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DARK CHAMBER
Produced, Directed, and Written by David Campfield
Edited by Christopher Penney
Directors of Photography - Xavier Rodriguez and Andrew SeltzJustin Besler - Eric Conley
Kurt Besler - David Rigg
Scott - Fred DeReau
Rick - David Campfield
Heidi - Felissa RoseI first saw David Campfield's DARK CHAMBER under its original title, UNDER SURVEILENCE, at the 2006 Spooky Movie Festival in Fairfax, Va, despite having been sent a review copy months prior by the director. While shot under traditional microbudget conditions, the movie possesses a cinematic scope that's lost on the boob tube. It's like the old saying, "movies are made to be seen in theaters." While shot on video, DARK CHAMBER has the look and feel of a larger movie directly reflecting Campfield's ambition as a feature filmmaker.
It's not uncommon for filmmakers to use the horror genre as a vehicle to launch their career, but Campfield displays loftier goals by crafting what can only be described as an Italian Giallo that emphasizes the mystery elements rather than the murder elements. The result is a much classier picture than the standard fare; sort of the difference between a Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci - elegance versus evisceration.
The movie opens with Justin Besler walking out on his mother who we learn right away is a drug addict. Justin has been caring for her for years while she pill-popped her pain, and her life, away. Justin is a good kid: bright, dutiful, and religious, and he has a goal in life - the police academy. His mother's habit has taken its toll and if he stays any longer he'll probably end up going down the same path of self-destruction. One's charity can only go so far and Justin realizes that he can't help someone who doesn't want to help themselves. That's not to say that Justin isn't proud of his decision to leave, not does it say he's grown to dispise his mother - just the opposite. It's his love for the woman that has him sneaking out in shame while she sleeps off the latest round of euphoria in a bottle.
Enter Justin's estranged father, Kurt, a weathered and hardened police veteran, who while absent in his son's life, has inspired Justin to follow in his footsteps, much to his mother's chagrin. Kurt eagerly takes Justin into his home which has been illegally converted to house 3 apartments. Stern, commanding, and direct, Kurt is everything Justin isn't but hopes to be. The opportunity to bond is short-lived as Justin learns that his father might be the reason for his mother's dependency when she tells Justin that Kurt's physical abuse is what led to the painkillers, a notion dismissively laughed off by Kurt.
On the day he moves in, Justin befriends Kayla, a lovely redhead who catches his eye. She challenges Justin in every way she can: his friendship, his religious nature, and his sexual attitudes. It becomes apparent that Kayla is unhinged as she stalks Justin, calling him at all hours of the night or showing up at his house unannounced and lingering outside. It's her murder that Justin has to solve. He was there when it happened, knocked out by the murderers, but his perception of events do not match the facts presented by Kurt. Perhaps Justin feels guilty for so harshly rejecting Kayla, or perhaps it's his eagerness to please his father by solving the crime that compels him. Campfield never clarifies, and smartly so. The more we learn about Justin through the choices that he makes, the more dislikable he becomes. Every decision reflects a character flaw that builds upon the last which started with the selfish act of abandoning his mother. It becomes clear that Justin hides behind his spirituality in hopes of the absolute forgiveness he can't give himself.
As Justin investigates the murder, the answers he receives are pure Italian horror: satanic cults, masked killers, and sexual deviance. Kurt has been investigating a local group known as the Blood Circle whose members sport hooded robes and faceless masks as they execute their crimes. Members recognize each other by a pentagram ring, just like one worn by Kayla, but why would the cult sacrifice one of their own? Believing the killer is in the house, Justin places micro-cameras throughout the tenant's apartments. He becomes a voyeur obsessed with the unsavory lot living in his father's home: an abusive would-be screenwriter who sells guns to minors and smacks around his sexually subservient wife; Bob, who recently walked out on his wife and enjoys the company of hookers in schoolgirl outfits; and Heidi, a hooker who picks up her clients in bars and brings them home.
There's barely a truly likable character in the entire movie as everyone has his or her own flaws and demons. Campfield's greatest asset is his characterization, where he avoids two-dimensional clichés by giving flaws equal weight to strength in the decision making process. Every choice each character makes is dictated by survival; the screenwriter wants to provide a better life for his wife, Bob was drowning under the yoke of his wife, and Heidi is supporting her younger sister. What they do is no different from Justin and Kurt, who are willing to break the law for the greater good.
The complexity of Campfield's script isn't reserved strictly for the cast, but the story as well. The themes of religious and sexual acceptability and woven into a classic whodunit plot that relies on actual clues rather then red herrings. Astute viewers should be to piece the plot together about 30 minutes in as one character actually states what's going on. For those viewers who miss it, Campfield borrows a page from M. Night Shamalan's THE SIXTH SENSE and rolls back to reveal the clues which start coming from about 10 minutes in. Just like the ending to John McNaughton's WILD THINGS, once everything is revealed, the previous events take on completely different meanings where repeated viewing becomes mandatory for those "a-ha" moments where you kick yourself for missing the obvious.
Campfield reinforces the tension through noirish atmospheric visuals that channels the spirit of that great Giallo maestro Mario Bava. The shadows hide secrets, but what's revealed in the narrow shafts of morose light isn't necessarily the truth. While the camera work is one of the movie's highlights, it is also one of its flaws with regard to the surveillance footage. There are numerous opportunities for the narrow field of vision to hide information, but Campfield only seems to remember this during moments of convenience. Often the pinhole cameras to be everywhere the script requires them to be, even providing close-ups when called for. It's understandable why Campfield let's his guard down in an otherwise flawless mystery - it makes for a more visually interesting film. Personally, I think these moments would have been more dynamic had he remained true to the realistic nature of the device's limitations and possibly been able to build on the existing claustrophobic atmosphere with layers of constant frustration. I'm nitpicking, of course, in a movie whose least minor positive far outweighs its worst flaw.