Director – Dustin Mills (Her Name Was Torment, Easter Casket)
Starring – Joni Durian (Babysitter Massacre, The Hornet’s Sting and the Hell It’s Caused), Allison Egan (Theatre of the Deranged II, Snuffet), and Haley Madison (Kill That Bitch, Headless)
Release Date – 2015
Rating – 4/5
Tagline – “We all wear masks”
Late last year director Dustin Mills announced that he would be releasing a brand new film early in 2015. The film,Applecart, was promised to be something completely different from his other films. He had made claims similar to this before when he released Her Name Was Torment and fuck was he right.
The film was released on DVD a few weeks ago but I refrained from buying a copy until I could meet up with Mills at Cinema Wasteland this past weekend. Sadly, Mills had a situation arise and was unable to attend but I was still able to get a copy of the film from Wes Allen and Josh Miller who were selling copies of the film for Dustin.
I was also able to meet several members of the cast including Miller, Erin R. Ryan, Haley Madison (who I had previously interviewed), and Dave Parker while at Cinema Wasteland. They were all friendly and polite while I was there but that may have been due to the fact that I had my daughter with me who is always the center of attention.
**Spoiler Alert**The film is an anthology film that begins with a beautiful woman who decides to take her clothes off to pleasure herself. This sets the tone for the film. We then jump to our first story that features a cookie-cutter family enjoying an evening at home when the daughter’s best friend comes over to visit and spend the night. The dad has an unhealthy obsession with his daughter and her friend which has lead to him spying on them. They are secret lovers and their dad’s voyeurism has lead to his wife feeling neglected. This forces her to take drastic measures to get her family back.
The second story follows a loving son who takes care of his aging father who is unable to take care of himself. He hires a nurse to take care of him when he is not around. However, she is a fowl woman that sexually pleasures herself in front of him and pisses in his food before forcing it down his throat. The old man finally has enough and stands up for himself.
The next story follows a man and his daughter who live alone. The young girl has a boyfriend that the father does not approve of and to make matters worse, she just found out she was pregnant. Her father is a religious man and carves a cross into her hand before sending her to her room. Her boyfriend climbs in through the window and sees what her father had did. He attacks her father but he can’t overpower the man. Her father strangles her boyfriend and leaves to hide the body. While he is gone she enters the bathroom to remove the child from her body in the crudest of fashions.
The final story revolves around a factory worker who has a crush on a pretty little thing that refuses to give him the time of day. He stares at her everyday at lunch but one day she fails to arrive. After work he visits a co-worker and discovers that he had kidnapped her and has her tied up in his attic. He tries to convince him to rape her but he likes her too much to do so. He takes a crowbar to his friend but before he unties her he decides to rub one out.**Spoiler Alert**
When Mills boasted earlier that this film was unlike anything he had released before, I had no idea how much of an understatement that was. Mills is known for his unique films. His films always stand out regardless of the story and Applecart is by far the most unique film from his mind to date.
The acting in this one is superb. Every cast member delivers amazing performances while keeping their roles true to the film. The film is shot to resemble the films of the silent era so their actions have to tell the story without the use of words. This demands a lot of discipline and physical acting and this cast pulls if off perfectly. Their roles are very demanding but they never broke character and pulled them off perfectly. I also want to note just how sexy this cast is. Every woman in the film is extremely beautiful even when their face is covered with the mask. The stories for this one are fun but they may not be that original. That’s the beauty of a Mills film.
The story may be similar to another film but they are always done in such a way that you will swear you had never seen a film like it before. The anthology angle was a surprise as well. I assumed this film had a linear story but the anthology series worked very well to the viewer’s advantage. Each segment is a step up from the last but they are all real situations that have taken place before. However, Mills has such a talent that he can take everything wrong and ugly with the world and turn it into a beautiful piece of art.
Finally, the film does have a few on screen kills but they are not bloody and gore filled murders that most horror fans are looking for. Instead, they are beautifully shot scenes of death among unusual circumstances. The film does have a few scenes of decent practical effects as well but none are referring to the kill scenes. Overall, Applecart is cinematic triumph for indie horror. The film is visually pleasing and the stories are real but the horror of each tale is overshadowed by amazing acting and beautiful camerawork. This is one sexy film that needs to be seen. Check this one out!
