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[Fantasia Review] Twisted ‘Rondo’ Feels Fresh and Exciting

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In the decade-plus since Grindhouse, there’s been a trend in independent genre film to pay homage to old-school exploitation movies. This is typically done in a winking, self-aware way, whether it’s digitally adding film scratches or dropping reels or deliberately crude gore effects or over-the-top ridiculous premises presented with ironic distance. The filmmakers need to let you know they’re making an exploitation movie so that your standards can be adjusted accordingly. I don’t say this as either a bad or a good thing; there have been a handful of these movies that I’ve enjoyed, but many more that feel tired and derivative, leaning on a stylistic gimmick rather than expressing an original voice.

Rondo, the latest effort from writer/director Drew Barnhardt (Murder Loves Killers Too), comes by its exploitation honestly. It doesn’t begin that way; in fact, if you were to go into the movie knowing nothing but its title (as I did), you would have absolutely no clue where it was going or where it would end up. There are no gimmicks, no clues that it will get around to be being a brutal and downright nasty revenge movie. It never even lets on exactly what characters you’re meant to be following, and every time you think you’ve got the next two or three movies figured out, Barnhardt pulls the rug out and pivots somewhere else. It’s only as the movie lands where it lands that you realize just what kind of film you’ve been watching all along. It’s thrilling.

Luke Sorge plays Paul, a young veteran who has come home and bottomed out. Hoping to turn things around for him, his sister Jill (Brenna Otts) sends him to see a therapist (Gena Shaw). She prescribes an unusual form of treatment, sending him to a kinky sex party that comes with a long list of rules dictated by a man named Lurdell (Reggie De Morton). Nothing goes quite as expected and things only get worse from there.

Talking about Rondo becomes difficult because preserving the turns the movie takes is important to the experience. While Barnhardt’s script deals with some truly ugly material, he doesn’t direct it that way. Instead, the movie is hypnotic and propulsive, with the photography by Ryan Bourbanais and the pulsing score by Ryan Franks and Scott Nickoley lending the proceedings a kind of slick inevitability. The attractive surface polish masks the ugliness underneath, which perfectly reflects what’s going on in the film: beautiful people navigate a world of seductive possibility, only to discover real awfulness taking place behind the scenes.

While never giving the movie the self-aware “grindhouse” treatment to really underline Rondo’s exploitation roots, Barnhardt does draw from a number of recognizable sources. Once again, though, they’re not what one might expect: the story may follow exploitation beats, but he’s not pulling from traditional exploitation elements. There are two long monologues given by two different characters, one near the start of the film and one near the end, that are both wildly pornographic but delivered with a kind of florid flatness – it’s like David Mamet describing a gangbang. There’s a sequence of silent, sustained, slow-motion suspense that’s pure De Palma. Actually, there’s quite a bit of De Palma throughout, from the changing protagonists to the instances of characters playing voyeur to something they shouldn’t be seeing to the way the tension is drawn out to an almost impossible degree, the director taking delight in his ability to manipulate the audience. The bravura finale is shot just like Robert Richardson by way of Quentin Tarantino. Rondo wears its influences proudly. Thankfully, all of its influences are things I happen to love, too.

Rondo is a twisted little movie, albeit twisted in the best way. It’s twisted in its story structure, it’s twisted in its depraved dialogue, twisted in its willingness to get insanely bloody and show us something we’re positive it’s not going to show us. It’s a movie made with real confidence, one which feels fresh and exciting as it unfolds – it’s only afterwards that you realize Drew Barnhardt has found a new way to skin a cat. (Not literally. There’s no animal violence in the movie.) It’s filled with surprises and gleefully over the top when the time comes, reveling in payback that’s especially satisfying because of how well it has been earned. It may ultimately be an exploitation movie, but I love exploitation – especially when it’s as smart, as unpredictable, and as nasty as Rondo is. This is exploitation done right.

Indie

“Bite Size Short: Her House of Horrors” Announce Short Grant Program!

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Her House of Horrors, the horror division of Independent Production House WOMXNOGRAPHY, has launched its Bite Size Short Grant Program, ahead of its film festival Dollhouse of Horror, which will take place in March 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.

The Bite Size Short Grant Program awards $2,000 film grants to female-identifying and queer horror filmmakers. Shorts must be able to be made for $2,000, with a minimum runtime of 8 minutes. Submissions are now open on Filmfreeway, and are being judged by a panel of horror lovers and content creators.

The 2024 Bite Size Short Grant Program judge lineup is as follows:

“James H. Carter II- A documentary director, film producer, podcaster, marketing specialist, and writer. James is the founder and co-owner of Creepy Kingdom. Creepy Kingdom was founded in 2011 and is a multimedia website, and production studio specializing in creepy content. Their primary focus lies at the intersection of childlike fantasy and the macabre, covering horror films, theme parks, haunts, and much more. Beyond their extensive media coverage, Creepy Kingdom hosts events, offers original merchandise, and engages in film production under the Creepy Kingdom Studios brand producing original films like “Foolish Mortals”, exploring Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” fan culture, and “Georgie”, featuring Tony Dakota from the original “It” miniseries.

“In addition to founding Creepy Kingdom, James has won awards for his documentary work, including the award-winning “Foolish Mortals,” which has earned him recognition. He has been featured on Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween special.

“Ashleeta Beauchamp is the editor-in-chief of Peek-A-Boo! Magazine, a cheeky horror magazine created to uplift marginalized writers, artists, models and other creators within the horror community. She also runs The Halloween Coalition, a community group to provide support and marketing for horror and Halloween events around the Southern California area.

“Titeanya Rodríguez is a multi-hyphenate creative, and the founder and owner of HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, home of DOLLHOUSE OF HORROR and the horror division of WOMXNOGRAPHY. As a fellow storyteller and a self-proclaimed artivist, Titeanya’s mission is to create opportunities for women of color and queer women, across film, tv, sports, music, and beyond. She is also the creator of the BITE SIZE SHORT grant program.”

Winners will have a one-night theatrical screening at Regal Cinemas. Submissions Close April 8 at Midnight. Winners will be announced on May 27, 2024. Shorts must be shot and through post-production by June 30, 2024. The screening will take place on July 8, 2024, in Los Angeles, CA.

WOMXNOGRAPHY, HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, and Rodriguez are represented by Azhar PR, Granderson Des Rochers, and Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.

To submit your short to the Bite Size Short Grant Program, go to the FilmFreeway link here.

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