Canada 2013: Dir Matt Johnson)

We truly live in meta times. Canadian movie The Dirties is the product of director/producer/co-writer Matt Johnson (who also plays the 'lead' in the film), whose inspiration seems not only to be the real life high school shooting incidents of recent times, but equally importantly cinema itself (or more precisely the process of making film, where scenes can be cued and reviewed at will for endless and isolated exploration, and key lines of dialogue can be played again and again until they assume some kind of truth). The Dirties is constructed, not seamlessly, but with the various parts knocking together, tethered by movie references, memories of Columbine style reportage, slacker comedy set scenes, and an almost random indie band soundtrack. It's a film that, like its lead character, is created and defined while we watch it being pieced together, and where the underlying truth of what we're seeing is only fully realised in the film's final few minutes.

The Dirties centres around two film obsessed high school students, Matt and Owen, who because of their 'otherness' are subjected to relentless bullying by a gang called The Dirties. Matt and Owen's physical response to the actions of the gang is for the most part completely passive, but they vent their frustration with their predicament by creating a film called 'The Dirties', which shows them seeking violent revenge on the gang, mediated almost entirely via scenes from Hollywood films like The Usual Suspects (1995) and Pulp Fiction (1994). In this there is also a direct comparison to Joshua Oppenheimer's devastating The Act of Killing (2012). That their film is pieced together within the film we're watching, showing an imagined response to bulllying contrasting with their real handling of the issue, is the heart of The Dirties, as Matt grows to realise via the film he's making, that the real way to escape his miserable situation is for life to imitate art.

The film pulls off the cinematic trick of showing the audience the human side of Matt and Owen, eliciting our sympathy with their plight and our anger at their treatment, feelings which remain with us even in the film's closing scenes. Matt in particular is a true oddball and the real bullying target. His obsession with revenge alienates him from Owen while at the same time making him an increasingly fascinating character for viewers. The film they produce and show to their disinterested class is an odd unfocused mess, if amusingly made (there's a nod to the Steve Martin vehicle Bowfinger (1999) in a moment where they surreptitiously film one of their female classmates voicing a line of dialogue that they need for a scene). The ambitions of their film show how far apart they are from the rest of the school in terms of artistic vision, but the inability of both class and teacher to understand what's on screen only seems to exacerbate the bullying.

The increasing darkness and seeming inevitability of the film's final section is brilliantly nuanced in a scene where Matt, viewed rendering the closing credit sequence of his movie (which of course become the end titles of the film we're watching), turns to the camera and explains that, because of what he's about to do, someone else will need to finish the edit - they do by the way, and the closing credits are brilliant. That Matt only finally seems strong with a gun in his hand, walking the corridors of his school with a motivation which only he and the viewing audience understand, is arguably The Dirties most meta and devastating moment.

Paranormal Diaries: Clophill (UK 2013: Dir Michael Bartlett and Kevin Gates)

A surprise sellout at 2013 Frightfest, Paranormal Diaries: Clophill - which has to be the worst title of any film released last year and which if it's all right with you I'll precis to PD:C from here on in - is a significant departure from Michael Bartlett and Kevin Gates's previous two films. The sellout was probably attributed to the quality of their last film, Zombie Diaries 2 (2011), which was such an improvement on their first outing The Zombie Diaries (2006) that it felt like the product of different filmmakers: possibly punters expected more of the same.

But Bartlett and Gates have chosen to take a bit of a left turn with PD:C. They have retained the 'found footage' approach but have structured their latest as a mockumentary, combining elements of The Blair Witch Project (1999) and the Most Haunted TV show (minus annoying camp psychic). Bartlett and Gates play themselves, and Clophill, an actual village in Bedfordshire, is used as the real life location for the filming. The setup has a team of ghost hunters and filmmakers exploring a ruined church in Clophill, which has a history of strange occurrences, ghostly visitations and black magic rituals, and hoping to capture some of the supernatural activity on camera.

The film builds interestingly at the start with different 'experts' telling the story of the ruined church and reported goings on. However, once on site, PD:C becomes extremely ploddy with endless footage of walking round and round the church, and using night vision shots that build up no suspense, and give no real feel of anything being properly investigated. At 88 or so minutes this film is just way too long for the subject matter. The lack of tension is also partly to do with the location - while the church itself retains an element of dilapidated spookiness, it's in a not particularly deserted part of Bedfordshire and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the imperilled ghost hunters could hot foot it 500 yards or so to the A6 if they felt a bit lost. There's a silly sub story involving a family with a small child, which is presumably an attempt to give some variety to the documentary scenes, but just feels tacked on.

Where PD:C does differ from the TV programmes from which it takes its inspiration is in actually delivering a ghostly 'money shot' as well as some more corporeal sightings. But by then I didn't care one iota. Bartlett and Gates do know how to put a film together, but PD: C is a complete misfire - they'll have to try much harder next time.

Excision (US 2012: Dir Richard Bates Jr)

When trashmeister John Waters appears in a cameo role in Excision, it's not exactly a surprise. For Richard Bates's first feature, with its quirky characters, suburban settings and dubious taste, is clearly so heavily influenced by the later works of Baltimore's finest, like Polyester or Serial Mom, that it feels like a Waters film by default. But Excision is far better than just a Waters homage.

Pauline is a high school student whose world view is decidedly warped. She's a social outcast with an incisive mind and an aspiration to be something in medicine, plus a penchant for fantasies combining sex, blood and evisceration. Her sister Grace is seriously ill with Cystic Fibrosis, and in need of a lung transplant, which places a massive strain on her parents. Pauline's father is a classically 'put upon' husband who remains largely bemused at his daughter's wayward behaviour. His wife attempts to hold the whole family together with a 1950s style approach to motherhood and housewifery (including wine at lunch). As the family becomes more and more dysfunctional, Pauline's studies of medical texts in the local library lead her to think that she may be able to aid her sister's health condition while finding favour with her mother, and gaining some all important practical medical experience.

The character of Pauline is beguiling and central to the succcess of Excision. She's smart, funny, deadpan and quite round the bend, but also very sexy. The casting against type here of AnnaLynne McCord is a stroke of genius. McCord, a glamorous star of TV shows like 90210, is presented with ratty hair and complex skin, but is a force of nature and it's difficult to take your eyes off her. Traci Lords, playing her mother Phyllis, is also outstanding, barely holding it together as she loses battle after battle with her rebellious daughter whom she neither understands nor seemingly loves.

Quite how Richard Bates has surrounded himself with such a cast on his first feature is beyond me, but Excision also features great walk on performances from Malcolm McDowell, Marlee Matlin and Ray Wise, all clearly enjoying themselves. The full feature has been developed from a short film of the same name made back in 2008 (so it's obviously taken a while to get this movie together), and Bates has taken the opportunity to add a lot more gallows humour in this version - there are some great laugh out loud one liners - and slicker production values which add class to what could otherwise be a quirky gore movie. 

Only when Excision takes its almost inevitable dark turn into pure horror towards the end does it unravel a bit, but for the most part this is a great, smart and funny film which is worth ninety minutes of anyone's time. Well, maybe not anyone's.

Upstream Color (US 2013: Dir Shane Carruth)

James Joyce once wrote, of the complexities of his most famous novel Ulysses, that "I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant." I've always liked this quote, and it's one which popped into my head after watching Shane Carruth's latest headscratcher Upstream Color.

So what is Upstream Color about? Essentially it's a film featuring a young couple who have separately had their identities wiped (and their money stolen, at least in one case) as the result of a powerful organic drug administered unwillingly by a character called The Thief. The couple, while getting to know each other and recovering their lost memories, discover that they've both been through the same experience and attempt to ascertain what happened to them. The audience knows more than they do as we've seen how the drug is harvested and processed and also the shadowy figures behind the whole operation. That's all I'm prepared to disclose because that's about all of the plot that is discernible without guesswork and conjecture.

In interviews Carruth is reticent about the specifics of his films, and happier to talk about ideas. As a director who is also a mathematician and former software engineer, you'd perhaps expect a high degree of planning and structure in them that close analysis would reward, but he has hinted that Upstream Color should be seen as a metaphor, which suggests that things aren't quite as organised or focused as we'd like. Carruth also remains rather po faced about his work, so while the subtext of the Joyce quote implies that the author was rather amused at the idea of scholars reaching lots of different conclusions about the meaning of Ulysses, we have no way of knowing as to whether our digging into the real meaning of Upstream Color will ever pay off or whether the director feels that the digging is worth doing.

This inscrutability and obliqueness comes across in the film, which is both its USP and also its downfall. The great thing about film is that it can do lots of things. It can straight out entertain, it can baffle, it can inform you, and because it's primarily a visual medium, if it's put together well it can take a lot of chances and still engage an audience. Upstream Color doesn't do this. It didn't have enough narrative or visual hooks to keep this viewer interested. To me the film looked flat and lifeless, and I felt that I was constantly being wrong footed in trying to understand what was happening. There is nothing wrong in a bit of directorial wrong footing, but when the whole film is predicated on it, it just becomes tedious.

Compared to Carruth's previous film, 2004's talky but frankly rather autistic Primer (a film I also didn't like) Upstream Color has a lot more warmth, and the two leads, Amy Seimetz and Carruth himself, are engaging in a rather blissed out way. But to me the film failed, if only because, as many reviewers have mentioned, that this is a film that needs to be seen many times to reveal its true meaning, I'll not be bothering.

Interview with David Campion, director of Patrol Men and Woodfalls

In my first batch of reviews on DEoL I've covered both of David Campion's recent films, Patrol Men and the as yet unreleased Woodfalls. I asked him a few questions about the making of his most recent film.

So, what gave you the idea for Woodfalls?

Finding the right subject matter for a film is tough. After Patrol Men, Ben (Simpson, co-director of PM) and I wrote a lot. We wrote a feature called ‘Video Nasty’, but realised it would cost too much to make. We worked on an anthology film, a serial killer film, a ‘Funny Games’ inspired invasion film and a ‘street film’. I was really into the street film. It was called ‘Sweetblade’ and it featured lots of stuff from my teenage years, but I couldn't finish it. It wasn't working out. Woodfalls came about during the Dale Farm evictions. Gypsies seemed to be all over the media and I actually have travellers in my family, so I had this different perspective of the culture. I felt we could portray them as simply and honestly as I knew how...so Woodfalls was born.

How much did it cost to make? And how did you go about raising the cash?

I’m not sure if I can give the exact figure, my producer might lose his shit with me. It was a little more expensive than Patrol Men (which cost £2,000), but not much. We started a Kickstarter campaign and felt confident that, after the release of Patrol Men, we could raise suitable funds. This was a mistake. We realised we had shit - no rich family, no real following...just a few supportive friends. After a few weeks, it became clear that Kickstarter wasn't going to work out.

In the end, I raised the money alone, in the form of a bank loan. If I'm not willing to invest in myself, how can I expect others to invest in me..?!

What did you learn from the making of Patrol Men that you applied when making Woodfalls? 

We made Patrol Men right out of uni, so the biggest learning curve was actually shooting for 4 weeks, rather than 5 days. A film shoot really is an endurance test. Patrol Men also made me more comfortable with actors and to a certain extent blocking, but I'm still developing my techniques in that area. 

Unlike other independent directors, you haven't re-used any of the cast from your previous film. Was that by accident or design? 

None of them wanted to work with me. Ha ha! Woodfalls felt like a new chapter, so yeah, I wanted to keep it fresh. However, Okie (Anthony Abuah) from Patrol Men actually produced Woodfalls. And he’s in it, briefly - we named him ‘Blaze’.  Anthony is also a director now; he made his directorial debut, Woolwich Boys, about nine months before he produced Woodfalls. He had a busy year. 

We're now used to you and Ben Simpson working together. Ben's given a co-credit for the story but this is your first sole directoral credit. What was it like going it alone? 

When Ben left the project, I felt a bit lost. We’ve been making films together since we were 15 and I honestly thought we’d be making them for the rest of our lives. That’s life I suppose. But, once I realised I was on my own, it was good. I actually enjoy directing by myself. I also had a lot of support from my crew. DoP Louis Corallo has been there since uni. He was DoP on Patrol Men and he was DoP on Woodfalls from the very start. In filmmaking terms, he has become as close as Ben - we collaborate very well. I don’t like the guy though - what an asshole (I think he's joking - Ed.).

The soundtrack is really good - the dubstep sound really suits the mood of the film. How did you find the bands to contribute? 

They are all local. Most of the music you hear in the club sequences are tracks from Planky, who has been on the scene for years. He puts out tons of drum’n’bass, hip hop, dubstep and house - the dude is constantly making music. I was looking for some rap tracks and I came across Lyrical Monsoon. They gave me permission to use their music, but one of them, Gav Roberts, took a real interest in the film and ended up scoring it. His score is so heavy, I love it. I think he would be great at scoring a horror film, something 80s inspired, lots of heavy synth and meaty bass. Gav came onto the project pretty late. I think he did a fantastic job. 

So now it's almost 'in the can', how do you feel about the film? Does it feel like the film you wanted to make? Were there many compromises? 

It’s weird. I'm too close to it to have any sort of real opinion. It’s not perfect and I definitely haven’t reached my full potential... yet. However, some of the stuff really works for me, the third act especially. I'm extremely proud of my cast and crew. People like Helen Nash (make up), Rita Colson (costumes) and our runner, ‘Super’ Ed Muir, went way beyond their call of duty.   

And finally, what's next for you? 

I'm writing. A lot. I have a script that I'm pitching as 'Byker Grove meets 8 Mile/John Hughes' with battle raps. I'm also working on a script about Backyard Wrestling, which I'm developing from a short I made in uni, entitled ‘Heel’. However, I went to You’re Next a few nights ago and that got me thinking. You could see the love and passion that went into the film and I realised how much I love making horror films. I'm taking notes at the minute, but another horror might be right what I need...

Assignment (UK 2013: Dir Paul Easter)

Paul Easter is one of this country's more unusual low/no budget directors. He has a manifesto - simply to beat the studio bigwigs at their own game, and to get product out there which costs very little to make and achieves a return on investment sufficient to allow him to create more films. Probably the biggest cost he incurs in the whole process is the payment required to submit his work to the BBFC, as Easter wants all his films legally classified, so they can be put on the shelf in supermarkets awaiting that breed of weekend shopper who wants to take a chance on a film they've never heard of as potential Saturday night entertainment. By the time they've paid their money and loaded the film in the DVD player, well... Paul's onto his next film.

Easter's films seem to fall into two categories: randomly shot pieces showing the director and his mates messing around setting up car stunts (in films like the cynically titled U Mugs and Collateral Consequences); and more story based films like Thumb n It and the earlier Black Shuck, where Easter himself takes centre stage, often as a softly spoken stalker/killer, and always accompanied by his beloved dog Shuck.

I've always had a soft spot for this East Anglian chancer, dating back to my first exposure to his work via Black Shuck. Packaged as a creature feature of sorts, in reality it's an hour or so of Paul wandering the lowlands of Suffolk, accompanied by his dog, lazily stalking women and talking to camera in a voice which, depending on your age, could equally be described as sounding like Bernie Winters or Roland Rat. It really is a test of endurance, but at the same time I detected a spark of mad genius in the film that drove me to write a positive review for Lovefilm. This review sat rather awkwardly amidst a volley of vitriolic half/one star responses from punters who'd felt duped, ripped off, and generally seen coming. I thought they'd missed the point a bit.

I wouldn't normally put finger to keyboard about all this, except that Easter's latest, Assignment, dropped onto the mat the other day. I watched it fearing diminishing returns for this type of film making. But for the next 45 minutes I forgot all that had gone before - for with Assignment, Easter has hit paydirt.

In Assignment Easter plays Richard, an entrepreneurial sort who intercepts drug drops, picks up the stashes and cash and makes off with the booty feeling quite pleased with himself, while the dealer community turns on itself as they realise they have been consistently ripped off.

That's it for story. But Assignment is presented in a strange cut up way that is truly odd. Snippets of scenes flicker by, whole scenes are repeated from different angles, the soundtrack cuts in and out, and the story is gradually told through a succession of sequences that leave you quite disorientated, reminiscent of a bargain bin Nicolas Roeg, or perhaps more appropriately 60s indie/nudie director Doris Wishman. At one point Richard seems to turn into a Terminator figure, complete with POV computer screens for eyes shots. I don't know why. The same girl fight is shown about ten times. I don't know why either. What is Easter trying to tell us? Is this by accident or design? Who knows. I don't, but I did think in its quirky, bonkers way that Assignment was rather good. It's certainly Paul Easter's best film to date. He makes no pretensions that his films are anything but one guy showing how easy and cheap it is to make movies - a hark back to the DIY indie music scene of the late 1970s - but I think Assignment transcends those ambitions - even if Easter didn't mean to.

Patrol Men (UK 2010: Dir David Campion and Ben Simpson)

The democratisation of film making, triggered in recent years by the availability of cheap accessible cameras and editing tools, has arguably been the most important change to the making and distribution of movies since the initial proliferation of film producers in the silent era. That so few of today's new wave of auteurs choose to deploy the tools of their trade to create anything particularly new or innovative is disappointing. Luckily David Campion and Ben Simpson are in the minority.

Patrol Men is set on a fictional British island of Peyton, which is governed by ruthless martial law, presided over by the fruitcake Mayor Yorke, and where a sundown curfew is rigidly enforced by a gang of gas mask wearing heavies - the Patrol Men of the title. The curfew is for the islanders' sake, because there is a killer stalking at night. Plucky Alex, one of the islanders who is more questioning than most, decides to investigate the set up a little more closely after her boyfriend Jess becomes the killer's latest victim. Together with potty mouth Orlando they infiltrate the nerve centre of the island to uncover the truth.

Patrol Men isn't by any means a great film. The acting quality is variable, although Alex and Orlando (for some reason listed as Okie in the credits) as the two leads give engaging and honest performances. Alex in particular, played by Chloe van Harding, who is in almost every scene, is an unlikely but likeable heroine, being only about sixteen, very short and a bit tubby. Jonathan (Axed, The Devil's Business) Hansler puts his all into it as the very unhinged Mayor - but the rest of the cast fare less well talent wise. It's the enthusiasm of the young directors that fires this project with something that lifts it from the vast mass of barely average shot on DV releases out there. Apart from the few violent scenes, this could almost pass as one of those teatime adventure serials made on TV in the 1970s. It's quite bleak but not relentlessly so, and the story moves at a good pace. Let's hope we see more from Campion and Simpson.