INFLUX MOVIE REVIEWS

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Shock Value
MOVIE: Dementia: An Experiment in Terror

DIRECTOR: B. Luciano Barsuglia

CAST: Marcus Barcroft, Shawn Hauser, Christine Cowden, Daron McFarland

THE QUICK HIT:

If you only see one Independent horror movie this year, make sure it's Dementia: An Experiment in Terror. This weird but highly entertaining movie is well worth a viewing for fans of the low-budget horror genre. Filmmaker B. Luciano Barsuglia has created a creepy tale of two men who are kidnapped and tortured for three weeks. All the while, their two psychopath assailants are recording the bloody events on cameras. And the blood does flow. The bones do crunch. And the viewer does cringe.
GRADE: A- Website

THE BIG PICTURE:

Dementia attempts to create a world founded in reality, but it's a little too weird, a little too campy and a little too low-budget to achieve that goal. However, even with that being said, I enjoyed this film immensely.
Dementia pitches itself as a "horror" movie, but really, it's somewhere in between a horror-shock-suspense-thriller-hostage flick. Its opening scene sets the tone for the offbeat storytelling to come. We get our first glimpse of Dementia's number one psycho, Mr. Martin (Shawn C. Hauser). Mr. Martin is a bad wig wearing CEO, who pledges his everlasting love to a subordinate, who initially vomits, then violently rejects Mr. Martin's advances. This hurls Mr. Martin into a search for someone who will love "the man he has become."
Hauser (Extreme Dodgeball), is a tattooed bodybuilder with a deep and haunting voice. He doesn't ever quite look comfortable as the supposed-to-be murderously effeminate Mr. Martin, but that makes his character even more unique. Mr. Martin's partner and counterpart, Face, is played nicely by Che Zon. Face is a sexually ambiguous character, who is responsible for most of the dirty work. Face, smacks and hacks his way through Dementia and its characters without mercy. The film never addresses how Face and Mr. Martin meet -- a storyline I felt would have been worth pursuing.
The primary two victims are Elvin (Marcus Barcroft) and Frankie (Daron McFarland). Barcroft and McFarland do nice jobs acting under difficult and limited circumstances. Elvin (Barcroft) spends the majority of the movie duct-taped to a chair where he is brutally beaten and tortured. Frankie (McFarland) spends the entire movie on the ground where he screams, gasps for air, fights for life, and yes, bleeds excessively.
There are a number of scenes in Dementia that are excessively graphic and not for the squeamish. At the viewing I saw in Long Beach, people would leave periodically when the tension, torture and violence peaked. The story itself has some holes and leaves some unanswered questions. But overall, the actors deliver believable performances and the story builds to a climax that elicited a round of cheers from the viewing audience.

TECHNICAL MUMBO JUMBO:

Dementia will undoubtedly hearken comparisons to Saw; however, while similar in concept, the two movies are very different. And, don't kid yourselves, Saw's multi-million dollar budget is noticeable, just as Dementia's micro-budget is obvious (conflicting reports have the movie budgeted from $12,000 to $300,000). I would guess the budget is closer to the $12,000 range, as it shows, but nevertheless, the quality is decent and the movie is entertaining.

Review by Gordon Shelly

INFLUX MOVIE REVIEWS www.influxmagazine.com
	*Shock Value* MOVIE: Dementia: An Experiment in Terror
	DIRECTOR: B. Luciano Barsuglia
	CAST: Marcus Barcroft, Shawn Hauser, Christine Cowden, Daron McFarland
THE QUICK HIT:
If you only see one Independent horror movie this year, make sure it's Dementia: An Experiment in Terror. This weird but highly entertaining movie is well worth a viewing for fans of the low-budget horror genre. Filmmaker B. Luciano Barsuglia has created a creepy tale of two men who are kidnapped and tortured for three weeks. All the while, their two psychopath assailants are recording the bloody events on cameras. And the blood does flow. The bones do crunch. And the viewer does cringe. GRADE: A- Website
THE BIG PICTURE:
Dementia attempts to create a world founded in reality, but it's a little too weird, a little too campy and a little too low-budget to achieve that goal. However, even with that being said, I enjoyed this film immensely. Dementia pitches itself as a "horror" movie, but really, it's somewhere in between a horror-shock-suspense-thriller-hostage flick. Its opening scene sets the tone for the offbeat storytelling to come. We get our first glimpse of Dementia's number one psycho, Mr. Martin (Shawn C. Hauser). Mr. Martin is a bad wig wearing CEO, who pledges his everlasting love to a subordinate, who initially vomits, then violently rejects Mr. Martin's advances. This hurls Mr. Martin into a search for someone who will love "the man he has become." Hauser (Extreme Dodgeball), is a tattooed bodybuilder with a deep and haunting voice. He doesn't ever quite look comfortable as the supposed-to-be murderously effeminate Mr. Martin, but that makes his character even more unique. Mr. Martin's partner and counterpart, Face, is played nicely by Che Zon. Face is a sexually ambiguous character, who is responsible for most of the dirty work. Face, smacks and hacks his way through Dementia and its characters without mercy. The film never addresses how Face and Mr. Martin meet -- a storyline I felt would have been worth pursuing. The primary two victims are Elvin (Marcus Barcroft) and Frankie (Daron McFarland). Barcroft and McFarland do nice jobs acting under difficult and limited circumstances. Elvin (Barcroft) spends the majority of the movie duct-taped to a chair where he is brutally beaten and tortured. Frankie (McFarland) spends the entire movie on the ground where he screams, gasps for air, fights for life, and yes, bleeds excessively. There are a number of scenes in Dementia that are excessively graphic and not for the squeamish. At the viewing I saw in Long Beach, people would leave periodically when the tension, torture and violence peaked. The story itself has some holes and leaves some unanswered questions. But overall, the actors deliver believable performances and the story builds to a climax that elicited a round of cheers from the viewing audience.
TECHNICAL MUMBO JUMBO:
Dementia will undoubtedly hearken comparisons to Saw; however, while similar in concept, the two movies are very different. And, don't kid yourselves, Saw's multi-million dollar budget is noticeable, just as Dementia's micro-budget is obvious (conflicting reports have the movie budgeted from $12,000 to $300,000). I would guess the budget is closer to the $12,000 range, as it shows, but nevertheless, the quality is decent and the movie is entertaining.
Review by Gordon Shelly