Is the following fact or fiction? Two young movie makers use a desktop PC and less than nine hundred dollars to produce the first all-digital documentary-styled horror film in 1998?It s fact.
A few months before brought documentary style horror to the forefront, presented a chilling account of three bloody murders that happened one cold night in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Beginning as a fictitious documentary about the Jersey Devil Murders using salvaged video footage, interviews, and police evidence, the film s twist ending reveals the real murderer--or does it? Using Photoshop to enhance scenes, consumer-grade video recorders, and lots of post-production doctoring on a desktop PC, Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler digitally composed their low-key thriller using mostly non-actors, Weiler s mom, and just about anything not nailed down.
The final product is an eerie, slow-building story that takes a sudden left turn toward the end to reveal the true murderer. According to the audio commentary, seven clues are in the film pointing to the murderer. I missed all seven.
Technology plays an important part within the film itself, first as visual and auditory information is manipulated to create the pseudo-documentary structure of the film, and second as the impetus for the events that transpire within it. The film begins as a probing documentary by director David Leigh (played with aplomb by David Beard), who asks the question, Did Jim Suerd commit the murders? The profile of Suerd--troubled childhood, a loner, and computer nerd fascinated by the Internet and magic tricks--seems to point to an unstable individual that may be capable of cold-blooded murder.
But the film leaves you wondering just who exactly the documentary was really about. Fact or Fiction is a public-access cable show teetering on the edge. The show s two it s-always-Saturday hosts (think here), Avkast and Wheeler, are desperately searching for a way to keep their show on the air (although they do sell a lot of t-shirts).
Initially a kitschy hit about two slackers discussing weird stuff, the topics are getting stale, and its popularity is waning. Looking for any hook that will bring back viewers, the hosts turn to Internet Relay Chat to allow viewers to send in suggestions for what the show should investigate next. One suggestion, to do a live show from the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey in search of the Jersey Devil, the legendary creature who inspired the name of the New Jersey Devils ice hockey team, intrigues the show s hosts, and soon has them assembling a crew to investigate.
The crew is comprised of Jim Suerd, a fan of the show and self-professed psychic, and Rein Clackin, audio technician. Suerd is the odd one--okay, oddest one--of the bunch. He s not quite always in the here and now, if you know what I mean.
Avkast and Wheeler use him as a psychic bloodhound to lead them deep into the woods of the Pine Barrens in search of the best spot to find the Jersey Devil. As the documentary unfolds, a reenactment of the trip is shown using video footage shot by Avkast and Wheeler as they recruit the team members, focusing especially on the meeting with Suerd, who goes into a psychic fit. As the team is assembled, and preparations made, the documentary moves on to the fifteen hours of recovered footage from the ill-fated night in the woods.
In the now familiar style of shaky close-ups, scene ambiguity, and quick-cut action snippets, Avkast, Wheeler, Suerd and Clackin are shown trying to find a suitable location for camp, bitching about this or that, and then suddenly finding that they are not alone in the very cold, very dark Pine Barrens. Enough is shown or intimated to give you a nice creepy feeling. Throughout it all, director David Leigh s stoic voice intones the police evidence for arresting and convicting Suerd, the lone survivor, and then asks questions about the supposed guilt of Jim Suerd.
And just when you think the answers are going to remain unclear, the film shifts from documentary perspective to third-person movie perspective, and follows the restoration of a critical piece of video that may show the killer s face, and the dedicated forensic video technician that will make it happen. The denouement leaves no doubt as to who the killer is. In a sudden and very brutal scene of callous murder, the killer is revealed.
What stands out are the performances by the non-actors involved, especially Weiler s mom. They do a very good job of creating an air of authenticity for the documentary. The slow pacing as the story unfolds is mitigated by the interesting characters, their back-story, and the sequencing of the documentary from investigating Suerd, to the reenactment of the trip, to the recovered video footage of that fateful night.
The twist denouement, which moves the film from second-person documentary-styled narrative to third-person viewpoint is a bold move, and the final scene returns us to the Pine Barrens, with many unsettling questions still to be answered. Heretic Films packs their DVD with superb extras that should be done more often. Three short featurettes stand out in particular: the Pre-production, Post-production, and Distribution discussions by Avalos and Weiler are lively and enlightening.
In Pre-production, they talk about their discovery of the actor to play Suerd (Jim Seward) in the aisle of a video store, and how they lighted scenes using Chinese Lanterns to create a soft light that could be manipulated according to the wattage used. In Post-production, they discuss their extensive use of Photoshop to add gore effects to scenes, and how they composed the various police evidence used in the documentary on their PC. In Distribution, a very interesting discussion of how they fought to remain purely digital presages the current state of digital film distribution.
Two audio commentaries, one from 1998 and another for this release add to a well thought out presentation. An entertaining mini-comic is also included. is a worthy entry in the cinema of horror.
Is the following fact or fiction? Two young movie makers use a desktop PC and less than nine hundred dollars to produce the first all-digital documentary-styled horror film in 1998?It s fact.
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