The Amazing Movie Show: Colin (2008)

Colin (2008)

Country: UK

Production Company: Nowhere Fast Productions

Executive Producer/2nd Unit Director/Special Effects/Visual Effects: Justin Hayles

Producer/Director/Screenplay/Editor: Marc Price

Music: Dan Weekes, Jack Elphick

Special Effects/Visual Effects/Stunts: Leigh Crocombe,

Special Effects: Damien Largey

Make-up Design: Michelle Webb

Make-up Effects: Gayle Cooper, Jess Heath, Lyndsey Jones

Sales Agent: Helen Grace

Locations: Tooting, South West London, England.

Length: 90 mins.

Cast: Alastair Kirton (Colin), Daisy Aitkens (Linda, Colin's Sister), Kate Alderman (False Laura), Leanne Pammen (Laura), Tat Whalley (Marlen, Linda's Friend), Kerry Owen (Colin's Mother), Leigh Crocombe (Damien) Justin Mitchell-Davey (Slingshot Guy), Dan Weekes (Bitten Guy), Dominic Burgess (House Siege, Pots), Rami Hilmi (Harry), Simba Ngei (House Siege, Umbrella), Clare-Louise English (House Siege), Mari-Claire Turley (House Siege, Powerdrill), Sarah Strong (House Siege, Block), Andrew Nash (House Siege, Meat Cleaver), Alton Letto (House Siege, Mallet), Matthew Bulgo (Walkman), Bamshad Abedi-Amin (Zombie Mugger, Hat), Devon Tomlin (Zombie Mugger, Shoes), John Largey (Basement Guy).

Synopsis: With the sound of distant gunfire ringing in the air, Colin visits his friend Damien, having been bitten during a zombie attack. Bitten again by Damien, Colin slowly loses his life and becomes one of the undead. Forced to walk the streets of London, he encounters zombie carnage and human atrocities as his sister attempts to save him and revive his lost humanity.

Review: Colin has gained notoriety for its meagre budget - reportedly £45 (US$73), though one feels that this is a marketing ploy that has turned into a bit of a millstone - director Marc Price roped in the services of friends and acquaintances, and spent the money on syrup for fake blood, a crowbar, DV tape they didn't actually need, and coffee, the leftover grounds from which were then utilized for wound make-up.

Shooting the film on evenings and weekends in the streets around his flat, which he used for interiors, he editing the film during the day while answering the phone for a courier company and created the sound effects at night, chewing on Fruit Pastilles and recording Guy Fawkes' Day fireworks to use as background gunfire. Even the low-cost camcorder approach was compromised, as the three-chip Panasonic camera Price was using prior to making the film broke down and he was forced to use an old tape DV-Cam (the film is shot in a claustrophobic 4:3 ratio).

Received enthusiastically at festivals (it won the Special Jury Award, and placed second in Audience Awards at the Revenant Film Festival in Seattle in 2008, as well as playing Cannes and Sitges), but a little sniffily by mainstream critics (Time Out London called it "overlong" and "non-frightening"; though Sight & Sound said "it's one hell of a calling card."), the film makers are eschewing the Paranormal Activity approach and going straight to DVD in the UK, following a few selected screenings and a limited release.

So, the question remains: is it any good? Unlike Paranormal Activity, it never really transcends its homemade roots, the use of a DV tape, rather than a hyper-sharp, overly bright solid state system gives the images a blurry, gritty quality which plays well in the rare calmer scenes, but tends to make the action more confusing than it needs to be.

The concept of audience identification with a zombie protagonist (well-played here by Alistair Kirton) is not new, Bub from Romero's Day of the Dead is a clear influence (with a coffee shop named for actor Sherman Howard), but has never been taken to quite these extremes. However Price doesn't trust his own idea and the narrative takes several side excursions, some successful – a girl locked in a cellar full of blinded female zombies by a creepy pervert – others less so – a fight in a room full of zombies, shot before Kirton started work, sidelines Colin for too long, and veers too close to Romero and Peter Jackson.

Moments of humor and pathos leaven the grim, gut-munching proceedings: Colin's inability to stand after an initial attack due to the blood on the floor; a child's building block he toys with, before losing it down a drain; and the scenes with his sister (an excellent, but under-used Daisy Aitkens), and mother (Kerry Owen) have a real emotional pull that makes you wish more time had been spent on this aspect. The idea of portraying the humans as worse than the undead is also well-handled, particularly the intriguing figure of "Slingshot Guy", whose pellets are embedded with razor blades, and for whom Price created a complex back story he hopes to utilize in a comic book.

Also worthy of note is the sound design and music, Price shot the film virtually silent and built up the soundtrack, layer by layer like an animated film, to eliminate passing airplanes and heckling bystanders. The music, by Dan Weekes (who also plays a victim who gets his ear bitten off, complete with earbud) and Jack Elphick, nods in the direction of Boards of Canada and Sigur Rós, and has moments of weird majesty and uplifting beauty.

Confusing, and headache-inducing at times, but with a neat Usual Suspects-inspired flashback wrap-up, there's enough good stuff here to make it worth your while (no US release is fixed as yet), and we can definitely look forward to Price's next film, Thunderchild, which centers on a gunner in a World War 2 bomber beset by a monster. Hopefully he'll have enough money to afford a tripod this time around.

Colin is release on DVD in the UK on Tuesday, 10.26.09.