Applecart

Proving that his productions are unpredictable and wildly different from one another, Dustin Mills' latest low budget shocker is a totally different kettle of fish to his previous movies.

Shot in beautiful monochrome, Applecart is Mills' homage to the silent movie. Think The Artist, but with gratuitous nudity, violence and a prosthetic penis that is startlingly realistic (thanks to Marcus Koch's outrageous talent). Divided into a quartet of short fables / modern morality tales, the film is experimental, daring and, at times, uncomfortable viewing. Not since Douglas Buck's A Trilogy of America have I felt so exposed to the dark underbelly of modern suburbia.

Whilst I prefer the more conventional storytelling contained within Mills' earlier offerings, Applecart is a solid film. It managed to make me flinch, jump and wince, not an easy feat.

Hats off to the team for their bravery. It's a reflection on Mills as a director that he manages time and time again to bring out outstanding and memorable performances from his cast. They trust him and the results are sheer brilliance. I'm gobsmacked at the candid nature of the Crumpleshack productions. Yet, despite the nudity and adult themes, Mills' always manages to retain a sense of morality. There's no glorification of violence (unless it's killer rabbits running amok) and sensitive topics are handled with the appropriate care.

8 out of 10. Not my favourite offering from Dustin Mills but the bar's set so high, my favourites will take some beating. If you're new to this director, I'd recommend Her Name Was Torment, Kill That Bitch, Easter Casket or Skinless to begin with. This is more of a palette cleaner between his more traditional genre movies and more art house than independent horror.

Applecart comes at you immediately like a refreshing blast of cold water in a desert wasteland of missed opportunities that seems to permeate the Indie Horror scene. From the very first scene Dustin gives you an inkling that the film you are about to watch is going to offer imagery that might be bluntly presented to you and often can push boundaries.

This is a film that uses a silent film set up but uses a laugh track as a way to nudge the audience into understanding where the characters stand as well as making that track a character itself. The actors all use masks and use body language to evoke emotion but all put on incredible performances and articulate the character's emotions better than most speaking roles do. The masks themselves feel very natural very shortly into the film and you have to credit the cast for being able to make you forget they're wearing them. The stories themselves are all fairly short and tell tales of lust, cheating and failed seduction and are done so very convincingly.

The score is one of piano music that you would definitely associate with the old musical sets that would accompany the silent films in the theaters. Watching this on a bigger screen and even in a theater atmosphere gives you a vibe of instant nostalgia that only heightens the experience.

Overall this is a film without spoken dialogue yet it had a lot to say. The actors weren't hindered by masks that prevented their facial expression, they were enhanced and emboldened by it. Some people might find the graphic nudity and sexually explicit scenes to not be their cup of tea and to them I say - this is art. Art is expressive and raw and sometimes it requires an extremely open mind to really appreciate and interpret, but once you toss all of those prejudgments aside you really get a pretty amazing film.

Dustin Mills is without a doubt my favourite director working in the indie horror scene nowadays. His films are weird, creative and 100% inspirational. That being said, not all of his stuff really appeals to me. I love his films Easter Casket, Zombie A-Hole, Heart Attack and Skinless, but some of his more mean spirited stuff isn't my cup of tea. That being said, that doesn't mean those entries are any less well-made or creative. And that goes for Applecart.

While I cannot fully recommend it, it does have it's audience and it is a film that I think anyone who is interested in independent art should check out. It's mean, honest and punctuated by some strikingly creative sound design.