Film Review: Pop Skull
Pop Skull (2008)
Studio: Halo 8
Theatrical Release Date: July 28, 2009
Directed By: Adam Wingard
Cast: Lane Hughes, Brandon Carroll, Hannah Hughes, Maggie Henry
Review By: Marc Patterson
I’m going to preface this review by stating that Adam Wingard sent me a copy of his film roughly a year ago and I didn’t review it, and for that I have to publically apologize. I believe I did offer some feedback, but that was about it. In my defense here’s why… I didn’t feel I could write about and review a film that was so incredibly brilliant when I couldn’t viably send my readers to a place where they could see this film. At that time there was no distribution for the film, nor any real prospects for distribution. Screenings were nigh to non-existent, and so there I was with this incredibly mind-blowing piece of cinema that I couldn’t really share with people. Other larger sites such as TwitchFilm were certainly putting the word out about the brilliance of the film (not a direct quote), which I’m sure helped the film find some distribution. We weren’t there quite yet. Right or wrong what’s done is done. Pop Skull, a little film made on a shoestring budget of roughly $3,000 is about to find itself statewide distribution through Halo-8, and it’s a beautiful thing.
Pop Skull isn’t your standard horror film. Though it retains Wingard’s minimalist stylings, it’s not even like his earlier film Home Sick (released through Synapse). It’s a mind altering trip through extremely haunting territory and brilliantly shot. It opens with a direct warning: “The following film contains sequences that many not be suitable for individuals diagnosed with epilepsy”. That ought to be a tip off right there. Our advice in lieu of this disclaimer: Don’t watch this film in the daylight. Save it for the night, when it’s dark and you can fix your attention directly on the screen. You might visually go numb, but it will be worth it.
Daniel (Lane Hughes), our lead character, is a southern boy from Alabama who has resorted to habitual pill popping after his breakup with his longtime girlfriend. His drug induced visions lead him to increasingly dark places, where lines of reality blur with hallucinations until he begins to see things, really bizarre things, including a ghostly presence that seems to have ill intent.
Albeit the rather simple premise its Wingard’s masterful ability in how he presents the subject matter that makes this film a treat to watch. The story is born out of heartbreak and depression, presented in full psychotropic Technicolor. Immediately noticeable is the haunting tone of Daniels narration, which will cut inside of you in a chilling way, and his quiet southern accent complements this nicely. This quickly segues into a nightmarish world of drug abuse that will grip you and not let go as it pulls you directly into the mind of a pill popper. Visually his film will take you into a deep place of unnerving restlessness. Images layered upon images, colors and pulsating lights, glaring with the sound are all intending to fully immerse you into the pill popping experience, and thanks to Wingard’s careful attention to the editing process this is done quite effectively. Further complementing the mind bending array of visuals is an amazing soundtrack of hypnotic ambient beats that mutate into grinding harsh cuts of pure noise. It’s the kind of jarring noise that will grow like cancer from your bowels before taking over your consciousness, consuming you alive. The soundtrack becomes as much a part of the experience as the visuals.
I have to spend a moment on the “horror” aspect of the film. Not a lot of time is spent on blood spattered grotesqueries, primarily due to lack of a budget. There’s nary a drop of blood to be found in the film and the ghosts that haunt the film are presented in such minimalist fashion, using the quick cut editing stylings previously mentioned. However, despite the lack of visual horrors Pop Skull still works effectively to the end for which it was designed.
Pop Skull is the kind of horror that proves you don’t have to have a million dollar budget to make a superior horror film. You just need a strong vision, a compelling story, and some serious creative talent in how you want to present the story. From beginning to end this is the type of film I would make if I had the time, spare cash, and talent to make. Since I don’t have enough of any of these I’ll happily relegate myself to watching this multiple times over, to which I have already done.
Brutal As Hell Rating:
4 ½ out of 5
