Halloween Hype 2009, Pt. III
[1969 / Clu Gulager / *****]
As perfect an 18 minutes of film as you’ll find. Cult figure Gulagar directed his only film with this short masterwork. Not your typical creepy-kids horror film, this is instead a beautiful work of art and experimentation. With gorgeous use of filters, freeze frames, slow-motion, landscape, still photography and impending doom.
The film is unfairly hard to find (if you don’t have the Internet I that is [although I still wasn’t able to locate full length version on the webs]). Thankfully, the short film is included on Criterion’s DVD for David Gordon Green’s George Washington - a beautiful debut film in it’s own right from one of my favourite current filmmakers, so I’m thrilled to have it in my collection. It’s a very clear, and admitted influence on Green’s film, as it should be for any director.
Oh, the linked review above is spoiler-heavy. Best to just watch the film cold (shared video to follow).
