Effects
The very definition of obscure cinema: Effects had one showing back in the seventies and was then shelved, only seeing the light of day a few years back when it was released on DVD, and whilst it may be a bit rough around the edges it is a highly effective intelligent movie very much ahead of it's time.
John Harrison, Tom Savini and Joe Pilato have all made varying contributions to the horror genre (all three would work on George Romero's classic Day Of The Dead) and this Pittsburgh shot shocker deserves to be seem by anyone interested in what independent cinema back in the seventies could achieve.
Essentially a movie about making movies; Effects tells the story of a small film crew making a low budget horror movie, possibly unbeknown to them, their producer is planning a more effective cheaper movie that has something to do with the snuff movie he is carrying around.
Craftily mixing in movie footage and behind the scenes stuff, Effects cleverly keeps it's audience off balance and there is plenty of talk of the difference between real violence and cinematic violence, there is very little gore to be seem, even the snuff sequence is tastefully done (if such a thing is possible!) the effect of violence in a real sense is more important here than buckets of Karo syrup and strewn prosthetics.
Perhaps a little slack paced Effects isn't going to win over audiences used to blockbusters where something explodes every five minutes but as an intelligent sneaky little surprise package it is a true delight to watch and a lesson to modern day filmmakers who are restricted by cost.
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