
Bogieville was one of the highlights that I really looked forward to within this year’s FrightFest. More specifically, it would be about vampires. Who doesn’t love a good vampire movie? The trailer somehow displayed an epic brawl between two factions of warring bloodsuckers. This may sound odd but before I even ended up seeing Bogieville, I tried imagining everything about the film including hopefully scene that features Director Sean Cronin. I was really looking forward to having some entertaining, filthy fun with vampires.
For an audience arriving in Bogieville without prior awareness, it would surprise them within the first few minutes of the film itself. Four minutes into the film, there is a pager showing a scary woman trying her best to track down a menstruating woman in a sequence that comes even before the logos of the production company begin to appear. Cronin had this to say about the scene: “The opening of Bogieville has potentially perhaps slightly ‘taboo’ subject matter, in that our vampires know when it is a woman’s time of the month (although we have toned it down considerably from the original cut) it is quite like a shark when it smells blood in the water, our vampires have elements of this as well, something which has never been alluded to in vampire movies gone by.” I would tend to agree. While it was somewhat suggested in Run, Sweetheart, Run and was blatantly sexualized in Anne Rice’s Memnoch, The Devil, this has never been tackled in this manner on screen. Not everyone will love it, but it is certainly dramatic and captivating in an unpleasant way, there is no denying that.
As Bogieville restarts after witnessing the horror brought to it by creatures of the night, it shifts to the viewer’s focus on the character of Ham played by Arifin Putra from The Raid 2, and Jody who is played by Eloise Lovell Anderson from The Bastard Executioner, who stuns viewers as residents of the southern states who are really struggling to cope with the economic downturn. It seems like the day when both of them are let go from their workplaces simultaneously is a cue for Ham to relocate. They are however met with a rather disappointing finding of a trailer park called Bogieville. Ham is offered a position assisting the park’s manager, Crawford played by Jonathan Hansler, in taking care of the resort, but on very bad conditions. The worst condition is that they are in danger if they leave Jody\’s blood scent behind and vampires can track the couple anywhere.
Even if the movie is centered on Ham and Jody, at its core is actually a tale about holding on to family and family bonds that seem impossible to sever. Crawford admits his brother Madison (Cronin) is the one who saved him and his Lily (Poppie Jae Hughes) when they had nowhere to go. Now relying on him, Crawford claims responsibility for Madison and his wife Tess (Sarina Taylor) who, after turning into vampires, are taking care of his daughter. So, Crawford’s plan involves operating in a Renfield-like role, which allows him to protect his real family and manage the vampire trailer court of Bogieville. It appears that Ham and Jody were sent like angels down to them to help with a hopeless cry of distress that was all but piteously begged for. This is not stated, but some of the dialogues leave you wondering whether Crawford is asking for help, telling his daughter he’s getting old and cannot look after the nest eternally. Furthermore, one can only assume that the fact that Bogieville is always under attack at night has some bearing on the character’s decision.
In however doing so while making Crawford become the day watchman, viewers in this instance are taken for the tour. There’s no one who likes talking about V, and it is such a relief when Ham gets Crawford to do it. Only at this point, it seems that the movie is about to start with plenty of blood since Crawford shows Ham the ashy remains of vampirized people, with the vampires waiting to attack from inside the trailer. The thing about it is Bogieville has an issue with making that turn. When we see Lily going out for a snack, we have a fleeting moment with Tequila Carter’s fantasy makeup effects which makes me even more hyped about the forthcoming Poohniverse film Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. Later also Bogieville develops the plot further, only mentioning Crawford briefly instead.
Joining Bogieville as the third element is the high Nicole Oring. It can be safely said that this one is always looking for trouble. It can be seen that too much is gone on the part of the two. As more evidence sluts that vampires are life, the more the town decides to let. The more and more towns became involved in making Bogie Town. This only made Bogie City even Busier. Emphasis is being put on the cones and Bogie starts taking charge of the story.
Cronin is firmly no slouch since he has already shot a number of films. One word- Bogieville is a deliciously looking film. I expect my filming style if he is the DP for this shoot. Amidst so many of the places in the film being closet coupled, there are never gap in this film, and its nicely edited. It was impressive and literally the image of Ayvianna Snow stuck between top lights as blood and mucous ran down her face focused and reflected so much the hyped-up center between over shady lights that attracted me to Bogie Town in the first place. It fights it well but majorly the shot editing feels like it’s trying to do too many things at once.
Bogieville’s misfortune is that by the moment the film captures the chaotic amusement, the viewership has more or less turned off. The trials it tries to leave viewers with are not sufficient in quenching their bloodthirst. Quite a number of the initial vampire moments, the deaths and turning, occur off camera, allowing no return or satisfaction to the eyeball peeping. Cronin and the writer Henry P. Gravelle try to compensate this to the viewers through Crawford’s backstory presenting extreme tragedy and the kind of situation that Ham and Jody find themselves being in the middle of a trailer park turf war. The more the film tries to introduce more characters, it equally seems to disassociate the viewers as well. There isn’t a flow, although some sequences here and there, most notably a brutal brawl towards the climax of the film, provide some life. Unfortunately, it appears that Bogieville just doesn’t nail the finale.
Bogieville ends up in a very strange place. It is exemplary in a way that cuts off a shocking cold open, which sets a tone for the movie that it never manages to return to. Also, the general production quality of the movie is impressive. However, I feel the film finds it hard to choose a path and therefore struggles with the story. Bogieville is not a stand-alone movie, but rather an episodical series in the existence of which its parent feels some hopeless b movies in the direction of Near Dark by Kathryn Bigelow there seem to be a few enticing action horror segments, so it must be action horror movie, right? WRONG. The characters, however, are self-pitying and dramatic to the point where the pieces cannot be assembled in such a manner.
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