Movies
[Review] Low-Budget Thriller ‘Prodigy’ Boasts a Strong Central Performance
Superhero movies are not exactly a rarity in today’s film landscape, so it’s always a treat when a film tries to tackle the genre in a different way. That is exactly what Prodigy, a low-budget effort from directing team Alex Haughey and Brian Vidal, aims to do. A mix between The Silence of the Lambs and FX’s Legion, the film takes a small-scale approach to a genre that is usually told on a much grander scale, and it is mostly successful.
In the film, a secret branch of the military calls upon psychologist James Fonda (Richard Neil) to take the case of a dangerous patient, nine-year-old Ellie (newcomer Savannah Liles). As their session begins, the young girl dissects Dr. Fonda’s methods, revealing her genius-level intellect. Only by challenging her to a battle of wits does Fonda begin to unravel the supernatural mystery surrounding Ellie. Fonda finds himself in a race against the clock to achieve a breakthrough with Ellie, otherwise she faces death at the hands of the people holding her captive.
Prodigy is a solid if unremarkable debut feature for Haughey and Vidal, who also co-wrote the film together. The majority of the film takes place in the confines of an interrogation room, so much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking the film is based on a stage play (it’s not). Occasionally, the film takes a glimpse behind the curtain to check in on the observers watching Richard and Ellie through the two-way mirror (these are the weaker parts of the film), but other than that it’s just Richard and Ellie playing a mental game of chess (which eventually becomes an actual game of chess).
The film is at its best during the interactions between Richard and Ellie. Watching the two of them ping pong back and forth proves to be a highly entertaining game of wits. Even though the film never fully surprises you with the direction of its narrative, it is certainly never boring. Neil turns in a solid performance as the psychologist with unorthodox methods, but it is Liles who surprises, turning in a rather fascinating debut performance. While there are moments where it seems that she is a bit out of her element (a hint of uncertainty can be detected during more complex lines of dialogue), she is remarkably compelling as the super-intelligent Ellie.
Where the film falters is when it shifts to the people observing Richard and Ellie’s sessions. Not only are these characters (save for Jolene Andersen’s Olivia) uninteresting, some of them exist merely to tell the viewer how they should be reacting to Ellie’s behavior. Aral Gribble’s IT guy Ryan is the biggest offender, often delivering his lines in such over-the-top ways that it becomes grating after a while. His character is meant to serve as the film’s comic relief, but it is unnecessary and out of place. Similarly out of place is Emilio Palame’s General Birch, who is operates as the film’s villain, ready to flip the kill switch on Ellie at the slightest hint of disobedience. It’s not that the film doesn’t need a villain, but he has a tendency to be a little mustache-twirly at times. A more subdued approach (both in the performance and in the writing) would have been preferred.
Prodigy doesn’t have much in the way of special effects, but when they are used they are well done. The film looks good, too. This is doubly impressive for a film that was filmed on such a low budget (the production budget was significantly less than $100,000). Technical prowess aside, the film often feels as if it is trying too hard to hit its brief 80-minute runtime. There isn’t enough plot to justify it being 80 minutes long so the film has a tendency to drag (again, in those moments that aren’t focused on James and Ellie’s conversations).
It’s unfortunate that most viewers will look over Prodigy, as it is a solid debut effort for Haughey and Vidal and an excellent example of making the most out of a minuscule budget. The film doesn’t break any new ground with its subject matter, but the technical merits and the performances make it worth a watch.
Prodigy is currently available on DVD & Blu-Ray and various On Demand services.
Editorials
Not Another ‘Scary Movie’: Revisiting Forgotten Parody ‘Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th’
After Scream (1996) made a killing at the box office, as well as won over critics and audiences, a lot of folks in the movie biz thought they could do the same thing (and yield similar results). That thing, of course, being a slasher. Most of these opportunists wound up being pretty straightforward; they were low on humor or commentary. Yet others, like Scary Movie (2000), saw the potential for spoofing Scream, and acted on that impulse with both haste and excitement.
A few months after the Wayans’ comedy first hit theaters, Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th landed on the USA Network, as part of the channel’s “Shriek Week” programming. That straight-to-cable (then home video) destination is possibly why many people still don’t know about this one. Or they simply chose to forget. Whatever the reason, only one of these two horror parodies came out on top—and it’s certainly not the movie where Coolio channeled Prince, and Tom Arnold saved the day.
Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th previously went by the name of I Know What You Screamed Last Semester. That Trimark acquisition then settled on a wordier title, just so it could avoid the litigious wrath of Miramax Films. Folks may or may not remember that Columbia Pictures was sued over the “implied connection” between I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Scream. So, yeah, there was no way that this competing Scream parody wasn’t going to be kept on a tight rein.
A Heavy Reliance on Late ’90s TV References
Simon Rex, Julie Benz, Majandra Delfino, Harley Cross, Danny Strong, Tom Arnold and Tiffani-Amber Thiesen in Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th.
Naturally, there would be similarities between Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th and Scary Movie—their scripts are built on the backs of the same two movies. It goes without saying that the other big slasher of the 1990s, I Know What You Did Last Summer, was as much of a target as Scream. However,the film pads itself with more TV references than Scary Movie did.
Half the cast coming off of (and in some cases, returning to) a WB show could be a reason why. Dawson’s Creek is particularly zeroed in on, based on how there’s a central character named “Dawson Deery“, and how the teen drama’s teacher-student affair plotline is satirized to the nth degree. As if there weren’t enough nods to television, Baywatch, VH1’s Pop Up Video, and even those cheesy Mentos commercials all serve as joke prompts.
Shriek director John Blanchard and writers Sue Bailey and Joe Nelms all hailed from television, so it’s understandable that they would stick close to home. The movie’s humor in general makes more sense, in light of learning that Blanchard worked on SCTV, Kids in the Hall, and MADtv. The writers, on the other hand, were each fairly green, with Bailey being the most experienced of the two; she wrote and produced the game show BattleBots. Nevertheless, they, plus Blanchard, churned out a passable, joke-a-minute movie. The whole thing is staggeringly of its time, but no one here was aiming for longevity.
Having seen enough of these kinds of movies, we know to expect jokes of the low-hanging fruit variety. That’s the parody’s whole prime directive. From the characters having names like “Screw Frombehind” and “Doughy Primesuspect”, to stereotyping that feels taboo nowadays, this is a movie from a different era of comedy. Its coarse, corny, and unapologetic sense of humor won’t sit well with everyone in these more enlightened times. In which case, Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th can be treated as a time capsule.
Does Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th Humor Still Hold Up Today?
“You may already be a victim”—Someone receives a most peculiar threatening piece of mail in Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th.
Although Shriek doesn’t live up to its own claims of being so funny that you’ll die of laughter, its bawdier parts could still lead to some nervous laughter. For instance, after this movie’s parallel to Drew Barrymore’s Scream character is done in—not by the killer but by a bug zapper—the movie throws a newspaper next to the victim’s fresh corpse. The headline? “Popular slut killed! Football team mourns”.
We then move on to the wacky and inappropriate goings-on at Bulimia Falls High School, home of the Hurlers. At this nexus of constant absurdity, indecency, and surrealism, students are seen fornicating on the lawn, cheerleading squad applicants are advised to be comfortable with partial nudity, and terrorists openly prepare for an anthrax attack. It can be a tad jarring to watch, especially if you didn’t grow up witnessing this style of comedy firsthand. Hell, even if you did, you may still have a “what the hell were they thinking?” reaction.
It’s not just the aggressively edgy humor here that can make you chuckle—the slapstick, the sight gags, and the ribaldry all have a decent chance of landing. The movie’s own villain, whose hockey mask was instantly transformed into a crudely Ghostface-esque one after coming in contact with an open flame, commits more cheap laughs than kills. His and his victims’ chase sequences, most of which are cartoonish in nature, left this writer grinning. The Scooby-Doo fan in me also totally ate up that clever unmasking joke.
Final Thoughts on This Forgotten Horror Parody
Shriek If You Know What Did Last Friday the 13th
Now, the jury is still out on whether these comedies are to blame for the death of the first slasher revival. There is more to consider than some parodies. At the very least, the likes of Scary Movie didn’t exactly encourage big studios to put their money on a trend that was being derided to death (and not as profitable as the spoofs). These sorts of movies also felt unnecessary at the time, given how their principal inspiration is already a deconstruction of the genre. But like anything else that quickly becomes popular, mockery is unavoidable.
Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th is indeed a movie nobody asked for, much less needed. As a sample of pre-millennium humor and cultural attitudes, it’s not always precise. But as I’ve laid out, your mileage may vary. Horror parodies typically don’t have the best track record, so managing one’s own expectations here is recommended.
Upon rewatching, I for one laughed a bit more than I did back then. Only this time, I responded to the jokes that my younger self didn’t notice or find all that amusing. So it just goes to show that the movies don’t change—we do.
Harley Cross and Majandra Delfino must unmask the killer a number of times in Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th before learning their true identity.
You must be logged in to post a comment.