Review

Robert is living the life; he has a good job in finance, a loving wife, and a nice house in the suburbs. The only blemish on his horizon is his cousin Frankie, who is constantly hitting Robert up to help fund his drug habit. Leaving work late one night Robert falls prey to a mugger, but manages to get the upper hand, unfortunately killing the mugger in the process. And that's where Robert's real problems begin, he suddenly needs the adrenaline rush murder gave him.

Frankie's situation is deteriorating, not only is he imbibing increasing amounts of drugs, but he owes money to the local dealer, who isn't noted for his charity. Robert is culling the local homeless population, fantasising about killing the receptionist, and is also increasingly becoming dependant on his "addiction". With his wife deciding to stay with her mother, and being given the boot at work, Robert is on a road to nowhere. A surprisingly strong movie ensues.

So the avalanche has gone down here at ScaryMinds, with the movie review queue finally bursting at the seams. Thankfully there's something of a hiatus in local releases, so we should be able to get on top of things and find some order in the chaos. I was sent two hard to find Aussie dark genre flicks, The Demons In My Mind and Dead Country, during the week that unfortunately came wrapped in forty eight other movies. The whole package was titled Catacomb of Creepshows and comes to us from the good folk at Mill Creek. I'm always up for a review challenge, hence welcome to the first review in our "A Half Ton of Movies Review" series. Buckle up kids, this promises to be one hell of a wild ride through the Independent movie scene.

Addiction surprisingly hits us with some themes as scribe Joshua Nelson tries to elevate his script above the normal Psycho goes on a killing rampage schlock that has been done to death, no pun intended, by now. The movie takes addiction and views it from multiple angles. Robert is addicted to murdering folk, he needs the rush, Frankie is hitting heroine like it might go out of existence tomorrow, and Lisa, Robert's wife, can't give up the cigarettes and is for ever asking Robert to pick her up a packet of smokes. I'm not quite sure what the point of this was, beyond pointing out addiction of any sort is probably not a good idea, but still nice to note at least someone is trying to do more with a dark genre script than simply add filler in between death scenes. Nelson pretty much nails the increasing need Robert has to commit murder, and demonstrates how it comes to govern his life and work choices. I quite liked the fact that his Boss thought Robert might be on drugs, generally the reason behind work ethic and personality changes. Possibly the whole theme was overstated in places, but at least Nelson was trying for something a bit more ambitious than the usual horror script.

While still not in the deep and meaningful camp, the movie has themes and attempts to rise above the normal Psycho outing

The approach Director Tucker takes in Addiction reminded me of Abel Ferrara's The Driller Killer (1979), and not just in terms of the New York City locations. There's the same grunge feel to things, no bright lights, a fair amount of urban decay, and the same view of the homeless as ready-made victims. While neither Director Tucker nor Writer Nelson are making a political statement, it's interesting to see that the mean streets of the Big Apple haven't exactly changed in the last few decades. Tucker equally adopts Ferrara's use of the camera as almost a voyeuristic device, with the Audience not so much watching a movie as experiencing a number of lives spinning out of control due to their addictions.

Tucker doesn't restrict himself to simple point and shoot; he enlists overheads, some gnarly point of view elements, but mars it slightly by some shaky cam that is pretty nauseating. Considering the movie almost plays in a stark black and white fashion, the use of differing camera approaches keeps things rocking along like a brought one. It would have been interesting to see what Tucker could do with some track camera here and there.

For those after a bit of T&A, well you are going to be slightly disappointed. Besides a receptionist who apparently doesn't wear knickers, and the odd boob shot in one scene, nothing much going down that will require a Kleenex moment. Girls get to drool over finance types who don't even have the decent to wear a Hugo Boss suit. Sorry for any disappointment there.

If I have ever heard a schizophrenic score before, then it paled in comparison to the almost insane nuances being thrown about in Addiction. We start with some whimsical notes, head through industrial trance, touch bases with rock, and even hit some orchestral movements. On the bright side of the three note movement, it never gets boring.

As the first movie in what promises to be a long journey I actually really enjoyed Addiction. It didn't attempt to blind with science, announce each intense moment with overload music, or be populated with bland plastic twenty somethings pretending to be teens. A solid enough movie that perhaps worked too hard on getting its major themes across. Hey we're beer and pretzels here, if we're getting the message then you are pushing way too hard. Worth your while hunting out the movie if you don't mind Independent productions without that false Hollywood polish.

Clearly I managed to get a viewing of the movie via the Catacomb of Creepshows box set, not sure what other options are available. For sure the movie isn't exactly on the shelves in Australia, so have a hunt around and see what you can find.