On DVD: Maximum Shame, Bad Habits & Beneath Contempt
By Mike Everleth ⋅ November 9, 2011
A trio of distinctly different films have been released on DVD:
Maximum Shame, dir. Carlos Atanes
Spain’s underground king of surrealism, Carlos Atanes, presents his densest, loopiest nightmare yet, Maximum Shame, a confounding puzzle of an enigma wrapped in video.
Atanes whisks viewers through a black hole that is swallowing the universe to a fetid cesspool ruled by a deranged, black leather clad queen who torments anyone unlucky enough to fall into her realm.
Maximum Shane is a cross between Alice in Wonderland and an S&M video, featuring a tour de force performance by Marina Gatell as the black queen.
Read the full review of Maximum Shame on the Underground Film Journal.
Watch the trailer:
Bad Habits, dir. Dominic Deacon
A heroin-addicted nun finds a dead man in her bathtub in Dominic Deacon‘s heady mix of high sleaze and high art.
The long-lost nunsploitation genre has made a comeback in a big way recently and this entry in its rehabilitation takes a walk down a dark twisty path. Deacon is a master at stirring up shifting storylines, mysterious character motivations and sexy women into consciousness-altering concoctions.
Buy Bad Habits at the Dank Films website!
Watch the trailer:
Beneath Contempt, dir. Benjamin Brewer
Beneath Contempt is a thoughtful, mature meditation on grief, loss and redemption that doesn’t take any easy outs.
A young man accidentally kills a few of his best friends while driving intoxicated. Several years later, the man is released from prison and returns to his hometown even though he can hardly show his face in public.
The film gives equal weight to both sides of the tragedy — the reckless murderer and the surviving family of one of the victims. But, don’t file this drama under “feel good” or “total bummer” as the naturalistic script and direction doesn’t settle for cheap theatrics.
Read the full review of Beneath Contempt on the Underground Film Journal.
Buy Beneath Contempt at IndiePix!