MOVIE INFO:
Directed by Jouran McClure. Written by Ryan Finnerty and Kevin Haskin. Starring Michelle Page, Bill Moseley.
It’s not often that I say this, but one of the biggest issue’s with director Jourdan McClure’s second feature, Rogue River, is the decision to play it straight. Telling the story of Mara (played by Michelle Page), a woman struggling to come to terms with the loss of her father who finds herself unwittingly at the mercy of some initially well meaning strangers, Rogue River never quite gets as weird as you feel it ought to.
In this, our post-Human Centipede society, the film sets a tone somewhat more akin to that most neutered of genres, the UK Living or Hallmark Channel made-for-TV thriller. This isn’t to say that the film entirely fails at setting a tone of menace and anxiety – some of the scenarios featured within are decidedly uncomfortable to witness – yet this always seems to be a case of what you bring with you to the movie, rather than what the film inspires. No one wants to spend a night at the Bates Motel, you don’t need a crazy man in underpants talking with your father’s urn to know that being abducted by those of a mentally unbalanced inclination will not end well.
One of the most significant triumphs and failures of Rogue River is the soundtrack. Jermaine Stegall’s score is sufficiently menacing to help conjure up all the right kind of unpleasant associations, and yet it seems that it is never used in the right context. When the music should add to the tension, it is strangely absent, and when you’re trying to focus on what is taking place, then it is creeping around at every corner, following Mara from room to room like a lost puppy. I think this was partly a notion on behalf of the director to shock with the suddenness of the events that take place, yet due to the manner and means in which the film was shot, the surprise never quite pays off. In this way, the viewer is allowed to walk through the film without ever truly feeling threatened, save for their own understanding of how unpleasant it would be were such a thing to happen to them.
As such, a rapport is never quite built up with Mara, like the score, she always seems absent when you most wish for something to connect you to what is happening on screen. There are some nice little set pieces but, by and large, these are divorced from the characters and how the viewer reacts to them. Again, it’s a case of feeling that you yourself would not like to experience what these people are going through. Likewise, the villains of the film – Jon (Bill Moseley) and his terminally ill ‘wife’, Lea (Lucinda Jenney) – never seem as threatening as they should be due to being so utterly bad at being villains. I mean, fair enough, Jon is good at shouting, and chasing people, and also hitting them with large objects, but, as a killer, he makes such elementary mistakes that, were they present, even the most insane of cinematic maniacs would be turning away with a mournful sigh. Seriously, even Leatherface made better judgement calls than the antagonists of Rogue River.
Mara also never seems to take advantage of the situations offered her by her amateurish kidnappers. When given a chance to bludgeon Lea, she chokes her tormentor with her own father’s ashes instead. Life sadly awards no points for creativity in such situations. Of the actual set pieces themselves however, by far the most interesting is the ‘wedding’ scene an hour or so in. If the film gains any traction, you’ll be able to youtube it soon. It is this sequence, even more so than the nicely done yet somewhat out of place ‘coffee’ scene, that makes the film all the more frustrating to watch.
Had the tone matched the general weirdness of these events throughout then there really would be something to write home about, however as it stands, it feels as if Rogue River never really quite lives up to the degree of gonzo weirdness expected of the genre.
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