The Inflicted Review from Osiris Entertainment!
Having reviewed Matthan Harris and his short movie, Sudden Reality (see review here), I decided at the conclusion of that one to have a gander at his feature length offering, The Inflicted, from a few years back which featured a fair decent handful of known genre faces in quick and fast take-out roles. The man himself sent me a link to watch it. Matthan is a rising indie scene star whom handles a lot of jobs like a one man army of psychopathic surgeons.
Beginning in 1992, Bill Moseley is standing beside his posh family set up telling his son to get inside for lunch. “Look sweetie,” he plays a music box to his daughter, “Isn’t that cute?” Bill doesn’t do family man roles well, I’m afraid. His demented look and voice reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way when he does that mental laugh (you know the scene) and I think hardly any child in the world trusted him from that moment onwards. Aha, but it is all for a reason because Bill pushes his daughter into the pool and watches her drown. “It’s okay, son, your sister has gone to heaven.” he informs his lad who tries to save her.
That’s all pre-credits and we arrive to meet central character, Matthan Harris as David, who has grown over the years from the young lad who saw his sister drown. We are well into present day. He jogs and approaches an old friend, Melissa. David is now a medical school student and a very nice chap who Melissa goes out with. The date goes fantastic. He’s charming in a forced wooden way — she doesn’t notice this — she just swept away by him. Melissa notices a photograph of him and a girl called Andrea who went missing a year ago. Suddenly, there’s a needle in her neck like an animal being put to sleep and David is your everyday nice bloke killer with a dark past and reasoning in his blackened heart for everything he does.
Melissa wakes as a captive in a Charnel House of body parts and drugs. David sits beside her playing a music box. Fade out and it’s business as usual for him. He goes to class and picks up another girl.
“This morning, I was notified of a missing person’s case.” I love movies where it’s spot the genre legend cameo star. This time it’s Italian gore veteran, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, as Lieutenant Lorenzo deep inside the local police station. “Now this girl hasn’t been heard from by her family or friends for two weeks.” He sends two of his best everyday-man looking officers, Frederick and Andrews, out on the case.
Meanwhile, David is raping the new girl whilst Melissa looks on in terror. “You are here for a very special reason,” he tells her afterwards, “To bring life into this world. To give me the family I never had!” So there’s a segment of his blackened heart. Melissa isn’t too impressed by this. David states that no woman could truly love him and bring him a family because of who he is. He would be seen as an unfit father.
Frederick and Andrews begin their search and interviews. They receive a call from Lorenzo who has found that the last mobile conversation from Melissa was with David O’Hara. He tells them where to find David. They catch up with him as he’s beginning to entwine another girl at college. He answers their questions and Detective Andrews checks his place out. One thing leads to another, with the Detective being choked out with cheese wire. Frederick, upon seeing David hauling bin liners crammed full into his car, phones Lorenzo stating he reckons Andrews has just been killed and he decides not to wait for backup. He follows David straight to the edifice of nightmares. Being that the film is still less than 20 minutes in, you can figure that David’s mission isn’t going to be cut short just yet. On the run, who does he turn to? His Daddy, Bill Moseley.
Melissa has been set free and is pregnant. She is seen to by Dr. Gardner, played by Sid Haig in a rare as Unicorns good guy role. Nine months pass by. Lorenzo is back on a new murder case who might be connected to the David O’Hara case. “He has been hiding in the shadows for nine months.” he warns Melissa. It seems David has been hiding at his Dad’s place. Dad isn’t too happy he has killed again. David compares this to the death of his sister. Daddy explains why he did that then loans him a gun. “You do what you need to do. It’s your family.” David turns his attentions to Melissa and his child. Police protection isn’t any good. Melissa and baby Jessica are taken.
David’s father has a visit from the FBI, Agent Wilson, who was Pinhead in another life, it’s Mr. Doug Bradley. Of course, David’s father knows nothing at all. Wilson figures he is hiding something.
David has his family living with him, hidden. Melissa is stronger than she was before and there are a few verbal and physical conflicts between them, leading to the death of their baby. David totally goes off the rails. All the while, Wilson and Lorenzo are closing in.
This is a horror fan movie. Due to lack of distribution it’s a shame not many will see it. Yes, the story is standard, and somewhat predictable in places, but the acting work (if not for some of the awkward dialogue) and the atmosphere of the movie more than makes up for it. Matthan is good as the central character, though he looks a bit nervous here and there, plus some of his lines appear forced rather than natural. Hell, it was his first big project and he had a hell of a lot to do. The fact he has gathered so many forces within The Inflicted and not wasted the talents like a lot of wider released flicks, is commendable and he deserves a red carpet.
That’s the thing, I like the fact that the legends in this film are spread out in meaty cameos. What I mean is, they aren’t all just in one scene and gone. For instance, Bill Moseley and Giovanni Lombardo Radice have a handful of important scenes throughout. (As a matter of fact, this is probably one of the best roles I have seen Bill take on in recent years). It just feels so much better that way, not the feeling they’ve popped by to say “hello” and collected some cash for the visit. Even Sid pops up a few times rather than a one-off moment, which are standard roles for him. Matthan told me he purposefully wrote them all into roles which they had never done before, eg, Sid as a kindly psychiatrist, and Doug as a tough nut FBI agent.
The Inflicted isn’t perfect, but in a saturated market of low budget movies with fancy dandy covers who give star billing to an actor we all know but walks by like Alfred Hitchcock, this one is a diamond in a pit of gravel. I sensed a few embers of old stalk and slash ‘70s cheapies and Italian red bloodied VHS rentals. The music score helps too, by Marco (Giallo, Wrestlers vs Zombies) Werba, as does the effects by an able team.
The conclusion leaves everything wide open which is a mandatory need for a lot of films and I felt a little let down that The Inflicted followed the route since a full stop exclamation mark I think was needed.
Yeah, grab the DVD or download, however you want it. It’s an okay way to spend a chiller on the sofa night if you don’t go in all serious like some reviewers have on Amazon. Miserable dicks, some people. Missing the point entirely.
AKA: The Infliction, Sex Maniac, The Inflicted – Der Frauenmorder
Directed by: Matthan Harris | Written by: Matthan Harris | Produced by: Matthan Harris, Jack Harris, Mary Kirby | Cinematography by: Cira Felina Bolla | Editing by: Matthew Thornbury | Special Effects by: Michael Brower, Patrick Cupp, Joshua Fread, Heather Henry | Music by: Marco Werba | Cast: Matthan Harris, Lindsey Hightower, Bill Moseley, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Sid Haig, Doug Bradley, Kim Cicio | Year: 2012 | Country: USA | Colour: Colour | Language: English | Runtime: 1h 23min
Studio: Incisive Pictures
Distribution: Osiris Entertainment
