Reflections Of Evil
Geneon Entertainment
Cast:
Extras: Earlier Works, Trailer
Rating:
’Reflections of Evil’ is a film by Damon Packard. Who’s he you ask? Well, I’m not really all that sure.
After countless minutes spent Googling myself senseless, I was still unable to uncover much pertinent information. And if you find that you want to buy or rent the DVD the only contact information I could find for Pookle Films was at
http://www.reelscreen.com/pooklefilms.html and that site doesn’t even list this disc.
So then, what exactly is ’Reflections of Evil?’ Well, here too I find myself at a bit of a loss. There’s a large, paranoid man who’s convinced that the world is out to get him. This conspiracy is embodied by yapping dogs, brutal police, vicious
homeless people, skate punks, and one pissed off grandmother. All the while he’s plagued by cultural flashbacks that further distort his already warped world view.
’Reflections of Evil’ is the type of film that was once the mainstay of local access cable television before those programs went the way of the dodo. Stumbling upon this film at two in the morning would have been both disturbing and fully entertaining.
The movie is packed with oddness of the sort never found in mainstream cinema and the bizarre visuals and associated audio mix are the stuff of giddy nightmares.
My only question is what would Tony Curtis think of one of his awful Laserlight DVD introductions being bastardized for Damon Packard’s production. I must say that I much prefer Packard’s version.
Presented in a full frame format, I can only assume that this DVD is faithful to the original production. Overall quality is about what one would expect for a homemade film of this nature. The image is soft, colors are washed out, black levels are
weak, and there are numerous nicks and blemishes. Still and all, the film is certainly watchable and I can’t fault the filmmaker for not having enough cash to make this video transfer shine.
Audio comes in an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono mix that is very harsh to the ears during many of the dubbed scenes but is otherwise pleasantly non-descript.
Extras on the disc include a few sneak peeks at the director’s previous efforts. First up is a 4-minute montage of clips from what appears to be a Renaissance Fair gone wrong. People in period garb frolic and play while mesmerizing music plays in the
background. I actually liked this piece quite a bit and that scares me to no end.
Next up is the 9-minute short film ’Apple’ which is also of a fantasy/horror bent. Finally, a very disturbing 3-minute teaser trailer is included.
Depressing, disturbing, overly long, and near impossible to find on DVD, ’Reflections of Evil’ is a strange movie yet I can’t help but find oddly charming. Countless thousands of people are out there everyday creating their own films with only the slimmest of hopes that they will ever be seen by the public at large yet they continue to toil away at their craft. More power to them.
Damon Packard may be an enigma to me but kudos to him for getting his project out on DVD. Years from now some unsuspecting soul will happen upon this disc in a secondhand shop, buy it on a whim, pop it in the player, and then sit there mesmerized and disturbed for over two hours. Damon Packard has found immortality in the guise of a shiny plastic disc — I suppose that should count for something.