Reviewed by Geno McGahee
I am a huge fan of low budget horror and especially love and relate to micro budget horror, which is why I was immediately drawn to the Mad Angel Film “BRACKISH.” The overall look of the film reminded me of my first film EVIL AWAKENING, and it had exactly what I expected from a first time film and one on this level. There was bad acting…well, terrible acting, poor cinematography, but the substance is what I’m most interested in. How is the story and writing? I can deal with everything else being mediocre or bad.
The story involves “Jake,” (Dior Aioubov) a man that lost his future wife in a car accident and has blamed himself for it. He has fallen into depression and is drinking. His sister, Tila (Rachel Powers), has a plan to cheer him up and take him out on a camping trip at what many believe to be a haunted ghost town. Jake knows the history of the town and struggles mightily through the dialogue…it was painful to hear Dior deliver the lines.
Two different cameras are used to film this movie, one OK for this level, and the other one just atrocious! Then again, not too many people that enjoy films on this level actually care about the quality of the camera or technique. We are in it for the love of horror.
The group reaches the ghost town and are immediately harassed by a police officer, and this actor is just terrible. He is bad by micro budget standards and I had a very hard time sitting through his lines. You can tell that he was trying very hard, but the performance is abysmal.
Overall, there isn’t a lot of character development. It seems like it was just an idea that was filmed too soon. The concept isn’t all that bad, but it wasn’t developed well. It just seems “all thrown together,” and it is hard to get through, but it is not without its charm. There are certain things I enjoyed. I did like the concept and did think that it wrapped up OK with the exception of the bad fake eye of the ghost/wife.
BRACKISH is your typical micro budget horror film. A bunch of friends got together and brought a camera and attempted to make a movie and it spawned better productions with Mad Angel Films, but this certainly is not a good one. Nobody knocks it out of the park on their first attempt. If you are a fan of micro budget films and/or bad films, then you may enjoy BRACKISH. I did enjoy it but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 2/10. Good concept, bad execution.
