Tweet
Released by: MVD Visual
Released on: March 8, 2016
Director: Richard Griffin
Cast: Anna Rizzo, Jamie Dufault, Monica Saviolakis, Jamie Lyn Bagley
Year: 2015
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
A group of nuns (Monica Saviolakis, Tiffany Lee Farris, and Samantha Acampora) confront Father Renault (Steve O'Broin) when they discover he has been abusing children. To prevent the nuns from informing the authorities, he entombs them, Poe style, behind a brick wall in the basement of the church. It is then the nuns make a pact with the Devil for revenge. Flash forward 16 years, a youth group visits the now abandoned church to clean it up but accidently unleash the vengeful nuns.
Thinking back to Flesh for the Inferno I am sort of confused. The nuns want revenge on the Father and church for what happened to them and the abused children, this makes sense. What does not make sense, however, is how killing the youth group will satisfy their thirst for revenge. Oh well. While it can be argued the logistics of Flesh for the Inferno are, at best, sketchy, the movie itself is quite fun and pretty well done. Director Richard Griffin packs his film with an abundance of visual references to classic horror films of the 1970s and 80s, but it is never obtrusive. The visual references never look like they were arbitrarily placed it, they feel authentic. The cornucopia of homages also give the film a glossy look with several well composed shots. The movie was filmed wide and surprisingly Griffin does a good job making his compositions interesting. In addition to the look of the film, the director shoots the scenes of violence in a clever way masking any budgetary issues. This leads to a less gory film. Do not get me wrong, there is still plenty of bloodshed and carnage in the film, but it is not over the top. Griffin also opts to utilize a grain and dirt filter on the image to give the film a vintage look. While there have been numerous films recently going overboard with filters like this, Griffin scales back. The filter is noticeable but not distracting. This makes the film look more natural.
Another strong element of Flesh for the Inferno is the score by Timothy Fife. Obviously indebted to the music of John Carpenter, Fife's icy, synth score gives the film a proper retro sense of atmosphere. Again, like the restrained use of the grain filter, the music is appropriately utilized and authentic. One standout music cue had the frenetic driving urgency of Keith Emerson's scores for Inferno.
Other than one or two supporting performances, the acting in the film was quite strong. Jamie Lyn Bagely's Meredith was the stand-out. Bagley's performance as an over bearing Christian seemed pretty accurate. The only issue the actors present is they are obviously too old to play high school students. Looking over Bagley's profile on a New England acting site bears this out noting her age range is 26-30. This does not cause a major concern for the film, it just caused some confusion when the high school student characters were first introduced.
Flesh for the Inferno is a rather short film, clocking at a mere 76 minutes. The film moved at a decent clip until the final 15 minutes when the pacing came to a complete halt. During this sequence we meet the Devil (Aaron Andrade) and learn of the abusing Father's demise. The news regarding the death of the Father causes the Nuns to give up on their quest for revenge in a rather non-climatic moment. However, the Devil, and the film, kept going. It is unfortunate the third act was such a drag. It keeps the film from being an easy recommendation.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Flesh for the Inferno was released on DVD by MVD Visual. The disc features a nice 2.35:1 image. The picture is rather soft and has some “print damage†but the film was designed to look this way. As noted earlier a filter was used to give the film an older look. While the image is not great it does feel appropriate. The audio is 2.0 Dolby stereo is quite good. The music sounds great and the audio was mixed well. The disc lacks subtitles but this is not too much of an issue.
The DVD release of Flesh for the Inferno has been allotted two commentary tracks. The first is with Griffin and crew members, while the second features members of the cast. Both tracks are nice. Everyone involved with the film seemed to enjoy making it and sound at easy with each other. This leads to pleasant listening experience. None of this is to say either track is indispensable. Like I said, they are pleasant but mostly fluff. Also included is a trailer for the film.
The Final World:
Flesh for the Inferno is a pretty good film. It looks nice and has fun music. The performances are nice and there are some moments of humor. This is an easy film to watch. However, despite it short running time the final act is a chore to sit through.
