FACELESS AFTER DARK

(director: Raymond Wood; screenwriters: Todd Jacobs, Jenna Kanell; cinematographer: Randall Blizzard; music: Greg Levitt; cast: Jenna Kanell (Bowie Davidson), Danny Kang (Ryan), Danielle Lyn (Jessica), Max Calder (Clown Boi), Jason MacDonald (Southern Gentleman 74), Michael Aaron Milligan (Killer Klown 88), Kathrine Barnes (Soccer Mom 237), Alexis Louder (voice-agent), Erin Day (“Flesh Eating Freaks” film director), Catherine Corcoran (Kathrynne), Vance Kanell (Convention Fan), Jeff Sprauve (Officer), Jason-Jamal Ligon (Interviewer), Israel Vaughn (Driver); Runtime: 83; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Jenna Kanell; Dark Sky Films; 2023)

“Makes things entertaining in a crazy way.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Raymond Wood (“Cells”/”Lonely Love”) passionately directs this low budget horror pic that makes things entertaining in a crazy way. The film’s star Jenna Kanell, the star of the slasher film, Terrifier (2016), co-writes it with Todd Jacobs, basing her part on her experience as a movie actress.

Bowie (Jenna Kanell) is a struggling actress known for starring in a B-horror film about a maniacal killer clown. But to her disappointment, her career has not taken off despite the film being well-received. She’s still being underpaid and not being offered better roles in better horror films, while her male co-star has handsomely benefited with better roles and wages.

Bowie’s lesbian actress LA roommate, Jessica (Danielle Lyn), gets a super job offer in London to be in a superhero movie at a time when she’s vulnerable and could use her gf’s company.

Home alone, some creepy unhinged fan, wearing a clown mask worn in Bowie’s last slasher film, invades her apartment, and she must deal with the dude acting out the role of the clown killer. How Bowie handles him, gives the film its sharp edge and the hard-core horror pic viewers the needed gore they crave from such trashy films. The dark thriller shows us how a pair of sharpened garden shears can be used effectively as a weapon by females to put down their male oppressors.

After pruning the home invader, the film goes off the rails and has the unlikable Bowie go after other despicable males that said nasty things about her on social media. In the final act, it turns into a feminist revenge film that’s misogynistic, ill-conceived and cathartic.

It played at the Salem Horror Fest.

dennisschwartzreviews.com

REVIEWED ON 5/24/2024  GRADE: B