20 SHADES OF RED: Twenty Reviews of 20 Horror Films By Crimson Al-Khemia

A Terrible Odor Blows in The Wind Director: Michael Mongillo

I dont know what I just watched. What first started out like a public access documentary on the apocalypse quickly became a rated-R afterschool special. Its not as great as it sounds. Actors pulled straight from first week of acting class with a story that made little or no sense at all. Let create the synopsis for you: Clair (Carolyn Camburn) calls up old-school friend Billy (Phillip Karner), John (Scott Parish), and Mic (Zeke Rippey) to meet her in a field to show them that a mutual friend, Bob (James Thalman), had sent an explicit, kidnapper-esque love card of naked woman with the Virgin Marys head taped to it. Clair, rejecting Bobs advances, fires up the boys for help, in which her deception is obvious to the audience, but not to the three imbalanced fools. They meet up with Bob, interrogate him, then in a blinding rage, Mic beats Bob to death. The rest of the film is dealing with covering up their knowledge, Mics guilt plaguing him, Clairs flirtation with the other three, and Bobs younger brother who attempts to blackmail them so he can be part of their group of friends. Actors, looking in their late 20s/early 30s, playing as young college adults, with the mentality and language skills of high school teenagers. Thats where the afterschool special feel mode comes in. Mix in Johns intimidation of Mic by making sexual advances toward his widowed mother with fear of police questioning (and there is not one cop or detective in this small, suburban community where a murder has taken place), and you have one terrible, bumbling film attempting to shock an already distracted audience in the year 2001. Yes, this is an older film. The two highlights of the film were: 1) Mic rehearsing how to tell his mother about the murder (the only part with real emotion and humor), and 2) Billy playing Resident Evil 2, which got more screen time than it should have, but was the best part of the film. Attempting to shock an audience, during the campfire scene, Clair, John, and Billy all start up a three-way with the boys kissing. I feel that Velvet Goldmine (1998) already took the steam away from that taboo before this awful film came along.

The ending itself, well, was as lost as the beginning of the film was. I really dont know what else to say.

SCORECARD Going In: C = The Wind? It must be a supernatural film. Coming Out: D- = So the Wind blew leaves around in the forest during the murder. Thats it. How to Watch: Dont. Just dont.