SELLA TURCICA (2010)
Directed by Fred Vogel (AUGUST UNDERGROUND, REDSIN TOWER), SELLA TURCICA is by far his best film to date. Each film coming out of Toe Tag Productions just gets better than the last. The term “Sella Turcica” refers to the saddle-like compartment near the base of the skull that is basically a bony seat for the pituitary gland to sit on. It literally stands for “Turkish Saddle” in Latin. The pituitary gland is the gland at the base of the brain which releases hormones. If a tumor develops inside the pituitary, it will have limited places to go, which can then affect vision (like becoming color-blind) and other dangerous problems.
In a surprisingly compelling performance, Damien A. Maruscak portrays Sgt. Bradley Roback, a soldier returning home from the war in Afghanistan with a mysterious injury where he’s lost all use of his legs. Bradley has absolutely no recollection of how he came to be in a wheelchair, and none of his family members seem to realize the seriousness of his condition. They are so ecstatic to see him alive (previously being worried that he was dead) that his pale, sickly appearance goes practically unnoticed. This may be a case of love being blind, while the viewer may be screaming, “Come on, look at him – he’s GREEN!” Besides paralysis of both legs, he is now color-blind and continually gets massive headaches at the base of his skull (clearly offset by loud noises), which feels like the area’s been drilled on, even though doctors disagree but do not give him any further answers. He pops pills like they’re Tic Tacs for a little pain alleviation – to no avail – and gags anytime he puts food in his mouth. Brad’s physical problems start getting much worse, to the point where stretchy, black goo is emanating from all sorts of orifices. Even now, his family has yet to take him to the hospital! However, there is a great juxtaposition happening between Bradley’s rapidly transforming physical afflictions and the level of tensions within the house. Both are building up for one hell of a climax!
Initially, the story was hard to get into because the unpolished acting was so distracting. Maruscak’s role as Bradley was the best performance overall, which helped a lot since his character was the backbone of the story. Camille Keaton (I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE 1978) plays Brad’s mother rather uncomfortably and his sister Ashley (played by Jade Risser) lacks any real passion to be believable. Luckily, the script is strong enough to carry the film past any lackluster acting and the gore is, as usual, top-notch. Gore wizard Jerami Cruise leads a fantastic f/x team, using real animal intestines and maggots, resulting in a few astoundingly gruesome scenes. The black, gooey makeup on Brad’s face looks like he vomited black pudding and it flung backwards onto his face. Brilliant effect and would make a great poster image! My favorite might be the goop growing on/eating away at the bottom of Bradley’s foot. Amusingly, there is a little comedic moment where he tries to pat tiny dollops of ointment on it, as if that will accomplish anything. SELLA TURCICA may be the one Toe Tag film with the least amount of gore in it, believe it or not. This time around, they went with a richer story over having gore carrying all the weight as in previous works.
Outside trivial acting issues and an awkward dance number not seen since “Elaine” on Seinfeld, SELLA TURCICA is a pretty darn good film. Well-written, shot with a bleak perspective, stellar gore, and a soft, melodic soundtrack. Some of the stories Bradley told could’ve been tightened by quite a few minutes, but other than that it’s pretty solid. Fans of DEATHDREAM will instantly notice a distinct similarity in theme, but by the end of the film, it’s clearly gone in a different direction! I look forward to Vogel’s next endeavor.
https://www.toetagpictures.com
Just watched this movie myself and was extremely disapponted. The more Vogel I watch, the more I realise that August Underground was a beautiful mistake.