As a campy send up of mid eighties RED DAWN type soviet scare flicks, REDMEADOW has the potential of being quite funny - and even it's own preview, which precedes the feature, contains plenty o' laughs.
But as the "long version" begins, it becomes obvious that its director, Garo Setian, is not as sarcastically minded as he should be. What could have been a scathingly funny and sardonic attack, becomes a victim of it's own premise and construction.
While there are moments of humor occasionally peeking through a smarmy veil (one notable example is a scene in which the male protagonist(Setian) makes a romantic connection with his female co-star through their mutual love of firearms), much of the film flails in a quagmire of the neo-conservative political masturbation, bad fashion sense and feathered haircuts of the white suburban cast and crew of REDMEADOW.
In this test reel, prolific young filmmaker, Garo Setian, has produced a mixed bag of film styles including clay animation, a fast paced kung fu take off and a horror/suspense short which all succeed in varying degrees.
The two animation films (THE BLOB DIET and MOUSEWICH), which have been shown on SHOWTIME cable, employ the most rudimentary stop motion effects optimally. While imaginative, they are not exactly of the "cutting edge" variety in their subject matter and would be enjoyed by kids more than the jaded readers of this magazine who demand that their claymation characters participate in sodomy or other acts of deviancy.
A trailer for a film called REDMEADOW 2 stars the filmmaker and his friends in a high speed, teenaged martial arts/super hero satire which is pretty amusing. Apparently filmed in high school hallways and empty lots, Setian once again compensates for a micro budget with sheer exuberance. It somewhat resembles what the Troma team would have done in their embryonic years.
By far, the highlight of the tape is a well-produced, live action film called THE TRAVELLERS. A stranded female motorist encounters a dangerous looking, stressed out hitchhiker. We bemoan her lack of common sense when she attempts to befriend him. Just as her doom is spelled out, a plot twist reveals that our seemingly hapless heroine is herself a fetching combination of Eileen Warnos and Henrietta Lee Lucas. In her anal retentive ardor, she maintains a select collection of her victim's body parts, the details of which I won't reveal here. Setian has potential as a filmmaker but is all over the place stylistically. It is time for him to establish himself in the format which best suits his strengths, which in my opinion would be those employed in THE TRAVELLERS.