Director – Matthew Garrett (Beating Hearts)
Starring – Darcy Miller (Grimm), Marc D. Donovan (Boardwalk Empire), and Christian Davidock (Boardwalk Empire)
Release Date – 2009
Rating – 3.5/5
Tagline – “This could be anywhere”
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I love how tight knit the horror community is. When I first joined Horror Society I would meet a filmmaker, actor, distributor, producer, etc almost weekly but now I meet someone in the horror game daily. In fact, I meet multiple people a day and I fucking love it. Most of these people want nothing more than for people to recognize all the hard work and dedication they had put in to their projects. That brings me to my next review.
The next film I will put on the chopping block is Morris County. The film was recently acquired for distribution by Beneath the Underground and one of the beautiful people behind that group was nice enough to send me an online screener for the film. Farmer Vincent, whatever your real name is, thank you so much for hooking me up!
**Spoiler Alert**The film is an anthology film that follows three poor souls in Morris County. The first story follows a wayward youth, Ellie (Miller), who has drifted away from her parents and starts to party. However, Ellie is not what she seems and her secrets coincide with the changing of her young body. The second story follows a Jewish father who is trying to deal with his wife cheating on him. He leaves his son home alone and goes out to the local video store where he picks up a man of the evening for a little knob slobbing. Things do not go according to plan and the two get in a fight and arrested. His wife bails him out and things go south from their for them. The third and final story follows a kind elderly lady who loses her job and forced into early retirement with her husband. However, her husband dies one night. Not being able to live without him she leaves his rotting corpse in her home as if he never passed.**Spoiler Alert**
I love anthology films but I fucking hate reviewing them because I like to take the time to give each segment the time and respect they deserve instead of just writing one generic review. That sucks for me because I really enjoyed myself while watching Morris County for the most part. Each story was very unique with each surpassing the next. I also really enjoyed the look of the film. I have so much respect for a film that pays homage to the VHS era.
The acting in this film is surprisingly top notch. Each cast member really brought their “A” game is it shown throughout each scene. It would be a damn shame if I don’t see each cast member in some other films. The film has three great stories but some are naturally better than the others. Story one, to me, was the weakest in the film. The story was fun but it was just a little slow for my taste. The second story was a little more faced pace than the first one and was surprisingly raunchy. This story did, in fact, throw me for a few loops. The third story is by far the the highlight of the film. The story is shocking, disgusting, and a shear masterpiece. I could never praise this story enough.
Finally, the special effects in this film are down right fascinating. The first two stories do not put these amazing effects to use but the third proudly showcases it. Overall, Morris County is one hell of an anthology flick that needs to be seen. If you like good horror you will like Morris County. Check it out!
Thank you guys so much, this is amazing.