CHARLIE ZONE (2011) review

Charlie Zone (2011) d. Melski, Michael (Canada)

Glenn Gould plays a disgraced Native American (Canadian) boxer now on the skids, picking up change from playground brawls later uploaded to the internet, is approached to kidnap teen addict Amanda Crew from the crackhouse lair she now calls home. We’ve seen this story before, but there are enough interesting character touches, mostly stemming from Gould’s character’s Indian background, that kept me involved. There are enough gruesome scenes of torture and seamy subtext to satisfy genre fans, and the performances are all quite notable. True, the low budget constraints occasionally show their true colors, but for the most part, it feels like a personal thriller that comes from co-writer/director Melski’s heart.

BIFFF Day #10 (Sunday, 4/15)

Another late night leads to another sleep-deprived day, and I feel the exhaustion level inexorably rising. Of course, I also recognize it in my colleagues as well – everyone has been on this ride for a long time, and it’s taking its toll for those who are riding it morning till night. Apparently, it was also taking the toll on Gert’s aged two-wheeler that I had been using for transport between home base and the BIFFF, because Sunday morning, en route to my interview with Iron Sky director Timo Vuorensola, the back tire just crapped out on me almost exactly halfway there. I was left with a dilemma: do I continue forward to the BIFFF and then be forced to walk the sucker home at 2:30am, or do I head back, cancel the interview and deal with the bike situation during the daylight hours? I opted for the latter, since even though I dug Iron Sky for the amusing, ambitious diversion that it was, it’s not really HorrorHound material – with no splatter or alien monsters to nudge it between the covers. Therefore, I don’t feel all the broken up about it, although Timo certainly seems like heck of a big personality from what I’ve seen in his previous night’s introduction, so it probably would have been fun. But needed to formulate a plan and get the dead ducks off the road, so there you go.