Micro-budget films can sometimes be tough to get through, especially when you’re not used to them. To say they’re not for everyone would be an understatement since general audiences most likely wouldn’t even give them a second glance. I find them rather interesting since they force the filmmaker to push harder to give them something to grasp. Blake Eckard is one of those guys who uses whatever resources he has available to him in order to project his nightmares onto the screen.
Synapse Films has taken a little break from all the 4K releases to deliver something rough around the edges with Intensely Independent: The Micro-Budget films of Blake Eckard on DVD. The two films included in the collection are Bubba Moon Face (2011) and Coyotes Kill for Fun (2017).
In Bubba Moon Face, two brothers, Horton and Stanton, reunite for their mother’s funeral in a small Missouri town. They spend time at a bar getting drunk while a former flame of Stanton shows up with a child, claiming it’s his. Horton ends up with the child only to have Gus, he and Stanton’s father, show up with his new (and much younger) girlfriend. It becomes apparent that a much larger scheme is at play, and their lives are about to crash and burn.
Coyotes Kill for Fun follows Sue Anne, a former teacher, who takes in a woman named Bev and her two children, sheltering them from her abusive husband. Living in the backwoods, Bev coerces a co-worker to drive her to Sue Anne’s, only to set in motion a murder spree that will leave this group of characters broken or, even worse, dead.
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It took some time for me to shake the dirty feeling I had after watching these two films. It’s really easy to imagine these characters could exist out there somewhere, and probably not far from you. Eckard used whatever resources he had, cast family and friends, and delivered a harrowing look at the lives of these characters who live and thrive in rural American cesspools. These films could even exist within the same universe. They’re both unsettling and equally troubling.
The DVD includes several special features, including a commentary track on Bubba Moon Face, an interview with Blake Eckard by indie film legend Jon Jost, and a booklet featuring liner notes.
Indie film enthusiasts should travel the long, dark road into Eckard’s white-trash nightmare. A huge shout-out to Synapse Films for still being brave enough to give filmmakers like this a showcase for their passion and hard work. Â
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