Microcinema DVDs - Experiments in Terror 3

2009-08-25 Digigods

is a the third in an ongoing series which Microcinema distributes for Provocateur Pictures. The anthology of horror shorts, however, should not be confused with any other horror offerings anywhere on the DVD market. This is a breath of fresh air from the usual schlock, a collection that places as much emphasis on "experiment" as on "terror." Endeavoring to find new and artful ways of expanding an oft-maligned genre, the filmmakers here use the short film format to expand the ways in which cinema can throw our primal switches. The most impressive by far comes from none other than Canada's experimental genius Guy Maddin and fellow avant-gardist Marie Losier. This picture, "Manuelle Labor," a black-and-white blur of mixed formats, redefines the concept of birth in the most brain-bending, nightmare-inducing fashion. Beware.

2009-06-29 North Adams Transcript
By John E. Mitchell

Film anthology "Experiments in Terror 3" takes viewers to the stylistic and psychological core of horror by offering images and scenarios that aren’t standard or cliched -- many of these are investigations of the genre more than part of it.

No amount of gore involving real humans could match the disturbing quality of Carey Burtt’s 1999 film "The Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase," which recounts the case of the so-called "Vampire of Sacramento" through the use of Barbie and Ken dolls splattered with red liquid, fake little human organs, primitive drawings of people and slowed-down audio telling the details of the story. Somehow, through such disparate and wholly low-tech realization, Burtt’s movie is profoundly creepy -- it’s the way he addresses pure psychotic violence through the medium of child’s play, and it’s the kind of experimental horror that many would never consider.

In J.X. Williams’ 1975 short opus "Satan Claus," the experimental filmmaker re-edits footage from some obscure old movie, along with some primitive visual manipulations. He tosses in some otherworldly sound effects and a bit of Iggy and the Stooges and creates a nightmarish vision of one little boy’s Christmas Eve. Williams, a legendary director of avant garde sleaze, offers up an explanation for the film as one of revenge against an employer while he worked as a projectionist -- he showed it during a kiddie matinee before storming out. It sounds like a tall tale to me, but it adds to the presentation.

The collaboration between Marie Losier and Guy Maddin, "Manuelle Labor," engages in typical Maddin territory, pulling its look and technique from silent films, as it relates the tale of a medical emergency that results in surreal procreation. It’s a slight work, to be sure, but a fun one, with buoyant comedy visuals augmenting the strangeness and a nice little soundtrack culled from 78 rpm records.

Treading the same territory but more reminiscent of Richard Elfman’s "Forbidden Zone," Clifton Childree’s "It Gets Worse" mixes toilet humor with experimental filmmaking and a surreal story about a fake plague on a fishing boat, the attendant in the cremation room onboard and a Jekyll/Hyde finale.

With "Terror!" the collection finds its tour de force. The film is a collage work of pre-existing horror footage that reproduces the rhythm of a horror film by creating an existential scenario in which terror is almost always just around the corner but never right there.

Voyeuristic at a certain point, the film depicts what draws us to these movies beyond the horror depicted -- the feeling is that we are peering into the lives of others. It’s amazing how many mundanities compile a horror film -- wandering around, turning lights on and off, talking to yourself, showering, making yourself some tea, answering a phone -- normal activities with something horrible lurking underneath.

It’s as if slasher films are about people getting punished for being a bit dull.

The waiting, the watching -- scenes in which the silence hangs like a foreboding presence and which slowly builds up to actual terror -- gives the impression that we’ve been conditioned to feel creeped out by the movies we watch. In many ways, the carnage at the end can’t begin to live up to the mood that has come before it. The gore functions as comic relief for something that really disturbs or something so grotesque that it shocks you away from what gets under your skin.

This collection is not for everyone, but if you’re looking for some challenging experimental film work or just something far from the mainstream of horror, then "Experiments in Terror 3" will open up nightmares you never imagined.

2009-06-03 Pulp Movies Reviews

At its best, experimental film is an effective means of finding new ways of telling old (or new) stories and these can be some of the best films out there. There is, however, a risk that an excessive interest in stylistic experimentation can lead to the actual content being either underdeveloped or non-existent, resulting in a film that collapses beneath the weight of its own self-importance.

This brings me to The Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase, the first film in the Experiments in Terror 3 anthology. The film uses dolls and a dehumanised voice-over narration to tell the story of Richard Chase, an American serial killer nicknamed “The Vampire of Sacramento” because he drank his victims’ blood and cannibalized their remains. It’s a chilling story, cataloguing Chase’s childhood, his mental deterioration, his crime spree, trial and death and, director Carey Burtt’s attempt to eviscerate every trace of humanity from the film should have made it even more harrowing than a straight retelling.

Unfortunately, it didn’t. Part of this may be cultural – I had never heard of Richard Chase before watching the film and it wasn’t until I Googled him just before starting on this review that I was aware that he was a real person. However, I did find that the static nature of the film – it essentially cut from largely or entirely static scene to the next – combined with the deliberately monotonous narration pushed me further and further out of the film leaving me feeling entirely unmoved by the whole affair.

Satan Claus, however, was a lot more entertaining. Made entirely from footage cut from two other films, this hallucinogenic fairy-tale manages to be creepy, funny and punchy all in the space of a mere three minutes. The film’s back-story, however, makes it even more appealing. It was originally made as an “unannounced opener” by a cinema projectionist to extract some revenge on his, frankly appalling, boss.

The high point of the DVD for me was Loma Lynda: The Red Door. Blood-drenched, dark and disturbing, this ten-minute short turns out to be an extended trailer for a 40 minute film of the same name but it certainly stands up on its own. The film centres on a brutalised young woman and her fantasies of revenge and escape and is a genuinely and deeply disturbing film. Director, Jason Bognacki describes the film as being a “modern Giallo,” and he has certainly achieved this aim. The film also boasts a heavy dose of Lynchian nightmare built around some seriously nasty slasher tropes which makes it both hard to watch and impossible to turn away from.

I’m not sure, even after having rewatched this film a couple of times, how much of it is supposed to be real and how much is happening inside the heroine’s mind. What I do know is that I really want to track down the full length version of Loma Lynda.

The next film on the disk, Terror! is very much a case of a good idea stretched too far. The film is a compilation of scenes from a wide variety of horror films. By putting similar scenes from familiar films next to each other, the film does an effective job of underlining the way in which the horror genre reuses the same tropes – and often the same shots – from one film to the next.

The problem I had with Terror! is that is does spend far too much time making this point. Yes, I know that a lot of clichés abound in horror films and I can appreciate that these clichés are often reused because they can still hit us at a very visceral level. Once the point was made and appreciated, however, I found myself largely waiting for the film to end.

That said, the ending us unrelenting in its demonstration of the power of the genre to not just shock but to also leave you feeling genuinely shaken.

Born of the Wind was made in 1961 and I can’t say that it has aged well. This silent film tells the story of a scientist who revives a 2000 year old mummy and promptly falls in love with her. Maybe I’m missing a joke here, but the plot felt pretty hackneyed for much of the film before descending into silliness.

The collection ends on a high note with Manuelle Labor, another silent film but one that consciously seeks to recreate the feel of a 1920s film. Surrealism and silliness come together in order to deliver a rather bad pun but, at only 10 minutes, the film certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome and is quite funny.

As with the vast majority of anthologies, Experiments in Terror is a mixed bag and probably not for everyone. Some of the films are more successful than others but there is plenty in here to appeal to fans of both horror and weird cinema and even the less than successful films are interesting as curiosities.

Some of the films on here are almost worth the price of a DVD on their own. And, for the ones that aren’t, the DVD menu makes it very easy to pick and choose exactly which of the films you want to see.

2009-06-03 Horror Commentary
By DefyantOne28

Truly original independent horror cinema is extremely hard to come by these days. It seems like the very fabric of independent horror cinema has become a subgenre onto itself. We have your independent vampire flicks, gratuitous t & a, dialogue lifted straight from Anne Rice, your independent zombie flick, complete with no characterization or originality, independent slasher, torture movie, so on and so fourth. That’s why it’s nice to see that there are still filmmakers out there that are making horror movies outside the box. It’s this type of truly independent thinking that fuels Provocateur Films’ latest collection of short horror films “Experiments In Terror 3”.

“EIT3” is an completely original foray into the realm of independent horror cinema. Even though it’s not for everyone’s tastes, fans of truly independent horror will sink their teeth into this set. Which includes the following

1. The Psychotic Odyssey Of Richard Chase: Done in a style similar to “Robot Chicken” this short uses dolls to tell the tale of the true story of serial murderer Richard Chase. The use of the figures takes away an element of humanity from the piece, but it also adds a surreal element which gives the short a sort of plastic nightmarish feeling of dread.

2. Satan Claus The low point of the collection for me. Basically a series of images cut together for purely shock effect. Fans of performance art might enjoy this. The images are nightmarish enough, but the pace is kind of choppy and the lack of a true narrative structure ultimately kills it.

3. Loma Lynda: The Red Door - The highlight of the collection for me. A truly disturbing piece, extremely well shot, an abstract nightmare. Takes all the best parts of Dario Argento and combines them with all the best parts of David Lynch.

4. Terror! - A compilation of scenes from classic (and some non classic) horror movies ironically edited together to try and deconstruct the horror film. Surprisingly well done and entertaining.

5. Born Of The Wind - A silent, campy piece of 60’s avant-garde kitsch. It involves a love triangle involving an Egyptian mummy that needs to drink blood to survive. A fun throwback for fans of early sixties exploitation cinema, but slow and overly drawn out in parts.

6. Mannuelle Labor - Another low point for me. Pretentious mess of a symbolism and surrealism. A story about a very large family and the birth of a pair of hands. Meh…

The disk also includes the silent short film “It Gets Worse” which is an entertaining, yet confusing romp that takes place on a boat with some very strange passengers. It’s better then it sounds.

All in all I would definitely recommend taking a look of this collection. Fans of truly independent cinema will enjoy the fresh perspectives on the genre. Even if you don’t like some of the films in this collection, you will honestly be able to say that you’ve never seen anything like them.

2009-05-21 Independent Film Quarterly
By Todd Konrad

Providing another entry in his Experiments in Terror series, curator Noel Lawrence again does not disappoint with his selections for Experiments in Terror 3, released courtesy of Provocateur Pictures. As with the previous entries, this collection of experimental shorts examines and appropriates the common tropes of horror cinema through intellectual and visceral provocation. While the selection of films here seems a bit more spartan than usual, quality trumps quantity. The set opens with the chilling “The Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase”, which appropriates the Barbie-doll aesthetic of Todd Haynes’ Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story to recount the true-life story of a schizophrenic young man whose deranged mental state and drug use led to his murdering of innocent people and engaging in cannibalism.

Using dolls and miniature, homemade sets, the film juxtaposes symbols of childhood innocence against depictions of macabre bloodletting and genuinely, unnerving paranoia. While one would imagine that depicting disemboweled action figures and Barbie dolls lessens the visceral blow, it is quite the opposite when you imagine that your own kids could be playing the same sorts of games with their own toys sans fake blood. The second entry, Satan Claus, is another contribution from EIT series regular J.X. Williams; the accompanying booklet details Williams’ impetus to craft this tale of a young boy being visited by the devil one Christmas Eve.

Suffice it to say, if you own a theater and your projectionist knows how to shoot his own fucked-up delights, then think twice about firing him or her before Christmas. The film satirizes the stereotypical Fifties nuclear family, except with negligent parents abandoning their son at home ripe for the picking. The appearance of Satan himself is accompanied by a loud blast of The Stooges’ classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, reigning down terror like the punk Beelzebub really is when you get down to it. This inclusion is more fun than terrifying and hearkens back to when you wore a jeans jacket, listened to Black Sabbath, and thought Satan, demons, and darkness were really cool.

The dual centerpieces of this set though have to be Ben Rivers’ compilation Terror! and Mike Kuchar’s Born of the Wind. If a single film had to encapsulate the spirit and purpose of the Experiments in Terror series then I pick Terror! as the winner. On paper, it is a basic collection of every slasher, zombie, teenage massacre film you’ve ever seen pure and simple. But what Rivers crafts, by selecting and delineating every common trope of the genre , is a critical epic that comments on the genre intellectually while participating within it and amplifying the visceral power horror contains to an insanely, operatic degree. The slow build of creaks in the night, people venturing into the dark, a predator stealthily stalking his prey, etc. explodes into a pure orgy of blood, guts, and violence that is simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating. It becomes the definitive horror essay film and for good reason once you endure it.

On the other end likes Born of the Wind, Mike Kuchar’s (of the famous Kuchar Brothers) macabre paean to the melodramas of yesteryear. Through its tale of a scientist resurrecting and falling in love with a bloodthirsty Egyptian mummy, Kuchar elevates a bargain basement budget exercise to high art through his incredible sense of classic melodrama and restless visual taste. Its films like these which pointed the way for the John Waters and Martin Scorsese’s of the world, being able to make something great out of seemingly nothing at all.

The set also includes work from Canadian auteur Guy Maddin ( in a far more bizarre and disquieting outing than terrifying) and a number of other fun shorts. If you haven’t watched any of the Experiments in Terror collections, this is as good a place to start as any. If you’re a diehard horror fan, you’ll dig the creepy atmosphere and spilled entrails. If your tastes are a bit more refined then you’ll appreciate the manner in which these filmmakers take what is arguably the most commercially exploited, popular film genre (outside of pornography perhaps) and use it as a vehicle for aesthetic exploration. Either way, it’s certainly better than watching a lot of the other crap horror has to offer.

2009-05-21 Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire

After viewing "Experiments in Terror 3," a collection of short subjects linked by their horror themes, I had a similar experience to when I find an extra-awesome blog. Here is a diverse grouping of weird little films that has been lovingly assembled by curator Noel Lawrence that provides a showcase for independent filmmakers while giving a glimpse into the anthologist's brain. An installment in Lawrence's ongoing "Experiments in Terror" series which has screened in a variety of venues from indie cinemas to art galleries, the subjects here benefit from being viewed as a group. With its feet planted equally in the worlds of the horror genre and that of boundary-testing filmmaking, the collection spans almost fifty years of work and shows a distinct appetite for black comedy.

The compilation starts off on an unsettling note with Carey Burtt's "The Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase," a recounting of the crimes of serial murderer Richard Chase, the Vampire of Sacramento. For those unfamiliar with the case (or disinclined to click on the links I oh-so-politely provide you...!), Chase was a profoundly disturbed young man who murdered and cannibalized six people as a result of his belief that his body was decaying and he needed consume blood to survive. We're not talking about an "Investigative Reports"-style expose here, though--indeed, "Psychotic Odyssey" prefers hand-painted cardboard sets populated by fashion dolls, children's drawings and non-documentary found footage to tell its story of gruesome mayhem, somehow making the already-creepy into something creepier-still while eliciting a nervous laugh or two.

From this aggressively off-kilter, low-tech bit of weirdness, there's yet more evidence of a punk rock aesthetic in effect in J.X. Williams' 1975 "Satan Claus," which has one of the best movie-production backstories I've ever heard. Combining footage from Argento's "Deep Red" with scenes from an untintentionally DEEPLY disturbing kiddie flick from Mexico titled "Santa Claus" (remember that one from MST3K, with the devil...? Of course you do!) and tossing in music from the Stooges, this is a three minute nugget of pure subversive AWESOMENESS. According to the description, this film was assembled and screened by its maker at a children's film matinee after his movie-theatre-owner boss shorted him on wages over the course of several weeks. If the legend is to be believed (and much like Skunk Ape enthusiasts and UFOlogists, OH how I NEED to believe...!), the theatre owner was smacked with lawsuits and the delectable revenge was complete.

Plunging back into the world of the darkly perverse, the next entry is Jason Bognacki's 10-minute promotional reel for his upcoming film "Loma Lynda: The Red Door." I'm not sure this is going to be fulfilling as a "modern day giallo" (a word I cringe at and sometimes veer away from using myself since it's been incredibly over-used--we shall remember that this term was bandied about when the first "Saw" film was released), but there's a definite David Lynch influence in the structure, vintage music and eerie sexuality. Bognacki's visuals are striking and I'm curious to see how he works what look like trademark effects work into feature-length piece. I particularly dug the scratchy block-out that's superimposed over the actress' eyes. As an appetite-whetter, this piece certainly succeeds, because I'll be checking back on the film's website at LomaLynda.com.

Devoted nerds will bask in the fanboy glow of Ben Rivers' "Terror!," a grin-inducing homage to horror cliches. Composed of clips plucked from an array of readily recognizable horror films (keep your eyes peeled for "Halloween," "The Beyond," "Evil Dead," and "Tenebre," to name but a few), Rivers assembles a 24-minute mega-mix montage tracking our hapless victims from the old dark house through their oh-so-untimely and eek-so-graphic demises ending with a meta finale that strikes just the right note. Perhaps a bit over-long for all but the most gung-ho of horror-film geeks, this particular gung-ho horror geek had a blast playing "name that film" and watching the clever juxtaposition of the tension-building frames.

Mike Kuchar's "Born of the Wind" is an 8mm silent whose 1961 date sets it ahead of the curve in terms of psychedelic madness. Telling the story of a scientist who revives and ultimately falls in love with an Ancient Egyptian princess (proving that I need a "sexy mummy" tag after all), this film incorporates matte-painted backgrounds, hand-lettered intertitles, Karo-syrup blood, and stop-motion animation into an almost-transcendent ode to art student ingenuity. There's a little Ray Dennis Steckler feeling in the presentation here, with the whole production taking on an endearing kitchen-sink quality by the time the WTF final frames roll.

Rounding out the official presentation is "Manuelle Labor" by Marie Loser and Guy Maddin, an homage to the early days of film that plays a bit like a Dame Darcy comic strip without the lovely illustrations or the high level of wackiness. I must confess that I found this to be the weakest entry into the grouping, playing like a film undergrad's end-of-semester project ("I'm sure they got an A and all, but that didn't work for me," quippeth Baron XIII). I react with great squickitude to themes of childbirth, yet this pregnancy-themed short didn't resonate with me. Still--its place in the collection is justified as it does share a similarly kooky worldview with the rest of the shorts.

I think "Manuelle Labor" suffers in the scatological fallout from the also-silent-era-inspired one-reeler bonus, "It Gets Worse" by Clifton Childree. Now, I'm generally against the use of the words guilty pleasure in conjunction with one another but--dear readers--if ever something could be justly dubbed a guilty pleasure, it's the work of Clifton Childree. A visionary whose arsenal of images includes sailors, erotic arcade amusements, oversized genitalia, and excrement, Childree crafts slapstick stories that lower the level of artistic discourse to a probably-flooded and definitely-disused sub-basement of the human experience. I rarely get to indulge in bathroom humor in my household, so it is with great blushing and discomfort that I confess to the amount of internal giggling I did at this film. It's truly must-see stuff for fans of the outrageous.

Seriously, friends--check out this interview with Clifton Childree on the Miami New Times website and prepare to become an instant fan. If you're not convinced by THAT, check out the embedded video of "Something Awful" here. Then trust me when I say "It Gets Worse" does precisely that.

Embracing lowbrow and high-concept with equal joy, Noel Lawrence has created a fascinating collection of films linked by their horror themes, and this is a fascinating curiosity for genre fans.

2009-04-09 The Week in Sleaze

Another solid round-up of horror-themed shorts, highlighted by Born of the Wind, a '60s-era monster movie melodrama by underground legend Mike Kuchar, and J.X. Williams' Satan Claus, which puts a demonic spin on the Mexican holiday flick Santa Claus.

2009-04-08 DVD Talk
By Kurt Dahlke

Experiments In Terror 3:
Horror aficionados know that short form horror (or terror, as the case may be) is a lot harder to pull off than it looks. The flipside, of course, is that it's way easier to consume that its beefier counterparts - novels or full-length movies. But I love these little nuggets of fear, mmm, eat 'em up like candy. Munch. Munch. Munch. (You can hear my sharp little teeth grinding.) Experiments In Terror 3 proves the point; when short-form horror works, it can kick like a mule, and when it doesn't work so well it's still easier to sit through than an entire lousy movie. Happily, this collection starts out strong, real strong.

At six harrowing and hilarious minutes, The Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase (1999) uses ludicrous kid's dolls (ala Todd Haynes' Karen Carpenter/ Barbie epic Superstar) to maximum effect. Chase was a Sacramento psycho who felt he needed to kill, cannibalize and drink blood - the guy was seriously nuts, i.e. unfit to stand trial, yet he ultimately did. Director Carey Burtt seemingly trivializes Chase's crimes through made-up and mutilated dolls and soupy terror-narration. In actuality he's doubling the true horror and pathos through brilliant misdirection.

J.X. Williams' three-minute Satan Claus (1975) is an hallucinogenic nightmare crafted and perverted from two other sources (see if you can pick them out) to enact revenge on a bad boss. Originally screened at a children's Christmas matinee, the simple, sweet and strangely terrifying mess probably destroyed more than a few unfortunate young minds.

Jason Bognacki's Loma Lynda: The Red Door (2008) is a 10-minute excerpt from a 40-minute vision that hasn't seen much light of day. Though the excerpt is almost all credits, it's the type of horror movie Frank Booth might like; that is, it's the most horrifying thing I've seen committed to film in a long, long time. Immensely stylish, this psychotic break into serious delirium tremens recalls Barton Fink through dimly gas-lit rococo madness, while breaking out serial sex-murderer totems and reverb-laden music that's as wrong as it is hauntingly beautiful. Unrelenting, astounding and - yep - cathartic - Loma Lynda: The Red Door alone is worth the price of the DVD.

Ben Rivers' Terror! (2007) takes 24 minutes to meta-trump nearly all horror movies. Rivers has fused almost identical bits from numerous movies (Evil Dead to The Beyond, and then some) to form a nearly wordless, narrative-free template of terror. This journey is arch, archetypical, too clever and ultimately reassuring. Sure, horror movies can be numbing in their sameness, but it's all for a good cause. Though the penultimate orgy of violence rivals anything seen in those ubiquitous YouTube mash-ups, Rivers reminds us that these campfire tales are meant to provide solace: nobody's really going to slowly lobotomize us with a drill press, right? Plus, extra points for a sound collage scream festival to give even the most horror-hardened pause.

'60s transgression maven Mike Kuchar's Born of the Wind (1961, 24 minutes) comes off as an 8mm silent film throwback that's more tedious goof than anything else. Bearing in mind that I haven't seen Kuchar's famous efforts like Sins of the Fleshapoids, I'll admit there might be something I'm missing. However this campy tale of an ill-fated love triangle involving a resuscitated Egyptian mummy who needs blood to survive certainly isn't terrifying, and overstays its welcome by about ten minutes. However, its preservation and historical status makes it at least a curiosity for fans of '60s avant-garde cinema.

Continuing our journey back in time, the next short, Manuelle Labor, (2007, 10 minutes, Marie Losier & Guy Maddin) mimics old-timey silent films with the odd tale of two sisters, five brothers and the birth of a pair of hands. This exercise in surrealism is certainly rife with symbolism, but to what end? Its one joke isn't adequate to sustain the full ten minutes, as creepy reaction shots morph into labored mugging from the actors who play the brothers. Though unsettling, there's not enough here to motivate viewers to look deeper.

The DVD

Video:
As with any shorts collection, video quality varies wildly. Everything comes in 1.33:1 fullscreen, though some bits are letterboxed. From state-of-the-art color saturation (Loma Lynda) through faux-deterioration (It Gets Worse) to genuine shopworn grit (Born of the Wind) it's all here. Transfer-wise, this package is great, with no artifacts or other problems readily detectable.

Sound:
Digital Stereo Audio (when applicable - I'd be surprised if Kuchar's soundtrack is in stereo) is workmanlike, strong and decently mixed, though again, sources vary a great deal.

Extras:
Previews for two other Provocateur releases manifest as the one true extra here, because the other extra can't be considered anything more than an additional long, bizarre capper to the series of films you've already seen. It's another short subject, the half-hour-long It Gets Worse (2008, Clifton Childree). Continuing in the archaic vein, It Gets Worse also takes the silent film route in detailing the travails of passengers and crew on a very strange boat. It does indeed get worse, as corny humor barrels into a murder scheme, fecal funnies, lots of bottomless male nudity and enlarged testicle torture. Suffice it to say my wife was baffled and more than a bit disturbed by this, and you will be too. For better or worse, you'll also be enthralled.

Final Thoughts:
Not everything here is an experiment in terror, in fact only three or four could be called truly scary, though every feature here is unsettling in its own way. But they're not all winners - after a super strong start Kuchar's piece and Losier & Maddin's work are something of a letdown. But that's about par for the course where collections of shorts are concerned. Terror fans will enjoy some really solid work and be at least amused by the rest, making this box of evil delights Recommended.

2009-04-09 IFC
By Michael Atkinson

Another hodgepodge disc of underground lurkers, this time skewed toward dismantlings of the horror genre, Microcinema's "Experiments in Terror 3" is catch-as-catch-can, but the fringe-life implied here can be intoxicating, starting with Mike Kuchar's seminal mad-scientist "Born of the Wind" (1964), one of the classic Kuchar brothers' meta-hyper-pulp 8mm splooges (when the two Kuchars were all of 18, already with over a dozen films behind them) that campily mocked and yet paid homage to old Hollywood forms, shot in cluttered Bronx apartments. The idea has proven deathless, and is carried on here by a new short by Guy Maddin (with busy alt-film curator/gadfly Marie Losier), "Manuelle Labor" (2007), a comic Maddin bell jar about a spontaneous birth of a full-grown hand.

There's a Christmas short from nonexistent found-footage auteur J.X. Williams, a stick figure recap of the criminal career of serial cannibal Richard Chase, and a scatological faux-silent featurette by Florida one-man-band Clifton Childree. But kudos should go to Ben Rivers' "Terror!" (2007), or perhaps to the first half of it, which without editorial commentary cobbles together dozens of scenes from '70s and '80s slasher films -- that is, the scenes of waiting, anticipation, silence and confused anxiety, mixing them into a single suite of suspended mayhem. Then, unfortunately, Rivers splices up the climactic gore scenes as well, to much less effect.

2009-03-23 horrornews.net
By Bone Digger

Experiments in Terror 3 is a anthology short film collection produced by Provocateur DVD and curated by Noel Lawrence. Projects like this have to be appreciated for what they are and what they achieve. Uniquely it mixes a collection of older and new shorts. This blend of horror gulash gives the viewer not only a horror experience but era specific ones as well. Proof of this can be found in the shorts
"Satan Claus" and "Born of The Wind".

While the older shorts are simpler and eerie, the newer shorts are violent and visceral. It's also nice to see a usage of not only style but types of presentations. "The psychotic odyssey of Richard Case" is entirely done with dolls, and puppet objects. The story itself is a true story based on a horrific portion of humanity, though even with the usage of props the tale still retains a jarring sense that is hard to imagine, let alone hear. "Satan Claus" to me was one of the more nightmarish. It's simplicity and blatant disregard for the Christmas holiday makes it a retro based horror show. While its clear what the original purpose if it was from the liner notes, the 16 mm stock usage gives it a certain creepiness that stays with you.

"Manuelle Labor" although created in 2007, gave a believable impression of a much earlier film effort using 16 mm stock. The subject matter, the birth of a set of hands is not something you see everyday and makes you wonder how the concept came to mind when trying to think of a suitable storyline. Bizarre is one thing, but combined with horror elements they becomes works of art.

One of the more intriguing and surprising shorts was the 24 min piece called "Terror". "Terror" is not only a visual journey but a statement on the lineage of horror. By using a combination of all sorts of classic modern day horror films, it proves that we as an audience respond to the same types of elements. The elements are repeated, have similarities, execute in the same manner and contain plot directions and narratives that could be called formula driven. Of course most of these that I recognized went on to be big achievements for the genre. It points out that we celebrate content that travel down similar paths. If not that then an ode to the creative horror directors that have the genre figured out and give us what we desire on a continual basis. Fear, buildup, framing, location and camera POVs are all portions that are served up under different shells but still familiar enough to produce the same results in viewers. Remarkable

Rich in paranoia, fear and an assault on the senses, these shorts run this course on several of these little gems. "Born of the Wind", while some of the content dragged, employs the usage of stop motion horrific's in its final act. Thoughts of Frank Zappa and "The Evil dead" come stop mind though the difference being that this film was created in 1961. Not a bad attempt for a 60's project.

"The Red Door" is just plain disturbing. The brunt of this is in the dialog and speech the child abusing father gives to his daughter. You almost want to root for her transformation. It's all pretty much centered in a dark place. While the short is disturbing, the greater notion is that this idea is not far from reality in many sectors of the world. A revenge film is almost required in the making when undergoing such tragic upbringings. A clever usage of symbolism and visceral confrontations.

The whole collection ranges form surreal, to dated, to just plain bizarre. A quality that keeps one engaged to see what pops up next. There was an obvious passion for the materiel collecting that went into this release and that in itself is a great reason to own this product. I would recommend this while also suggesting investigation into the previous efforts 1 and 2 to explore the ideas further.

Available from Provocateur

2009-03-17 curledupdvd.com
By Trent Daniel

From Microcinema International and Provocateur DVD comes a collection of six vastly different horror shorts (plus one extra). While the shorts vary in quality and style, overall the DVD collection is quite effective and highly recommended for horror buffs, as well as fans of experimental short films in particular.

In discussing the shorts presented on this disc, I’ve ranked them in order of personal preference:

Terror! (2007) by Ben Rivers is in actuality a collage of scenes from many horror classics and cult films (with focus primarily on the slasher films of the late 1970s and early ‘80s). The film is brilliantly edited, recycling through the many clichés of the genre (such as going into the spooky house/cabin/building alone) all the way to a nightmarish explosion of gory climaxes. Even though horror geeks like me will see scenes that they have already seen countless times, the film is so well put together that genuine suspense and scares are built. It is the overall best short on the collection because, while it does show the limitations of the genre, it also shows the genuinely strong emotional power at the core of a well-done horror film.

Satan Claus (1975) by J.X Williams. Though other shorts on this DVD are obviously of better quality, this 3-minute short is so creepy, hilarious and, well, cool that I had to rank it second. The film is simply a few scenes from a bizarre Mexican film titled Santa Claus (that was once featured in a brilliant episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000) peppered with scenes from the horror classic Deep Red. However, the backstory of the film makes it even more appealing: apparently, Williams made the film as a “present” to his boss, who had decided to lay off Williams from his camera operator job at a movie theater the week of Christmas. On his last day, he ran this short right before the children’s matinee and then left his boss to fend off the numerous outraged parents!

Loma Lynda: The Red Door (2008) by Jason Bognacki is actually an extended trailer for his film. However, the trailer itself is extremely unsettling and nightmarish. Set in a dark hotel room in Hollywood, the film is part David Lynch psychological mind trip and part Dario Argento blood-drenched giallo. The short seems to be about a beautiful young woman being brutalized in a hotel room, only to be rescued and to exact revenge on her attacker through her “fantasy twin.” This short is brutal, nightmarish and not for the squeamish.

Born of the Wind (1961) by Mike Kuchar does not go for the scares as much as some other films on this disc yet works as a rather beautiful and haunting love story. The simple plot: a scientist discovers that human blood will bring to life a 2000-year-old mummy princess. He instantly falls in love with the beautiful princess, but he discovers her condition will deteriorate rapidly unless she receives a constantly supply of fresh blood. The ending is surprising and effective.

The Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase (1999) by Carey Burtt is essentially a one-gimmick short. Using Barbie and Ken dolls, Burtt retells the horrific crimes of Richard Chase. He also, using a disturbingly distorted voice, narrates the film and uses the dolls to reenact Chase’s gruesome crimes. Though rather amateurish (and again, “one note”), the overall effect is still quite chilling.

Manuelle Labor (1999) by Marie Losier and Guy Maddin. Though Maddin is clearly the most well-regarded filmmaker seen on this DVD, his short is overall the least effective - mainly because it is not horror. The film, shot as an early 20 silent about a woman giving birth to two bodiless arms, is more an exercise in Maddin’s bizarre black comedy than a true horror film. It’s worth a look but doesn’t really belong on this disc.

Again, this DVD is worth a look by horror film buffs like me, especially for Terror! and the hilarious Satan Claus. Fans of experimental films will find much to enjoy here as well, for these films are strikingly different in the means by which they explore the boundaries of the genre.

Extras:

* A short film entitled It Gets Worse (2008) by Clifton Childree, which is also more a gross exercise in black comedy than a horror film.
* Trailers for upcoming releases by Provocateur.