Brendan Jesus
Horror comes in so many shapes and sizes. Sometimes the most unassuming films can be the ones that hit you the hardest. One of the best things about covering festivals like Popcorn Frights is that you never really know what you’re in store for. There are two films in the lineup I was eager to see, for totally different reasons. One film, The Last Movie Ever Made, sold me on the title alone, while Invoking Yell was something I missed at another festival so I knew I had to watch it. Invoking Yell wears its horror on its sleeve and doesn’t back down. On the other hand, The Last Movie Ever Made is slow, methodic, and truly inspiring. Both are films about friendship and moviemaking, but tell their stories in extremely different ways.
The Last Movie Ever Made
Written and Directed by Nathan Blackwell
Seeking a film crew for the end of the world. It should be noted that The Last Movie Ever Made isn’t necessarily billed as a horror film, but falls more in the dramedy category. I would like to make the argument it is indeed a horror film. One of the greatest things about horror is how it can be any and everything that causes a harsh reaction in the viewer based on the situation of the characters. Whether it’s a masked man chasing a group of teenagers through the woods with a weapon or the end of the world imminently approaching, horror can be anything.
The Last Movie Ever Made follows Marshall (Adam Rini) who, along with the rest of the world, finds out the world will be over in 30 days. Marshall is a self-centered wannabe filmmaker who fell into a routine of nothingness and complacency. Upon hearing this horrible news, Marshall decides to reconnect with his old friends from high school to finish an Ed Wood-like film they abandoned long ago. Some join him, some don’t. Realizing they need more than just a couple of people to finish this film, Marshall tries to make some new friends in the hopes they can have the premiere of their film right as the world ends. What transpires over the next hour and a half is one of the most uniquely charming, heartwarming, and self-reflecting genre films I have seen in a very long time.
If I had to label the type of horror this film is, it would have to be existential horror. What’s great about existential horror is you don’t need jump scares or horrifically violent images, you just need to make the film viewer feel true emotions. One of the most impressive things about The Last Movie Ever Made is how self-reflective it can make you feel. I, along with many others, didn’t really use the pandemic to further ourselves creatively, rather we took an incredibly unfortunate event and just sat on the couch, letting time pass us by. Watching this film made me want to get off my ass and actually do something. But more than that, it made me truly sad that any film someone makes can very much be their last movie ever made. So why not put 110% into everything you do? Because you don’t know when it will be the last time. This film made me think a lot for the next few days.
The ensemble of characters in this film is incredibly entertaining and directed incredibly by Blackwell. There’s a sort of Be Kind Rewind feeling to the ensemble that is just incredibly charming, and has you rooting for them from the very second they start filming. A specific incident throws a monkey wrench in their plan halfway through, and seeing just how they come together as a group of friends to troubleshoot the mishap made me cry. It’s incredibly sweet to see how these people who barely know each other are so passionate about doing one last thing before they perish, that they basically turn into one big family.
Blackwell’s direction expertly shifts between serious and silly, going between the homemade movie and the “real world.” The direction finds ways to shine in either scene, and this does so much for the film in the film as the direction feels different enough making it feel as if Marshall, and not Blackwell, is directing the film. The overall feel of this film is Seeking a Friend for the End of the World meets Ed Wood, with a healthy dose of optimistic nihilism and existential horror. All around, The Last Movie Ever Made exceeds expectations. It does not force itself into any single genre, rather, it acts as a love letter to film, friendship, and fortitude.
Invoking Yell
Written by Patricio Valladares and Barry Keating, Directed by Patricio Valladares
I’ve seen Lords of Chaos a few times and have listened to the Last Podcast on the Left series covering Norwegian Black Metal, but that’s about the extent of my personal connection to the subgenre. The purpose of it is not lost on me, but it’s just not my forte. That being said, it’s an interesting and exquisite topic to learn about. Invoking Yell brings black metal to the world of found footage in this chilling and harsh supernatural found footage film.
Invoking Yell follows Andrea (María Jesús Marcone) and Tania (Macarena Carrere), two members of a black metal band, as they go to a site where 10 kids died in order to record a cursed demo tape. Their trip is documented by Ruth (Andrea Ozuljevich) and her two cameras. What initially starts as three friends, well two friends and one using Ruth for her camera, trying to create a new subgenre of black metal slowly turns into a fight for survival against forces seen and unseen. Andrea and Tania plan on using an interesting concept called psychophony in the hopes of getting a supernatural feature on their demo.
The majority of Invoking Yell works, as Valladares’s direction is broodingly subtle. Where the film misses the mark a little is how cheesily “metal” Andrea and Tania act. They throw up the metal horns every 20 seconds and it just doesn’t really feel as effective as it was meant to be. On top of that, Andrea’s character feels a little hastily written. Her overwhelming dislike of Ruth feels forced and over the top. It’s clear from the beginning that Andrea has something sinister planned and the fact that Ruth couldn’t see it coming from a mile away feels too convenient.
Atmospherically, this film hits the nail on the head. The muted winter colors create a cold and disheartening environment. When Ruth breaks out the 8mm camera the film visually goes to a whole new level of gorgeousness. Invoking Yell is one of the most visually appealing found footage films around. Gone are the false jump scares and needless shaky cam shots the subgenre has become infamous for. If it weren’t for the countless metal horns and Andrea’s underwritten hatred of Ruth, this would almost feel a bit too real.
Ruth and Andrea practice a spiritual tradition known as psychophony, which was a new term for me. Psychophony is, basically, when a spirit uses the voice of a medium to communicate. With the band’s wanting to create a new subgenre of black metal called depressive suicidal black metal the use of psychophony is brilliant. Once the psychophony is invoked the film takes a turn and cranks it up to 11. The use of psychophony also creates validation for the addition of supernatural elements. Instead of the typical “people stumble upon a haunted location” angle many of these films take, Invoking Yell creates a reason for spirits to become disturbed and angered at those who have awoken them.
Invoking Yell is a fun take on a subgenre that has been run into the ground. The tropes and cliches of found footage are there, but rather than being used as a crutch to create false horror, it’s used to elevate the truly insidious nature that lays dormant in these woods. If you like found footage but are tired of the direction so many of them take, then Invoking Yell is the film for you.
