Lowlifes

Lowlifes
Lowlifes

In the quest for peace, a family takes an RV into the quiet countryside, only to be met with hostility from the locals. With contributions from both Tesh Guttikonda (Just Another Ghost Story, Make Me Feel) and Saskatoon local Mitch Oliver (The Druid’s Hand), Lowlifes offers a new twist on the traditional horror genre storylines.

It would spoil the experience of this movie which such viewers are waiting for in the first place. It is enough to say that the film breaks the rules of the genre, the opening sequence itself shows another family relishing a barbecue. I loved the fact that the usual clichés were brought’ forwards and instead, I appreciated the references to horror films that I grew up watching such as The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Let us summarize by saying that it is about a family from the city Keith (Matthew MacCaull, Deadly Midwife, The Island Between Tides), Kathleen (Elyse Levesque, Ready or Not, Disquiet), Amy (Amanda Fix, North of Normal, Orphan Black: Echoes) and Jeffery (Josh Zaharia, Upside-Down Magic, The Legend of La Llorona) on an RV trip. Following the inevitable disaster they are hosted by a hick family, the Clearys, Savannah (Brenna Llewellyn, Gray Matter, Role Play), Juli Ann (Cassandra Sawtell, Boy in the Walls, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) Neville (Kevin McNulty, Parallel, The Uninvited), and Big Mac (Dayleigh Nelson, Detective Knight: Redemption, Been There All Along).

Some aspects that I really found appealing about the film include the zany tempo of the action, the screenplay, the special effects, and the way that the story unfolds in a rather twisted way resulting in the final scene going up into pandemonium. This is a non-stop action picture and what I particularly liked about the movie is that there was never a dull moment as the action would only become more frantic no matter what situation two or more characters were in.

Al Kaplan (Zombeavers, Critters A New Binge) has a good sense of writing and some of the best leashes in this movie are those that he has put into the script. On a background note, the phrase “I eat pussy, not people!” had me in stitches! There is a special place for Todd Masters, quite simply, special effects genius. His name should be familiar to slasher fans with films including Predator, Tales From the Crypt, Dune Part Two, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Slither.

During the Q&A, I felt that the director Mitch Oliver answered a question I was still grappling with words to describe when it was being asked. The question was in regards to the horror genre, and while I can’t remember how it was put to the audience, I know it was something about horror tropes. I found Mitch\’s answer to be exceedingly charitable and well-reasoned.

In his youth, he claims he was an ardent lover of the classic approaches of horror movies, yet he desired to be treated in some sensible way, as a viewer. He said that he imagined a horror movie that treated its audience with some respect and actually paid attention to the fact that the audience had seen some horror movies in their lives.

I mean, I did get what he was trying to convey. Films like The Hills Have Eyes or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series have affected my life in a way that transformed me into the horror buff that I am today. But were I to go back to seeing those sorts of movies today, I really wouldn’t consider them to be very challenging going by the way I felt as a young adult watching them for the first time. Such a context and indeed respect for the old horror films is something that many of the viewers of Lowlifes are aware of and come ready with.

And this respect for the audience really comes into Lowlifes. And that respect for the process also reflects to the filmmakers. It is refreshing to note that many of us get to create and consume films and narratives and engage in discourse about them. For the moderate Saskatchewan boy like Mitch Oliver, I can understand how one would be able to see the respect behind directing and narrating a story. With this concept, in mind, he looks at himself as the storyteller of Lowlifes where he solely entertains the idea of himself being the bodacious storyteller bringing you all the ‘Lowlifes’ interactive story, gripping tale whereas one should cherish such chance.

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