"A WOUNDED FAWN" // TRIBECA 2022

BY MATEO MORENO

A WOUNDED FAWN is a wild, subversive, ambitious and explosive movie that takes a lot of risks, most of which pay off. Josh Ruben plays Bruce, a man in a room full of buyers at an art auction. Most there are buyers, bidding on items that they are hopeful to bring home to their clients. Josh loses out on a bid for an item from Ancient Greece depicting "The Furies." Kate (Malin Barr) outbids him and walks away with the statue for her client. Strangely, Bruce ends up paying Kate a visit. We then get a glimpse into who Bruce truly is: a murderous psychopath who speaks to a mysterious owl creature that tells him to kill. The next sequence delves deeper into that: he's heading on a vacation getaway with a woman named Meredith (Sarah Lind). Meredith thinks that a romantic weekend away is what's in the cards. However, Josh's true nature is exposed fairly quickly and the murder within comes out again. However, Meredith isn't quite the victim that Josh assumed.

What follows is a strange and mind-bending trip first following Bruce's victims to then shifting inside of Bruce's own fractured mind and watch his unraveling. By switching up the narrative and the entire storytelling style, Director Travis Stevens really unleashes a brutally original work here. The introduction of "The Furies" from Ancient Greece isn't an accident and the melting of surrealism and reality is unnerving and simply wild. Josh Ruben's unhinged performance is wonderful to watch (and often frightening) and Sarah Lind is equally wonderful (as is the rest of the cast here). Unwrapping toxic masculinity, the horrors of mankind (especially MENkind) and gender dynanics throughout the years, A Wounded Fawn has a lot on its plate and tackles all of them with a gory, demented way. It'll knock you off balance and have you hopeful for new and intriguing horror films to come.

GRADE: A-

WRITTEN BY Travis Stevens, Nathan Faudree DIRECTED BY Travis Stevens STARRING Josh Ruben, Sarah Lind, Malin Barr, Katie Kuang, Laksmi Hedemark, Tanya Everett, Marshall Taylor Thurman, Leandro Taub, Neal Mayer SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2022 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: A WOUNDED FAWN

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? // A FILM REVIEW OF "SCARE ME"

BY MATEO MORENO

The horror anthology is a time old cinema tradition. From The Twilight Zone to Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt to V/H/S, audiences have thrilled at being scared with multiple stories in one viewing. The new Shudder original SCARE ME attempts to tell it through a new lens and, for the most part, it works really well. The new way that Writer/Director/Star Josh Ruben uses is how the anthology aspect is told. Usually in these types of films, we see separate short stories, telling self-contained tales. Here, we never leave the two leads and it's up to them to tell us the tales themselves, acting out all the parts themselves. It's clever and inventive, and gives a great showcase for Ruben and co-star Aya Cash.

Ruben plays Fred, a writer who at first glance seems like he's simply taking a trip to a cabin in the Catskills woods. To write, recuperate and relax. We quickly learn that he's not a working writer, but someone who wants to be a writer. His cabin neighbor is Fanny (Cash), an already very famous writer whose latest novel is critically acclaimed. When the power goes out, Fanny comes over to Fred's cabin and they decide to tell each other scary stories to help pass away the time. So they do, taking turns telling stories to each other in an attempt to out scare the other. Some are based on their own work, or in Fred's case his ideas (Werewolves... guns... revenge!) while others are tales spun out of the air. Instead of seeing other actors play out these stories, we watch Fred and Fanny act them out themselves, with sound effects and spooky lighting to help along the way.

As the night goes on, and the booze and coke start flowing, Fred reveals himself to be the worst kind of male writer: one who's jealous that he doesn't have the success that others have, especially someone like Fanny (re: a woman). He's toxic through and through and Ruben relishes in revealing that. He plays the wannabee writer as a self-made failure, one that may not have the talent others do and will blame everyone but himself in that failure. His script is clever and funny, calling out toxic masculinity well and smartly playing up the genre itself. Cash shines as the slightly braggy but supportive Fanny. She does toot her own horn a bit, but she also really seems to want Fred to shine. Cash is great in the role, charming and funny and her stories are a hoot. They both play off of each other great and their comic timing is spot on (as is their weird voices).

The addition of Chris Redd as a horror loving Pizza delivery guy sadly brings nothing to the table, nor does it make sense in the context of the story why he stays. Redd is a very talented performer and he does the best that he can with the slight material his character is given. But in the end, it's a character that's simply not needed. Rebecca Drysdale also briefly appears and has a few solid laughs as a painfully weird Uber-like driver. SCARE ME starts off very strong and original, but by the end wears out its welcome. The running time could definitely be trimmed to a lean 90 minutes (or even a bit less) and even though "scare" is in the title, it's not in any way scary. Not even a bit. Funny and original yes, but not scary. Having a few actual scares or freak out moments would have really helped the film, especially its lackluster ending. That being said, it's still very much worth a watch. Head over to Shudder and give it a whirl to see Ruben and Cash's spot-on chemistry and to see an Anthology told in a very unique way.

GRADE: B

WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Josh Ruben STARRING Josh Ruben, Aya Cash, Chris Redd, Rebecca Drysdale. Now Available Exclusively on Shudder. For more info: https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/scare-me/14e5d7d2ac9ab61c