Deer Crossing is the second feature length film from filmmaker Christian Jude Grillo and Potent Media (fka Potent Pictures). Grillo wrote and directed the film. He even did the film's editing (along with his new wife Camerla Hayslett-Grillo) and he composed the original score.
Early on in the film, the female lead Maggie (played by Laura Lynn Cottrel), driving with her young son, hits a deer head on. I envy that deer. I do. He wasn't put in the unenviable position of having to write this review.
Let's start with a brief synopsis of the story. As mentioned above, Maggie Chancelor and her 6 year old son Cole have a car-on-deer collision and disappear, leaving Maggie's husband, Dr. Michael Chancelor (played by Warren Hemenway), left to wonder what had become of his wife and child. Years pass and Dr. Chancelor gets a phone call from someone claiming to be his son. After receiving the mysterious call, he contacts Derrick Stanswood (played by Christopher Mann), the cop who had previously investigated the disappearance of Maggie and Cole. Stanswood has just retired but after a life changing event, he finds himself back on the case, but this time in a private dick sort of role. Stanswood travels to a small PA town where he runs into opposition from the local justice merchant, a smarmy Sheriff by the name of Lock (played by Doug Bradley). The investigation leads Derrick to meet, and question, a variety of shady characters including local farmer Lucas Walton and his son Paul as well as other lowlife local yokels. Cole Chancelor, now 14 years old, finally turns up with one hell of a tale to tell. A tale that involves abduction, corruption, rape, incest and even murder!
Unfortunately, this film is a very flawed one, and I honestly had a hard time trying to think of one positive thing I can say about it, aside from a few shining performances by actors/actresses in an otherwise lackluster production. The acting of some of the film's stars is absolutely atrocious. Even Doug Bradley, the original Pinhead of Hellraiser fame, is really bad here, but then again when an English actor is charged with playing a Pennsylvania hick sheriff, what more could I, or anyone else for that matter, have expected? I dig Bradley but he's not the kind of actor known for being able to adopt region-specific dialects for each role he's cast in. He does seem to try to cover his natural accent but he's not very good at it. It reminded me of Cary Elwes' poor American accent, only not quite as good. Poor casting, but then again no one forced Bradley to accept the role.
Carmela "Roxsy Tyler" Hayslett, who plays Olivia Brice, a specialist brought in to question Cole (Apparently she's an expert in dealing with traumatized youths) comes off like a hammy 10 year old pretending to act because her Daddy turned the camcorder on her. This was a surprise, and a disappointment, as her work in Potent's previous film, Booley, was that of a seasoned professional. Again, it's not all her fault. Actors cannot overact if the director doesn't allow it. Yell cut. Talk to your actor/actress, tell them what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right, tell them exactly how you want the scene played out, and then call for action once again! Unfortunately, the dialogue given to her caused some of the overacting. A professional who specializes in dealing with kids who have been through traumatic events would never scream at a child with whom she was dealing, nor would she try to pull the "tough cop" act on said kid. It wasn't believable. One piece of advice I'd like to give to Carmela (who is a friend of mine, or was a friend before this review anyway) is this: that no matter what role you're paying, be sure to deliver your lines in a fashion similar to how you'd actually speak during your daily life, away from the camera. The same sort of advice could be given to Christian Grillo. When writing dialogue, sound it out. If it doesn't sound natural when you vocalize it, then don't ask your actors to speak it because it won't sound natural when they recite the lines either.
Continuing on a discussion of the film's performances, let's move on to Ernie Hudson. You'll surely remember Ernie from such roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters films, Sgt. Albecht in The Crow, Sgt. O'Malley in Airheads and Warden Leo Glynn in HBO's hit series OZ. Hudson plays Captain Bailey in Deer Crossing. Ernie's a fantastic actor and he plays this role pretty much the same way he plays most of his roles, with nothing but passion and professionalism. Sadly he wasn't given much to work with as his role is a minimal one. Had this character been left out of the script, it wouldn't have been noticeable. His lines could have been given to any one of the other random police officers without it having any impact on the story.
Christopher Mann's performance is decent although I've seen much better from him. He just didn't seem "inspired" at all. He felt flat to me. Having seen him in Booley, Jersey Justice and Law & Order, I know that the man is a fantastic actor but his work in Deer Crossing seemed as though he was unmotivated. He seemed bored.
Now for the truly positive performance notes:
Laura Lynn Cottrell - Laura does a great job as Maggie. She plays the role as if she (Maggie) is midway between still wanting to fight against those who have held her captive and someone with the beginning stages of Stolkholm syndrome.
KJ Linhein - Mr. Linhein plays crazed farmer Lucas Walton. Although his performance is a little bit over the top during some scenes, he's a joy to watch here. Well, I say "joy" if you're like me and can appreciate the fine performance of psychotic character. Again the downside to the Walton character is the sometimes over-the-top dialogue.
Tom Detirk - Detrik, who played the lead role in Potent's debut film Booley, plays a pimp/hustler/lowlife/thug named Randy (or Dick, depending on which character is addressing him in the film) and is a breath of fresh, comedic air into this otherwise stale film. His character brings much needed comic relief to the film. Detrik is a likable guy no matter what role he's playing.
Kevin Fennell - Kevin, who plays Cole at age 14, does a wonderful job with what he is given. He may not have much, if any, acting experience but he's shown here that he has a lot of potential as an actor. I hope to see more from young Kevin in the future.
Finally, I'd like to mention the small part of Muzzy, one of Walton's bizarro redneck buddies, played by Christopher Inlow. Inlow, who is most well known as horror host character Slo Frank (Winner of D'Ment'D Cinema's first ever fan's choice award for Best Horror Host in 2011), does a phenomenal job as Muzzy. If you've ever known a complete and total redneck hick, Muzzy would surely remind you of him. Like Fennell, Inlow has a bright future ahead of him as an actor.
With discussion of the performances behind us, let's move on to some of the technical portions of the production. Right now I'll state that I'm not the type of reviewer who picks apart technical aspects of a movie, aspects that I have no experience with therefor I am honestly not in any position to be overly critical of, unlike many, if not most, reviewers. That being said, I do have a few other critiques, sticking to the areas that I do feel qualified to comment on...
The score - The score is out of place in most scenes and is so loud in some that it drowns out much the dialogue. A score should reflect the emotion of the scene and what's going on during said scene. That doesn't happen much here. More often than not the music chosen for the film's scenes does not fit the mood of the scene, therefor making it (the music) stand out like a sore thumb.
The camera work - It's bad! The film's DP failed miserably, especially during any scene shot outside under the sun's natural light. (Many of these scenes are shot with the sun facing the camera so the shadows blacken out the subjects' faces.) Since there is no DP listed in the credits on IMDB I'm not sure to whom to bestow the (dis)honor of this casualty.
One other mistake that I believe was made with Deer Crossing came from the trailer. I know many horror fans were looking forward to Deer Crossing because they believed that it was going to contain intense scenes of violence. Scenes that fans have come to expect from the genre because of movies such as the Hostel series, The Human Centipede and Martyrs. Intense violence and scenes of torture are present in most of the more popular genre films of the last few years. Many potential viewers of this film expect to see such scenes of torture here since it's implied in the film's trailer. Those sort of scenes are basically non-existent in this film. Allow me to elaborate. Although there are scenes of torture and brutality in Deer Crossing, they are tame when compared to similar scenes in many of today's genre films. Is it the fault of the filmmaker when the audience's expectations are not met? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. When it's implied, in any manner, in the trailer, then it's at least the fault of the editor of the trailer. It's safe to assume that the filmmaker here edited his own trailer, and if that is indeed the case, then the answer to the question of, "is it his fault that the audience's expectations were not met?", is a resounding YES!
Grillo's film Booley is wonderful. It's well shot, the acting is top notch and I honestly cannot remember having one complaint about that film. I am the only reviewer quoted on the film's DVD cover as a matter of fact. So, where did he go wrong with Deer Crossing? I honestly wish I knew for sure. How does a filmmaker go from a piece that is practically flawless to one so flawed? I'd be arrogant if I were to try to suggest the possible scenarios that may have caused this so I think I'll not do that. That's a question that only Christian Grillo could answer.
Does this mean that I've lost all faith in Christian as a filmmaker? Absolutely not! Every filmmaker makes a bad one here and there. For example, Ang Lee is a phenomenal director. The Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are all great films but Ang also did Hulk in 2003 and we all know how awful that mess was. Then there's Tim Burton. Batman, Beetlejuice, Ed Wood, the list of great Burton films goes on and on but even Tim has made a stinker occasionally, with Planet Of The Apes and The Corpse Bride being examples of his poor efforts. Even Francis Ford Coppola has shown that he is not flawless as a filmmaker. All one needs to do to know this for certain is to watch out The Godfather III!
No I have no given up on Grillo. No, I am not stating that he's a bad director nor am I saying that he's a bad writer. All this review is stating is that I did not care for this one film. I found too many flaws in both the writing and directing to honestly give Deer Crossing a good review but I do look forward to Christian Grillo and Potent Media's next cinematic venture.
I consider Christian Grillo a friend and I cannot begin to describe to you how difficult it was for me to write this review. I do value his friendship but I must also protect my own integrity. After all, if I lie and tell you that a film is good, simply because it was the work of a personal friend of mine, when it's anything but good, would you, the reader of my reviews, ever trust me again once you've seen the film in question and know that I lied my ass off about it? Not very likely. I need to be honest in my reviews. If that costs me friendships, so be it but if that were to happen, that's something that belongs placed firmly on the shoulders of that former friend, and not on my own. I hope that has not happened here.
As I have always stated, don't just take my word for it. See this, and any other, movie for yourself. Just because I didn't like it, that doesn't mean you won't. The best person to help you form an opinion of a film is YOU!
