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PSYCLOPS
Written and Directed by Brett PiperShep - Dan Merriman
Heather - Diane DiGregorio
Kim - Irene Elizabeth Joseph
Dave - Rob Monkiewicz
Artemis Winthrop - Phip BarbourI've only had the pleasure of viewing a handful of titles from Brett Piper, but all have been fantastic entertainment. My favorite is probably DRAINIAC, available from RoundsEnt.com. That particular title has the same look, brisk pacing, and likable characters that you'll find in PSYCLOPS, just released from MTI Home Video.
With PSYCLOPS, Piper examines the all-consuming nature of video media. Shep is a video maker who can't put his camera down. Like David Holtzman in the classic film DAVID HOLTZMAN'S DIARY, Shep even takes to letting himself into his friends homes to video tape them while they sleep and shower. His entire life revolves around his video camera, it's the only way he can participate with the world around him.
Shep and his three friends, the kind of movie friends who would only hang out with a guy like Shep in...well...the movies, stumble across a video by 19th century genius Artemis Winthrop. Winthrop supposedly invented gadgets that were so far ahead of their time that they are only seeing the light of day. The video is a transfer of a film that Artemis shot years before Edison and Eastman got together to make history. The movie details Artemis' successful attempt to break through the dimensional barrier, an experiment that eventually lead to his death without the world ever knowing his name.
Like the Scooby gang, Shep and his friends research the video and track down the machine that broke through the dimensional barrier over 100 years prior. Shep, being the kind of guy who can't leave well enough alone, starts poking nobs and levers until the machine turns on. Of course, he does all of this through the lens of his ever-present video camera. After all, everything he does must be documented for prosperity. Before you know it, Shep has his video camera fussed to his face and into his brain; he looks like the newsman Cenobyte from Hellraiser 3. With his new facelift comes new supernatural powers. And like the old adage goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I've criticized movies before for trying to keep events too tightly wound with their small cast. Only recently is it dawning on me why films like this and the recently review DEMONESS work so well and other like DEMONICUS or DEATH FACTORY don't. While all the movies are ultimately formula pictures, it's the desire to make something more that's the key to success. A movie like PSYCLOPS isn't a slave to formula, instead it has fun with the conventions. The characters in PSYCLOPS and DEMONESS might be types, but they aren't stereotypes. Sure, Shep is a nerd, but he knows he is and doesn't care. His pal Dave, the musclebound type, could easily have been the sort of dickhead jock who only hangs around Shep for the perk of insulting him, but instead Dave is just a physically fit nerd. The two female leads aren't wholesome hotties or bitches, but Jane Average's who come across like they've known Shep his entire life. By not overdoing the characters, Piper makes them more real, and more fun to watch.
Piper also goes out of his way to make his effects top-notch. Other filmmakers, from the Polonia Brothers to Donald Farmer, seek Piper out for his effects work. Very few guys are still doing stop-motion, but Brett can do it every bit as well as Ray Harryhausen. He opts for stop-motion over CGI and his movies are all the better for it. The only effect of his I've seen that I' haven't liked is the final monster in the Polonia's BLOOD RED PLANET, but then again I didn't care for anything in that movie.
Brett Piper is probably the best "unknown" talent working on b-cinema. He knows how to keep everything fresh and fun. When it comes to entertainment, that's all I really want.
The screener disc I was sent was bare-bones movie only. It lists the features on the official release as being: Spanish Subtitles, Cast Bios, and Trailers. Pretty skimpy, but more than worth the rental price.