Straight Into Darkness

source: Straight Into Darkness

Somehow this film has been under promoted, under acknowledged and under represented. It is true fine art. And moving and full of heart and brilliance. The film must have flowed from Burr's subconscious in a way that masterpieces are formed. It is definitely not a "horror" film. And it is much more than a WWII film. You can reach a vast and personal range of interpretations, but at the very least, it leaves you with something that will stay in your mind and soul for ever. Put it up there with "Shindlers List" at least. Someone please pass this on to Jeff. I think that he dosen't realize what he has created here. Thanks Jef Burr ...It takes lots of courage to express this kind of brilliance.

Into the Darkness is about two deserters during world war two who escape their MPs and stumble upon a group of French resistance fighters consisting of two teachers and a hand full of special children. The kids all live in an old defunct factory with a hidden treasure. At first the GIs are not welcome, for reasons that are obvious if you see the film. They fight off a common enemy, some Nazis that come to the factory to get the treasure at the end of the war. The children and the GIs have no idea that the war is actually over. Lots of fighting and some flashbacks help explain some of the characters past. The story is entertaining and tragic all at the same time. Not as graphic as it could have been, the characters were all believable through strong acting and good direction. Not for the squeamish.

OK, this movie is horrible. Just FYI. On the off chance that you haven't seen it and might choose to subject yourself to this painful waste of celluloid, CAUTION SPOILERS OMG! So, where to start. Let's try at the beginning! The first scene is AWFULLY familiar... like a direct ripoff of Aleksandr Rogozhkin's "Kukushka". Prisoner being transported by MPs.... Jeep gets blown up, prisoner escapes. That is forgivable, though, as the following scene is pretty cool. Then it all starts to go downhill. So we have two characters, one a sensitive type who's lost and confused, and the other a psychopathic evil type who smashes a dead man's face to an unrecognizable pulp just to fake his own death. I'll call them Misty and the Psycho. Psycho makes Misty come along with him on a random wandering through "Western Europe". So they find a church with a cannibal in it. Psycho wants to kill the cannibal, but Misty got the gun now! Then the cannibal follows them around for a while and then kills himself. Doesn't eat them, doesn't do anything.... just hangs himself. Thanks, Jeff Burr, for this enlightening statement about NOTHING. So then our two heroes find a horse. They ride the horse to an old building and shack up for the night. In the morning, along come two people just back from a hunting trip. Psycho pulls his gun on them, knocks Misty out with the butt of it when Misty starts telling him to stop, and proceeds to play with the old woman's boobies, while the old man has already expressed rebellious tendencies. So, let's clear this up: Psycho wants the old man to watch him play with old lady *? Thanks again, Jeff! Since that makes sense! Oh, but this pathetic plot device leaps into clarity when the old man gets the gun from Psycho and captures him and Misty. Turns out this building is a hideout for the old man and old woman and their entourage of deformed and crazy orphans which they've trained to be anti-Nazi partisans.(oh, if I'm accidentally making this sound exciting, it isn't... when drawn out over about half an hour of random shots of foliage, pipes, and flashbacks that have no context or relevance). Oh, and then the Nazis show up. 60 of them, and a tank. Our heroes don't hide. Then a bunch of random fighting ensues where the Nazis don't want to kill them but they're too stupid to figure it out, and we discover that the reason the Nazis are here is to get at a cache of "art" hidden under a trap door in the building.... and by "art" I mean "The production company couldn't afford a poster of the Mona Lisa so I picked this up at a garage sale last weekend!" type "art". All I got to say is the Nazis were probably pretty depressed when they got to the art. So after about 300 or so Nazis are killed (note there were only 60 at the beginning) Misty sneaks out the back door with the remainder of the kids while Psycho causes a distraction. Also, I forgot to mention that the Nazis OFFERED TO LET THEM GO at one point and they were like "NO WAI JOO STEENKY KROWTS! WE WILL FIGHT TO THE AIND!". In fact, they really just sat there with no plan and then, after maximum carnage had been achieved (really incredibly boring carnage, might I add), they snuck away despite the fact that the Nazis "had them surrounded" earlier.... So anyways, Psycho screams "I AM THE CONQUEROR WORM!" about three times as he dies, and I die once each time he screams it. Talk about most incredibly retarded one liner ever. Seriously, why not just have him scream "I AM THE RED DEATH!!" or "QUOTH THE RAVEN: NEVERMORE MOTHERF**KERS" or something.... In conclusion, this movie is a pile of rat turds. Don't be fooled by the "independent film" label, this movie is only independent because Jeff Burr saved up enough money from directing such gems as "Pumpkinhead II" and "Puppet Master 5" that he could afford to go into co-production with a Romanian pimp and pay $3 a head for the crappy actors he got and push this baby into the world!

I don't see how anyone could give this "gem" any good comments. Long, slow moving, drawn out storyline, barely visible plot, bad acting, absolutely pointless flashbacks/dream sequences. I could barely stand to watch the whole thing but I just had to see if ANYTHING would redeem this mess. The description on the CD case made it sound like a thriller on the edge of scary type of war movie. It wasn't sad, funny, scary or thrilling. It was just plain old boring. I haven't seen anything else by Jeff Burr but if this is the best he can do I'll avoid any of his other works like the plague! Save your money and rent something worthwhile, like Erasurehead.

I saw this little gem at a film festival in LA. I went in expecting to see another war film but I was in for a treat! I don't want to give too much information away so let me say the movie takes the viewer on a twisting, turning surreal journey that will disturb you at times, frighten you and bring you to tears before the end credits roll but you will be glad you saw it. The movie encompasses several different elements-the perils of war, a touch of macabre, sadness and redemption. All these elements are woven together nicely by director Jeff Burr-who also wrote the film. One of the many things that really caught my eye was the imagery-during the outside scenes the snow is so white you want to touch it while the rest of the picture has a steely bluish gray look that makes you feel like you are experiencing a dreary winter day. The movie also has an eerie dreamy sort of quality to it with great use of flashbacks that only add to the tone of the film. Last but not least, there are a few bloody scenes that prove very effective in disturbing the viewer, without turning the whole film into a gore fest. This film may be "low budget" by Hollywood standards but that's what makes it stand out above the rest. I like the fact that this was not a typical big budget film with big overpaid stars and a bunch of teenagers that looked like they just came in off the WB. The people especially the children were real and that stood out thru out the movie. I think director Jeff Burr did an outstanding job on this movie and I look forward to seeing more of his films. I hope that this comes out in theaters so everyone can have the opportunity to witness a truly moving film.

Trailer—Straight Into Darkness