These Deadly Revisions include A Bloody Break with Reality: A Movie Review

*full disclosure: an online screener of this film was provided by director Gregory Blair.

**there are spoilers here.

Director/writer: Gregory Blair.

Cast: Bill Oberst Jr., Mikhail Blokh, Cindy Merrill and Lise Hart.

Deadly Revisions is an indie horror feature from director Gregory Blair. Starring Bill Oberst Jr., Mikhail Blokh, Cindy Merrill and Lise Hart, this film involves one character gently drifting farther and farther away from reality. In fact, the character Torn's break from reality is so great, that the film's main story comes into question. Which characters are real and which are not? It is difficult to trust a protagonist with so many delusions. Still, Deadly Revisions is an enjoyable film, in which the protagonist devolves into something more and more monstrous.

Torn (Oberst Jr.) is a jealous man. He believes that his wife is cheating on him and he wants to know who the other man is. Unfortunately, Torn's delusions, including this one, are made even worse by a fall, down a flight of stairs. Something must have gotten jogged lose from the fall, because Torn is seeing stranger and strangers things, while suffering from amnesia. A devil doll promises to unhinge Torn further.

A consistent delusion involves a hangman seen here.

Torn cannot really be trusted. His perceptions are skewed, with murder and mayhem entering his dreamscape. One character, with a rope, haunts Torn in several scenes. The masked character is a part of Torn's imagination and a break with the film's cental reality. Another character states: "this is sick," when referring to Torn's latest manuscript. Torn's loss of reality is even being documented in his writing. The more strange behaviours you see Torn enact the more it becomes obvious that this character is losing his mind, to mental illness. Another scene shows Torn attacking someone, but they are not hurt. This is an another example of Torn's delusions. Some characters are not really there. As this film moves further and further along, it becomes more and more clear on how Torn is struggling with deep psychological issues.

The character Torn encounters several more delusions throughout the film. In an early scene, he thinks that he sees his wife, Kat (Lise Hart), at the bottom of the stairs. Did he kill his wife? Later on, Dieter (Mikhail Blokh,), Torn's only friend, collects him and scurries him off to an isolated locale. Some of Torn's delusions are protecting him from his own violent actions. As well, this character sees a doll, which laughs often and a deer, with red eyes, looks through the cabin's doors. These are two more examples of the viewer seeing the central character's altered reality. Torn is suffering from mental illness, likely schizophrenia.

Deadly Revisions is a psychological indie horror feature with heart. The budget of the film has relegated this title to mostly interior shots, in one setting. Night shooting and some exteriors help break up the monotony of this recurring setting. However, Gregory Blair uses these spaces to introduce several exciting scenarios. As well, there are only four characters here: two minor and two major. So, the film focuses on Torn, primarily. This is mostly a film of Torn struggling with his own inner demons and on how they are being exorcised on those around him. Sideplots between others do not occur very much and this is a film in which actor Bill Oberst Jr. must carry the film, through his acing. He does so with fervor and believability. This title is a well produced feature, with one character's psychology driving this feature forward.

Deadly Revisions has had a recent appearance at the FANtastic Horror Film Festival. The film won awards here, including Best Actor (Oberst Jr). This title is continuing a film festival run with an upcoming appearance at The Terror Film Festival and a future release on DVD, through SGL Entertainment. Very character focused and complex, the horror here is mostly of psychological kind, involving changing realities.

Overall: 7.5 out of 10 (a second viewing of this film makes everything a little more clear, at least one misdirection comes late in the feature, you can try and spot it for yourself).

A trailer for the film is available here:

The Deadly Revisions Trailer on 28DLA


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