Grizzly Flats and Believing the Unbelievable: A Movie Review

*full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by director Anthony Frankhauser.

Director: Anthony Fankhauser.

Writers: Joe Benkis and Anthony Fankhauser.

Grizzly Flats was previously called Shadow People and this film stars Danielle De Luca (Necrosis), Judd Nelson (The Breakfast Club), Maggie VandenBerghe (Hierarchy) and Ryan Karloff. These actors and characters inhabit a surreal world, which is inhabited by weird shapes and baby shaped gourds. There are elements of the strangeness here and the film makes some connections with the hallucinogenic properties of certain drugs. Not really a pro-drug film and not real an anti-drug film, Grizzly Flats is an interesting look at a bizarre world, not seen by this reviewer before.

Karloff plays Sylvain, a man with a portal to another dimension. Somehow this part time scientist has altered reality with help from a wood burning stove, vacuum tubes and air hoses. This critic needs to make one of these. Once the machine is working, strange human-like and invisible shapes begin to emerge in the backyard, in Sylvain's bed and at his neighbours' meth producing lab. Then, the film comes out of left field with a gourd-like baby, whose purpose is still befuddling this film watcher. A neighbourly feud is brought to a slow simmer and then into full out warfare, as Sylvain faces enemies from all sides.

Anthony Fankhauser seems to be making some sort of message about hard drugs, but the signals are not really clear. The shadow people are most often seen under the influence of methamphetamine. However, a Pastor (Christian Gantt) also sees these images and he soon runs away like a raving monkey. Fankhauser's focus seems to be on the bizarre, where anything can happen and does.

This director also seems to take some of his influences from Lars Von Trier (Melancholia). Because the film does not offer a purpose, nor an explanation. Instead, the film tries to unsettle the viewer, while sometimes offering the comedic. Painting the gourd baby's face with features had this reviewer laughing for a few minutes, especially at the mother's response. As well, Grizzly Flats takes unexpected turns. When one thinks it will zig left, it goes right, or down, or up. The film is unpredictable, because it is much like an experiment. The clinical results are not conclusive, but the film is enjoyable overall.

Currently, Grizzly Flats has not secured distribution to markets, so a release date cannot be announced here. However, fans of David Lynch or Von Trier might like this smaller film, which is "a truly...independent motion picture" (Fankhauser). Testing and questioning reality, this film stays closer to the comedic rather than the serious tones of directors mentioned above. See this one, hopefully soon, at a film festival near you.

Surrealistic/impressionistic: 7.5 (enjoyed these aspects).
Writing/story/plot/sub-plot: 7 (linear, did not understand some of the sub-plots, but that is likely the point).

Overall: 7.25 out of 10.

A review of this film by Mike Haberfelner at (Re)search My Trash:

Grizzly Flats at Search My Trash


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