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DUCK! THE CARBINE HIGH MASSACRE
Produced and Directed by William Hellfire and Joel Smack
Written by Joey Smack, William Hellfire, Todd Russell, and Mick Leo
Photographed by Joey Smack and Todd Russell
Edited by Lou CiferDerick - Joey Smack
Derwin - William Hellfire
Bible Girl - Misty Mundae
Play Girl - Lilly Tiger
Goth Girl - Liz Bathory
It's easy to watch DUCK! THE CARBINE HIGH MASSACRE and miss the point. Are the filmmakers capitalizing or crusading in the wake of the Columbine tragedy. Denver officials lean to the latter while filmmakers William Hellfire and Joey Smack claim to be speaking out against the media exploitation and sensationalizing of the events. Where the press labeled everything having to do with the killers as sources of their hostility, from trenchcoats to video games, DUCK! brings to light what life might have been like for two boys who were ridiculed, beaten, and pushed too far.
The films core is the relationship between Derick and Derwin. Not being jocks, moterheads, preps, zealots, or sluts, they were ostracized into their own two-man clique. To them, a Friday night on the internet was an eventful evening. High School isnt' an easy life, but high school without some level of acceptability is lonely, isolated torture. These two boys couldn't go to parties or get dates simply because they were already labeled, and those labels didn't fit in with what was considered to be "in." Thrown together, Derick and Derwin look to each other for comfort, love, and acceptance. They fall somewhere between brothers and lovers.
Derick and Derwin's daily existence is what you would expect it to be. They are laughed at for not dressing in the latest fashions. They are ridiculed for daring to be different. They are beaten within an inch of their lives just for looking at someone's girlfriend. They are an easy target for all cliques to single out simply because they don't belong to any clique. Derwin gives as good an explanation for why this happens as anyone else seems to be able to come up with; the sheep fear what it not part of the flock. They are smarter and view the world differently, but in the end they are only human…and high schoolers. School is their existence; it's where the days start and end. Who wants to be part of a world that doesn't want them?
Smack and Hellfire don't pretend to know what led to the events at Columbine, but the events seem all too familiar to them. They can relate to their true-life counterparts, that's evident in the scenes. The two have been on the receiving end of the cruelty that is high school. To emphasize their points, Smack and Hellfire fill their film with caricatures viewers can readily identify with: the motorhead who will kick your teeth in for touching his car, the jock who hates to look dumb but does it so well, and an African American who is even more angry than out anti-heroes. In a surprisingly effective role as a Bible-thumping zealot trying to convince people to attend her bible study is Misty Mundae, star of numerous Seduction Cinema titles. Here she's all doe-eyed innocence and beauty hiding a core rotted by hypocrisy and hate.
No, I don't condone what happened at Columbine, but I understand why it happened and why it needed to happen. Was it avoidable? Yes, but it would have occurred elsewhere. DUCK! THE CARBINE HIGH MASSACRE suggests you look at the cause and not the symptoms to understand the end result. DUCK! doesn't trivialize or celebrate the events as some would have us believe. Instead it provides a very different point of view. One that you won't see in the media, but one that needs to be seen in order to fully understand the tragedy.