Film Review: Allegoria (2002) | HNN

SYNOPSIS:

A group of artist’s lives become unwittingly entangled as their obsessions and insecurities manifest monsters, demons and death.

REVIEW:

The movie just started, and I feel the disturbance… Allegoria was directed and written by Spider One. The film opens with John Ennis delivering one hell of an acting performance. He’s portraying Robert Anderson Wright. He’s one hell of an actor in the movie within a play of a movie.  You figure it out. Robert is trying to get a Sir Anthony Hopkins performance, and well, they don’t quite get where he’s going.

Somewhere, Martin Scorsese is smiling about that rubber suit comment. Brody (Krsy Fox) is preparing for her own performance. This is method acting in a horror movie. Brody delivers quite a performance. Marcus (Bryce Johnson) is an artist, he’s painting, his phone is ringing. He’s ignoring it.

I love the shots, and the music. It reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock and the doorway and window frame shots. The shots that some directors shy away from. Spider One puts them right where you need them. You can see the darkness in another person, you can see it in broad daylight. You can see Marcus is struggling with his own darkness. These fears, obsessions, anxieties, hallucinations, terrors, sleep paralysis, and demons. Marcus comes face-to-face with his.

The painting in the film is fascinating. It’s very, In the Mouth of Madness. Oh, now we meet a writer… The madness that survives, changes, fades, can be changed, titled, laughed about, and it has driven some to insanity. Eddie Park (Edward Hong) is the writer. He’s writing about The Whistler (Adam Marcinowski). His story is flowing, he’s writing an entire scene that may or may not come to life in his mind.

The Whistler is the voice in so many writer’s heads. Well, maybe not every writer. Adam Marcinowski is amazing as The Whistler. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Did I say Ouch?! We meet a couple that went on a date, and one of them feels the art much more than the other.

Allegoria is fascinating because it’s a little bit of everything with art and life. I want to say there may or may not be some little homages to certain films but they are not blatant in your face. It’s a fun movie, it’s a movie you can watch with your friends, and it’s fun.

The various mind-fucks throughout the movie make sense, and the way this movie is just fun, and I would love to watch it at Halloween. It would be a blast to add to the Halloween movie list. Art is something that shouldn’t be explained, it shouldn’t be labeled. Art is art. It is feelings, love, sex, emotions, life, pieces of things, movies, music, walls, and everything in between.

When you create something, there is something magical about it. Music is one of the most magical forms of art. To create a song that can take you back in time or to a moment that makes you think of something or someone. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world. Concerts are art too.

I just saw (the) Melvins, Helms Alee, Space Kamp, Sister Nancy, Red Fox and Screechy Dan, Trouble City All Stars, and more. It was AMAZING. It’s sex, love, lust, hugs, romance, relationships. It’s light and darkness. The images in Allegoria remind you to take a look around, get off those phones, look at stuff. I was shocked during (the) Melvins concert because hardly anyone got their phones out.

It was great. People were actually in the moment. I would recommend watching Allegoria. It takes you on a wild ride. I think Spider One delivered big time with this movie. The special effects and some of the awesome images and the possessed character, The Whistler he created.  They aren’t too over-the-top but you imagine that in real life if you saw this shit, you would go, okay, what is this?

Make sure to check out Allegoria.