Published: October 28, 2009 11:06 pm      

Local filmmakers bring ‘Naked Horror’ to the screen

So, I got a rare treat this week, fellow moviegoers. Rather than huddle with the masses at the theater watching the latest polished rock from the Hollywood system, I got to take a trip to the gritty, gutsy netherworld of indie filmmaking.

And I didn’t even have to leave town.

I spent my Wednesday afternoon at Gothic Films headquarters right here in Huntsville to view the studio’s latest flick, “Naked Horror.”

Directed by Carlo Rodriguez (famous, or perhaps infamous, for his work on Gothic Films’ inaugural venture, “Long Pig”) and produced by local businessman George H. Russell, “Naked Horror” is still in rough cut, but Rodriguez and company are working hard to finalize the flick for a trip to film markets in California next month.

Shot on digital video on a low budget, “Naked Horror” is another attempt by Rodriguez to skew the conventions of his genre to create something new.

The film is the story of Priya (Galveston native Angela Tropea), a beautiful girl haunted by very, very ugly nightmares. Every time she falls asleep she faces a kaleidoscope of disturbing images featuring everything from torture victims to ghosts to a mysterious marble pyramid in the middle of a forest.

Determined to unravel the mystery behind her dreams, Priya logs her experiences via video blog on a Web site, where other dark dreamers also visit and speak of similar experiences. In the end, Priya must either go mad or confront the visions in her head, and embarks on a quest to find the reality behind the things that chase her when she closes her eyes.

A hefty portion of “Naked Horror’s” 90 minute runtime takes place in a world of nightmares, leaving Rodriguez ample opportunity to frolic in a demented playground of the bizarre. He takes full advantage, pushing the viewer anxiety level to the max. As in real nightmares, what you’re seeing rarely makes sense, and there’s no ending, no resolution. It’s just a string of broken images pulled taut like a tightrope. It would almost be a relief for it to snap, but Rodriguez never lets it. Instead, you’re trapped in the same hell as Priya, forced to drag along with her through a psychological minefield.

This alone is enough to make you care about her, but Tropea’s performance is what really seals the deal. With almost no interaction with other characters, she carries the film on her young (and often bare) shoulders, taking Priya from restlessness to drunkenness to suicidal despair and back again. It’s tough to be compelling when you have almost nothing to say and you spend a large chunk of your screen time completely nude, but Tropea throws herself into the performance with all the abandon of a true scream queen, and even if you’re not into that kind of thing, you can’t deny this chick has potential.

The flick is not without its problems, though. At times the tension gets lost in shots of Priya’s feet or a series of far too many creepy cutaways, and a few scares could be sharpened if they were pared down. Rodriguez has a knack for weaving nightmares with a camera, but at times it’s as if he’s trying too hard to get your attention, which in the end just makes you want to look at your watch.

In spite of that, and in spite of the rough form in which I viewed it, “Naked Horror” managed to do something few horror films can do: make me sit back and go “Hmm, never seen that before.” It’s going to be too experimental for some, and too shocking for others, but like really good Scotch, once you get it, you really get it.

And before I conclude, yes I did say “completely nude” a few sentences ago, and yes, I’m OK with that. Why? Well, we could start with the fact that nudity is a time honored component of horror cinema, and if you don’t like it you can watch something else. We can finish with the fact that Rodriguez isn’t trying to titillate us, he’s trying to tell us something about the power of nightmares and the unavoidable pitfalls of human frailty. When we are stripped of all of our defenses, caught in a place where we can’t fight back, can’t hide, can’t wake up, we are naked in the face of the horror.

Regardless of your affections (or lack thereof) for the genre of thrills and chills, we can be proud this Halloween that we’ve got our own little bunch of splatterpunks right here in Huntsville.

Don’t believe me? See for yourself. Gothic Films will host a public screening of “Naked Horror” Saturday night at the Stardust Room here in Huntsville. The flick starts at 10:15 p.m., and starts over again at midnight, and you can meet the cast and crew before and after and give them your thoughts. 18 and older only please. And Happy Halloween.