Some Doors Should Be Left Closed
The Key Fails to Unlock Excitement
A crime was committed in Topeka, Kansas, last night. Local filmmaker Michelle Fridley charged $10 per seat for a low-budget "experimental" film that was little more than a vanity project. The premiere at the Topeka Performing Arts Centre created a faux-event of what passes for Hollywood glamour in the capital city. Like teenage girls at prom, the cast and crew played dress up and duped the city into believing they had actually created a product worthy of attention. The independent horror feature The Key, however, deserves none of the self-congratulatory praise it received.
Written by: Michelle Fridley
Starring: Marcus Miller, Tabitha Lester, Courtney Cook, Michelle Wishon, Ryan Donigan, and Wesley James
Rated
Running time: 75 min.
FilmGuru's Rating : 1 out of 10.
A cryptic scene involving men in robes and bloodshed in a forest begins the horror in The Key. After a silly "100 Years Later" transition, the film bounces around a bit. A brief interlude introduces Dylan (Wesley James), as he receives the bulk of his deceased grandfather's estate, including an ominous book. Two college students, Craig (Marcus Miller) and Shannon (Tabitha Lester) are supposed to be going on a film shoot, but Shannon declines at the last minute claiming she has to study for a midterm.
The first 45 minutes of the film do little to advance the horror elements of the story at all. Instead, the audience watches as Craig, Shannon, and the other characters indulge in boring interpersonal relationships masquerading as intense love triangles.
The Key has a number of problems, chief of which is deciding where the story lies. The film's true central character is Dylan, because he is the one who receives the key and knows the truth about his grandfather. Because Fridley has chosen to spend the first half of the film on relationships, there is little development on him or his grandfather's backstory. When the revelations begin to come, Dylan has no credible motive for having invited others along on his treasure hunt.
The script is filled with plot holes and poorly drawn stereotypes. The sub-standard sound quality combined with poor enunciation by amateur actors makes it difficult to understand much of the dialogue. The poor lighting on indoor locations often hides the actors against dark backdrops. The pivotal scene in the film was so poorly directed that the audience could not make out what was being done by the actors with the door and the key. Most appalling were the stereotyped Kansas locals that amounted to rural, white trash caricatures.
The acting, as is to be expected, fails to rise above community theater standards with two notable exceptions. The best work in the film is provided by Marcus Miller, who plays Craig. His is the only character that I found to be believable, perhaps in part because his was the only one that didn't get reduced to a stereotype. Miller is a good actor who seems trapped in a film that is beneath him. Tabitha Lester, likewise, does a good job of delivering her lines with a degree of believability. The fact that she is a high school student accounts for her rough edges. As she gets more experience, she is likely to excel.
The film, like its premiere, offers more than it delivers. The movie is billed as "an indie horror project designed to use as an experimental project." Instead of something innovative or interesting, The Key is merely poor filmmaking hoping to cash in on the local community's desire for a "near Hollywood" experience.
The hoopla surrounding the premiere of The Key centered on the fact that it was filmed locally in Carbondale, Kansas. Made on a shoestring budget of $2000 and shot in only eleven days, it aspires to be the kind of plucky independent feature that gets recognized at festivals. The end product, however, is a murky, slow-paced, uninteresting film that lacks any merit.
As a believer in independent filmmaking, I think I am not being harsh when I say that The Key does not stack up to other films out there. Making a film on a low budget and short production schedule is no excuse to produce poor quality. If this was the best Fridley could do with $2000 and eleven days, she should have waited until more money and time were available.
For the record, independent filmmaking is not synonymous with poor quality or even low-budget. The hype that local media has given this film is likely to do more harm than good to the talented filmmakers in the local independent film community.
Copyright ©2002-present by Kevin Wohler. All rights reserved.
All movie titles, images, and sounds are registered trademarks and/or copyrights of their respective holders.
Site design by Wohler Web Works.
Web hosting provided by:
