Mutilation Man or M as it is formerly known as is A Cole Brother Production by Masked Films and CRC Digital Entertainment. This 2010 indie horror film stars Stephen Twardokus, Jon Gale and Sabrina Carmichael.
M is about murder, revenge and madness. We follow a killer or perhaps a serial killer, Malcolm Hale, as he pursues those who are responsible for his sister’s death although all those involved were acquited during the trial.
Roy is on his way home to celebrate his second wedding anniversary. He and his wife share an intimate night and after an intense sexul encounter, Roy wakes to find a strange man standing over his bed. The masked man renders Roy unconscious and when he wakes next, he finds himself bound and gagged to a chair in the garage. His wife is across from him bound and gagged as well. Over the next several hours they are subjected to different forms of torture as they desperately search for a way to escape. Can Roy discover the truth before it sets him free?
One of the best things about indie films (at least most) is that not much is known about them. Maybe I should clarify. The indie movies that are sent to me to review are for the most part unknown to me. Before watching them, I don’t do much research to find out more about them. I want to know as little as possible so I don’t bring any unwanted bias to my reviews. It also makes it fun when trying to figure out the plot. And it’s also fun if there’s somebody watching with you. More than anything else, they make you pay attention to both the big and small details.
With M, I didn’t have too much trouble following the story since it was presented in a nice cohesive package, and while I wondered why this couple was being tortured by a masked intruder for the majority of this movie, all the pieces snapped together when the plot was revealed in the third act.
The acting in M is adequate, however I never really got a sense of fear from Roy or his wife. This young couple is being held captive in their own home by a masked man who never says a word and yet they seem realitively calm about the situation. When the mask man is dealing out the pain in his sick little torture scenarios, this man and woman never truly share the pain with me the audience. I bring most of it myself as I see what is about to happen. If somebody nails a 10 inch spike into your upper thigh, I want to feel the actor’s pain; not mine. I know it’s going to hurt but I want the actor to show me that by screaming their head off. Instead I get a half-hearted squeal that last maybe three seconds. I want and need to see and hear the anquish.
Speaking of seeing, I must also say the special effects in M are sub-standard. For example, in one scene, the masked intruder takes a big bowie knife and cuts a piece of flesh out of Roy’s wife’s cheek. Instead of seeing blood gush down her face, we see a little trickle at the corner of the cut and that’s it. There’s another scene where Roy’s wife has a toe hacked off but the toe looks more like a finger.
Bottom line, while M is not a horrible horror movie, I would have liked to have seen a little more sense of danger from Roy and his wife. I wanted to see more of their pain and not a perception of how it would feel and, I would have liked the special effects to be more realistic to the injuries sustained.
