By Luke Buckmaster (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/oct/31/horror-movie-a-low-budget-nightmare-review-surprisingly-delightful-gore-fest-doco)
In an attempt to explain the twisted, wigged-out ambition of writer/director Craig Anderson – namely what compelled him to make his feature film debut, the horror movie Red Christmas – there is no better person to refer to than the man himself. Laying himself emotionally bare in the opening reels of Horror Movie: A Low-Budget Nightmare, director Gary Doust’s surprisingly delightful two-part documentary about the film-maker’s backbreaking journey to realise his dreams, Anderson gets watery-eyed as he reflects on his life.
“All the years I was growing up, the only thing I ever wanted to do was make a movie. And somewhere along the line I got confused,” he says. “Parts of my life have just fallen by the wayside... What I don’t want to be, is the guy who dies not having done what they should have done. So I am going to make a movie. About an aborted foetus that survives its abortion, grows up, and kills its family.”
I attended the world premiere of this...unusual film at last year’s Sydney film festival. How to best describe the experience? Allow me to borrow from Roy Batty’s tears in the rain monologue by saying: I’ve seen Australian films you people wouldn’t believe. Murderous Mr Whippy vans hunting down civilians off the streets of Melbourne. Werewolf marsupials glimmering in the dark in Siberia, and bands of Ghandalfian magicians delivering death wishes at 120 decibels.
But I have never seen anything quite like Red Christmas.
Not for all tastes: Red Christmas barges into the sensitive debate
around abortion with the grace of a bull in a china shop.
Photograph:
Fridgejam Productions
The experience is, as the saying goes, not for all tastes – though it’s difficult to say precisely whose palate is being catered for in Anderson’s cranked-to-11, goo-splattered, giallo-esque exploitation film. The director charges into the sensitive debate around abortion with the grace of a bull in a china shop. If the film takes a stance on anything (the politics of grindhouse style flicks are often elusive, and this is no different) it is not pro-life or pro-choice, but about the horror of a woman being forced to justify her decisions.
The greatest surprise is that Red Christmas (which premieres on US Netflix in December and is available in Australia through Umbrella Entertainment) is actually well made. It’s particularly atmospheric, and also features excellent performances from Gerard O’Dwyer and Dee Wallace, whose portrayal lifts the protagonist to a level of complexity well above the common B-movie “scream queen."
I like it more after watching A Low Budget Nightmare. Fans of outré genre curios, partial to a bit of schlock, will find much to relish and a lifetime’s supply of “I can’t believe they made that” material for conversations at dinner parties. The more strait-laced in taste might like to stick to the documentary, which [aired] on ABC TV.
The core message is about pursuing your dreams no matter what, and staying true to yourself and your ambitions in the most seemingly untenable of circumstances. It is a David and Goliath story, of sorts, with the utterly endearing Anderson as David. And as Goliath, I don’t know, common sense?
Filmmaker Craig Anderson in Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare.
Photograph: ABC
The documentary opens with Anderson, 38, having recently lost 30kg and about to get circumcised to treat a painful health issue (phimosis). The trouble begins when the film-maker, who has quit his job in television and invested all his money into this passion project, realises he has under-budgeted the production by approximately $80,000. Red Christmas was always going to be cheap-as-chips, most of the crew being friends of the director working for deferred payment.
This is the film business, however, so those chips still add up to a staggering amount of money. An early moment, when Anderson’s working-class parents decide to take out a loan to support their son’s endeavours, caught me off guard and got me a little watery-eyed – as did a moment later on when one of Red Christmas’s stars, the charming and scene-stealing O’Dwyer, discusses how he is ashamed to have Down’s syndrome.
Charming and scene-stealing: actor Gerard O’Dwyer.
Photograph: Jeremy Belinfante/ABC TV
The money situation leads to a very awkward and very funny interaction between Anderson and his camera shy – and economically responsible – brother Todd, from whom he has no choice but to ask for a huge wad of cash. And then the real trouble begins. There are issues with Wallace’s contract, suddenly casting doubt on her involvement. And the shooting schedule is a blow-out from day one, taking nine hours to pull off what should have been achieved in three.
A Low Budget Nightmare is a reminder of how bloody hard it is to make a movie, before a film-maker can even begin to consider whether what they’re working on might be any good. “What if the movie is terrible?” asks Anderson at one point, a hero you cannot help but root for. “It’s about an aborted foetus that returns and kills its family. Of course it’s going to be terrible,” he concludes. But by then you know this lovable, self-deprecating scallywag will keep on fighting.
Neither production turned out to be terrible; far from it. Doust’s documentary (which premiered as a stand-alone film earlier this year at the Adelaide film festival) is in fact the most entertaining behind-the-scenes account of Australian cinema since director Mark Hartley’s 2008 wild ride, Not Quite Hollywood.
A Low Budget Nightmare has heart and sincerity to spare. Weirdly, perhaps, given the grotesque content of the film it details the making of, the documentary has broad appeal. Who would have thought your grandmother might enjoy a documentary about the making of a movie about a murderous aborted foetus?
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