Movies
Mold!
“Although amateur and sometimes long-winded for a few frames, it’s colorful in every aspect, and the majority of MOLD! will grow on you…”
It’s the Reagan era, and the war on drugs is on. Enter America’s latest weapon. Scientific name: Stachybotrys Morte – Stachy Mort for short – a microscopic mold developed for the military to uncompromisingly destroy plant life – i.e. coca and opium fields. One day while the labs are being visited by congressional leaders and military brass, the mold escapes containment, and the facility goes into a hardcore lockdown. It’s not long before they all find out how aggressively it also destroys living flesh! Let the moldy putrefaction begin!
MOLD! is the micro-budget, debut effort from independent filmmaker Neil Meschino, whom many along its modest festival circuit have pointed at as an effigy of an early Frank Henenlotter – another New York area filmmaker who debuted a similar tasting, wry black comedy some 30 years ago, called BASKET CASE. How does a newbie on the scene with a 50K cap earn such a high profile reference? Through months (that have summed up to a couple of years) of fine tuning what could have been an average effort, into a slapstick ensemble circa sci-fi havoc that overcomes its shortcomings and actually works.
Back in 2008 I was invited by superior practical special effects artist Jeremy Selenfriend of Monster in My Closet FX to check out a set he was working on in Ronkonkoma, Long Island New York. I arrived to find a small but determined and focused crew working within a small rental, covering the walls with mold, blood, and rubber intestine – making the most of a couple of rooms and a hallway. Walking the halls was a sergeant covered in caked blood, a trio of containment soldiers with gasmasks and rifles, and an odd man who introduced himself to me as the Colonel (after blowing a plume of cigar smoke into my face). That man was actor Edward X Young (SEA OF DUST), who dominated the scene between shots, injecting a genuine air of comedy into the place, and obviously never stepping out of character.
After taking some shots and speaking with the crew, I head home with mold on my shirt and a positive feel for what was brewing. Two years later it had been accepted to the nearby Buffalo Film Festival. Low and behold, we have a modest little micro cult possibility here – red with blood, as green as it is with mold.
These days it seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry have their hands on a camera – the low budget scene being overloaded with amateur efforts – most of which glare with imperfections in script, lighting, sound, special effects and pacing. Although slightly sophomoric and still showing faint shades of amateurism, MOLD! overcomes all of this, but not without the hard work and passion it takes to make a project stand out. I laughed out loud during the screening (and I’m generally turned off by the horror or sci-fi / comedy fare) and was eyeball massaged with plenty of color – from the green dry rot of Stachy Mort, to the red and orange liquefying heads and exploded innards hanging from the ceiling. Cinematographer Robert Fattorini should be given a pat on the back for his effective ocular delivery of the carnage – which also kicked this up a notch.
Down the line, after the deadly mold escapes containment, it’s a fight for survival with an ensemble of well casted actors and actresses, and special effects. Edward X Young as the hard-nosed war veteran Colonel – Neil Meschino himself as Dr. Gary – sweaty Rick Haymes as Dr. Kane – Ardis Campbell as the femme scientist – Jim Murphy as the Congressman Stu Blankenship – almost all newcomers, they look natural in the roles the play, and each of them, including the rest of the cast, carry this underground effort with believable acting and a well balanced script (written by, yes, you guessed it) Neil Meschino, and writing partner Dave Fogerson. The dark comedy delivered here, works. It doesn’t overpower the material. For instance, when The Colonel is looking to leave the room without the Congressman’s assistant Rhodes (played by Nicholas Russo), casually comes forth the line, “Where we’re going we don’t need Rhodes,” and you just can’t hold back the smirk.
Final analysis: If you like your underground sci-fi/horror flicks gooey and gross, not altogether serious with a black comedy feel that actually makes you laugh, and rivals the cult classics of its time like BASKET CASE did thirty years ago, then Neil Meschino’s slimy eighties throwback is disease you want to catch. Nitpickers can drop this down a skull, but it’s overall delivery is something that ends up one of the best micro budget sci-fi horror flicks that I can remember. Although amateur and sometimes long-winded for a few frames, it’s colorful in every aspect, and the majority of MOLD! will grow on you when you come in contact. Current test subjects can expose themselves to this experiment at the upcoming Nevermore Film Festival February 18-20th, at the Carolina Theater in Durham, North Carolina.
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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