The Bad Man

source: The Bad Man

You have to know what to expect when watching these low budget movies. They are made with a passion for the genre using friends and or family to help with every aspect. With that said this is an excellent addition to Scott Schirmers catalogue. Ellie Church is amazing as always as were Jason and Arthur in their roles. This story is a sad one and probably happens in all parts of the world. Unless you understand exactly what it takes to put together a film, any film, regardless of quality, its tough to sit on a couch and just trash the effort. Kudos Schirmer and crew !!

The latest effort from the talented low-budget director Scott Schirmer is The Bad Man. Utilizing many from the Ellie Church posse of hard-working emerging actors, we get another solid effort. Solid but not great, as compared to some of the previous efforts from said team (Found, Plank Face, Harvest Lake). The movie starts off rather strong but when it gets into the daring parts we've been waiting for, and come to expect from Schirmer, it swings and misses with the shock value, edge, and grit. The elements are there, and some things happen (in a tame manner) but it doesn't execute to expectations. It's not the usual graphically disturbing or uncomfortably daring ride I've come to look forward to with this team. Yes, it's still disturbing content, but I wanted to see how these usually unstoppable actors were going to nail the very uncomfortable stuff. I was left feeling like there was missed opportunities on this one. I still think it's worth a watch, and still good considering the limits and financial boundaries a low/no budget independent film team endures. Keep 'em coming..

After taking over a bed-and-breakfast, a couple finds that their latest guest is a deranged clown who kidnaps people and breaks them down to be sold as sex slaves to the highest bidder and has his targets set on them, constantly drugging and abusing them to carry out his mission forcing them to get away alive. This was a rather tough and uncomfortable effort. That the majority of the film is dependent on the brutal psychological torment dished out is a big part of this one, creating an uneasy and uncomfortable atmosphere that is highly impressive. Constantly trying to impart physical dominion over the two by emphasizing their animalistic and inhuman tendencies under the threat of drugging as well as physical and mental abuse, there's a lot to like here with how this one exploits their breakdown at the pressure of being trapped in that situation. Offering a truly uncomfortable and unfamiliar vibe present with the implication of the bondage equipment in their training and their will to survive the situation regardless of how they're treated, these scenes create a disturbing feeling that keeps growing more intense with the failed escape attempts and inability to gain the upper hand regardless of their chances to do so. The finale, where everything gets resolved and taken care of in rather unexpected manners, features a lot to like as well with the resolution to it all and some unconventional means of wrapping it all up, giving this a lot to like about it. That said, there are some flaws with this one. The main issue is the fact that there's just not much here that really creates a lot of interesting action throughout here. Despite being psychologically unbearing and breaking down their mental capabilities, very little of it actually is geared to do that with the lack of on-screen punishment doled out. Rather than see any kind of consequence of their misbehavior with some kind of extreme punishment, it leans more into verbal lashings and druggings which don't really have the same impact especially with the repetitious tactics coming into play. Doing the same thing with them where he simply takes out a needle and knocks them out doesn't keep this one interesting all too long and leaves the first half quite dull at the wrong point. As well, that highlights the film's other issue where it comes off somewhat slow to get going and results in a challenge to stay interested in this section which ends up causing this to feel slightly too long for its own good. This could've also used the interview segments completely trimmed out to help this, which eliminates a lot of the tension involving their survival and interrupts the flow of what's going on, but otherwise, this one does have some issues. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Extreme Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, sexual and psychological degradation and humiliation and drug use.