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| Images Courtesy of Unearthed Films |
A plainly grimy “torture porn” film that’s secretly a
surreal exercise in the revenge-feminist horror thriller, Xpiation starts
out simply enough in a decrepit and worn Roman hallway where an aristocratic
looking middle-aged woman (Chiara Pavoni) sits in a chair across from a naked
Hispanic man lashed to a chair as a nameless bald junkie under her influence
proceeds to torture the man in a variety of increasingly vicious ways. Her camera looks on endlessly in numerous
dialogue-free scenes as the junkie punches him, sandpapers his leg raw and later
still takes a claw hammer to his nether regions. All the while, a series of seemingly
disconnected flashbacks involving three characters gradually pepper the
proceedings, filling in gaps which paint a portrait of a prostitute who was assaulted
by a street gang, forming the crux of the film’s seemingly plotless narrative.
Co-written by Hidden in the Woods screenwriter Andrea
Cavaletto, Xpiation while tedious and at times excruciating turns out to
be kind of an interesting spin on the revenge-feminist film with a tough and
sadistic cougar at the epicenter. Shot
on high-definition digital video by the producer-director-effects artist himself,
Cristopharo’s film is for all of its squalor and vulgar provocations is lensed
gracefully and fluctuates in and out of dream reality often mid-scene so you
get crimson reds laced with a heightened perspective. Exchanges of dialogue and performances by the
film’s brave cast are secondary to the director’s effects makeup and his
surreal sense of editing, often changing the costumes or makeup of the actors
mid-scene so you get the sense of psychological transformation. The original electronic score by longtime
collaborator Antony Coia is serviceable electronic dread that will remind more
adventurous horrorgoers of Sky Wikluh’s dubstep soundtrack to A Serbian Film.
Regular moviegoers or those looking for something scary are
inclined to keep moving on and avoid this radioactive poison pill like the
plague, but those who are tired of the usual jump scares and sanitized horror
wanting something that pushes outside of comfort zones, then Xpiation is
for you. Mostly a one-set piece that never
quite goes full Marian Dora but comes close at times, this is the very
definition of lean-mean indie filmmaking with the director himself doing most
of the production credits himself. Though
this will only appeal to the extreme horror crowd Unearthed Films caters to,
the disc specs are good and it comes with a blooper reel in case anyone needed
reminding that its just a movie.
--Andrew Kotwicki
