Simply Perfect

Lack of good storyline.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is sort of an indie coming-of-age story with snippets of horror.Don't be misled by the cover and the title of this flick (as I was), because this is in no way a full blown horror flick.Wendy comes back from the dead as some sort of a zombie. Without the craving for human brains that is, because once again: this is not a horror story.The rest of the story is about Wendy's friends being bored and feeling sorry for themselves. Without having any shocking epiphanies while doing so.The movie starts with over half an hour of storytelling and elaborating on the characters. Although the acting is more than decent, the pace of the story is excruciatingly slow and filled with unnecessary scenes (buying a chocolate milkshake, minutes of walking through fields etc.). Maybe it's me being impatient, but I turned it off. How long can one watch a couple of teenagers walking around explaining how sad they are? But then again, that's just my 2 cents....

. . . with maybe a little A BOY AND HIS DOG thrown in for good measure. Just as in PETER PAN, this movie focuses on the three Darling boys, but in an incestuous twist, one of the trio is hung up on just-like-a-sister Wendy. As the littlest Darling notes in his opening voice-over, "Patrick was never ready for Wendy to be dead." So Patrick plays dress-up all summer with Wendy's occasionally-animated corpse (mostly in a friend's bathtub), while his little brother Beetlejuice falls in love with the dogs belonging to Wendy's likely killer, Rody, who is incommunicado for the season, while the other main suspect in Wendy's demise--her actual lover, Brian--has moved on to getting "sleaze comfort" from middle brother Carol and the late Wendy's mutual crush, Addy, while oldest brother Patrick--whose umbilical cord was wrapped around twin Carol's throat during delivery--is busy feeding his own second crush Rody's dogs (now beloved by Beetle) to the carnivorous Wendy before feeding himself to her at the bottom of his backyard swim pool. While Wendy may seem to be the quintessential ZOMBIE WITHOUT A CAUSE to her tribe of Lost Boys, none of the parents in MAKE OUT WITH VIOLENCE really give a hoot whether any of their children will survive the summer, since they all have important grown-ups stuff to do which monopolizes all their time and attention. Hey, this is Tennessee, where no one has heard of science, so Beetle's other interest--bugs--must be purely gastronomical.

...and that's from the kid who played the little brother in this tedious emo-saturated "drama" (and I use the term loosely) that reminded me of a boring "alternative" comic book transposed to video (think Daniel Clowes only not nearly as clever or involving). I really don't mean to be mean to these people, as I'm sure they meant well, but Syd Field would have torn their script in half after about five pages, and Ted Sturgeon would have simply told them to start over after they had a real story, real actors, and a real budget. This might (and I emphasize might) have made a decent 20-minute short, but stretched to feature length it's simply stultifying. Featuring ostensible twins (the characters, not the actors) with distressingly bad haircuts and the expressiveness and appeal of a bag of rocks (the femme leads totally outclass all the men in this poor thing), and a soundtrack guaranteed to make you switch your allegiance to heavy metal, rap, or even classical music just to rid your system of any trace of unadulterated wimp, this forgettable indie has little, if anything, to say, and very little to show. There are a handful of interesting camera shots, sporadic passable acting (again, pretty much all from the ladies), and precious little else; there's simply nothing to latch onto to hold any interest beyond the fascination of watching a wreck unfold before your disbelieving eyes. A sad squandering of my time, sorry to say, and a bit of my public library's limited resources. Word to the wise, pass this one up and remain lucky to never know what you missed. I'm going to have to go track down "Deadgirl" now, having read the other comments on this board. Surely it's better than this badly titled yawner.

The Deagol Brothers' "Make-Out with Violence" is a stylish, smart, sweet little American indie that is sure to leave the viewer buzzing. This isn't your typical genre film, and the quirky mix of comedy and horror defies description. Films that terrorize with tongue firmly planted in cheek are among my favorites, but "Make-Out with Violence" doesn't even fit that profile.The film opens with the slightly creepy voice-over of little brother Beetle (scene-stealer Brett Miller), segues to flashbacks shot with a soft, dreamy, oversaturated look, then takes the viewer on a ride through the most perverse summer this group of slightly off-kilter misfits has ever had. The soundtrack is one of the film's strongest elements, mostly the work of composer Jordan Lehning (who also plays lead character Rody). The writing, direction, editing, and production of the film are all the handiwork of a small group of multitalented family members. Even the actors had a hand in the film's creative process. The two brothers at the center of the film (Eric Lehning and Cody DeVos) are also credited as writers, along with the Deagols. The film is shot and edited with such precision that there isn't a single frame of filler. Every word, every camera angle, every visual and sound effect is devoted to advancing the story. The filmmakers certainly made the best use of their low budget -- from all appearances there were no post-production special effects. Everything appears to have been done in-camera. No small feat for a genre film. This is quite an impressive calling card for these first-time feature filmmakers.