What I'm Watching: Bad Reception
Welcome to the new What I'm Watching section!
Which is just the journal section renamed. I figured just making this the section of the site where I do smaller reviews for things that don't fit the wider theme just made sense.
ANYways, this time out, I've been watching Bad Reception.
This movie is about a guy who finds a tv on the side of the road, takes it home, and discovers it doesn't work. But it soon unfolds that anyone who sits in front of the tv shall be judged by the spirit of a long dead preacher, and killed if they are found guilty.
Oh sweet potatoes, this movie is like The Video Dead and Redeemer: Son of Satan got together and had a little baby.
Yes, with that plot description, and touching on two of my favourite reviews, I had to check this thing out, and it delivers.
Not a good story, but it delivers plenty of strange. Granted, not as much strange as Redeemer, but what the hell does?
The cast is pretty meh across the board, but that's unsurprising for this sort of project. The writing isn't great, which is also par for the course but...
This is one of those movies that just has something. And at least some of that is identifiable. The mythology of the movie, of a group of priests who would travel around and judge people with their scribes, until one of them went bad and was burned alive, claiming he would one day return and seek his vengeance...hell, that's a good idea. I just wish it was more fleshed out and made more sense at the end of the day.
It is never really explained why or how this all revolves around a tv, other than having a hand McGuffin to focus on and try and smash. The various ways all the kills happen is actually really REALLY good, and almost worth seeing the creativity there, however.
The ending is actually most satisfying, even while leaving open routes to a sequel, as unlikely as those may be. The story wraps up, and there is arguably a winner, and the movie stays more or less within its own rules, even if it makes them up as it goes along.
The best part of the movie is the detective looking into all the random murders that our main character seems weirdly connected to, but then reveals he knows all about this ancient order, and how to defeat this rogue priest's spectre. He drives the plot forward, he's a decent actor, and he's probably more important than anyone else in the film.
Sadly, the movie never reaches greatness, but the unique plot, with the low budget, and lower acting actually makes this a great movie for Trisk. I only wish it was a little more strange, but it's a pretty decent diversion for our usual fare.
But really, how many evil televisions are out there?!
