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Out today on DVD “The Latent Image” from Cinesphobia Releasing!

An aspiring novelist isolates himself in a secluded cabin to write his work-on-progress thriller without distractions, especially avoiding he contentious ones with his longtime boyfriend. Working through the night hours on the precipice of a storm, a mystery man drifts into the cabin, injured and claiming car trouble. After letting him stay the night on the couch and knowing he should ask the drifter to leave, the man’s rough allure instills deep desiring dark fantasies to bubble up to the surface that result in keeping his lingering presence around while also the experience doubles as subject inspiration for his novel. Yet, there’s something off about his unexpected and unusual visitor that lends to curiosity into what’s being hidden or being unsaid. The drifter’s trunk becomes an object of obsession that turns into wild speculation. Fear and fantasy collide into an explosive and destructive cat-and-mouse game of downlow and deadly secrets.

Based on the 2019 short film of the same title, writer-director Alexander McGregor Birrell (“Braincell,” “Sleepaway Slasher”), alongside co-writer and star Joshua Tonks, return to “The Latent Image” for a 2022 full script treatment to flesh out a fleshy grass isn’t always greener on the other side homoerotic thriller. “The Latent Image” is Birrell’s third feature length film of essentially is Joshua Tonks inaugural writing and producing credit into the United Kingdom production that clashes tantalizing and dangerous one-time temptations with the safety and security of routine and longevity woven out of being inside a complicated gay relationship that stings with old systematic-induced worries and consequences. Latent Image defines as an exposed picture or film not yet developed and Birrell and Tonks use that to purposely shield viewers from the utmost truth until the petrifying picture is clear. Latent Image LLC in association with the queer community storytelling serving June Gloom Productions are the picture’s production handlers with the latter company’s Brandon Kirby and Michael Varrati as executive producers and Tonks and Birrell co-producing their debut feature collaboration.

Being Joshua Tonks’s grandstand into his first feature production and as the lead character, the British-born, Vancouver film school-trained actor reprises his short film part with only two significant differences: one being a principal name change from Robert to Ben and the other in providing Ben with more substantial backstory in the form of reveries or creative abstractions of a linear trickster narrative. Ben’s old school, a reflection seen through his love for old photography without a display screen, his typewriting of the novel, and filming on celluloid film stock with a Super 8 camera. This affinity for the antiquated matches his sexual stigmas, a flaw that shepherds in more harm than good. Tonks readily handles Ben’s technological quirks as well as deepen his character’s philandering fantasy life with sexual daydream and night terror trances of being pursued, abused, and enjoying it. Tonks works off the more indelicate stranger-danger of fellow Vancouver film school graduate Jay Clift. Long hair, leather jacket, rugged approach, Clift in the role simply known as The Man portrays patience as weapon to wield to win over the quasi confidence and trust of the lonely and relationship confused novelist with an active imagination, a deadly combination to be caught with your pants down. Clift becomes the character interloper in Ben’s life in more ways than one, some more subtle than others, and equivocally provides baited lure to either seduce the novelists or setup him for a fate far worse. To complicate matters, Ben’s boyfriend, who he has a current agitated relationship with and viewers will initially think is safe and cozy back at their abode, will eventually enter the picture with newcomer William Tippery in the role to complete the all-male, three-man cast.

“The Latent Image” plotline doesn’t justify Birrell’s picture as anything else but another stranger showing up at cabin in the woods thriller. However, beyond the shallows of the film’s surface level tension are deeper waters surrounding Ben’s parting of pathways. The novelist not only struggles to conjure up a decent spinetingling narrative, but he also struggles personally with an uncertainty of where he fits into his relationship with at-home boyfriend Jamie and with this new, dark fella wandering into the cabin in rake portance. From the beginning, Birrell and Tonks often visits Ben’s unconscious chimera but also often feels very real in its merge of reality and fantasy of what Ben’s sometimes wishes would happen, but don’t expect this thriller to be a based in psychosis. “The Latent Image” is not a mental health movie of one man’s isolation snaps his baseline reality. That would have overdone, overcooked, and overserved with stale bread and flat soda. What “The Latent Image” taps into is not the age-old tale of a drifter’s in doubt motivations but rather a fear of being found out or fear of oneself when they themselves are unsure of who they are as a person and that can be a scary thought to let the imagination run wild.

“The Latent Image” lands a debut distribution deal with the Philadelphia based Cinephobia Releasing. The single layer DVD, arriving on retail shelves September 12^th, is a compressed MPEG presented in anamorphic widescreen 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Between the use of anamorphic lens, split lens, Super 8 reverse stock, and a ton of mood lighting, “The Latent Image” really pops cinematically with a variety of visuals and looks that can induce a breadth of emotions. For a DVD presentation in an age where Hi-Def continues to the upward climb, the Cinephobia Releasing has tremendous sharpness and detail inside and out of the fuzzy warmth and often the vividly brilliant, focused lighting that induce back and front shadowing, decoding at average of 8 to 9 Mbps that eliminates any prospect of compression complications. The English audio options include a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and a Dolby Digital 2.0. The 5.1 trumps the 2.0 In offering much environmental elements of rustled foliage and depth of character actions. Dialogue conveys strongly, securing its spot Infront of the other tracks where depth allows. English optional closed caption subtitles are available in the setup menu. Special features include an audio commentary with director Alexander McGregor Birrell and stars Joshua Tonks and William Tippery going over their mindset of the characters, background, and visual and stylistic choices in an enlightening discourse, the 2019 short film “The Latent Image,” the audio commentary for the short featuring just Birrell, and other Cinephobia Releasing trailers. The 83-minute film is released not rated and has region 1 layback, untested for other regions. Well executed indie suspenser with a subtext clout to one’s essential nature and a smartly planned story has exposed “The Latent Image” as impressively top-notch and worth seeing.

Out today on DVD “The Latent Image” from Cinesphobia Releasing!

A Church youth group voluntary attends a Saint Christopher’s Catholic Middle School weekend cleanup before the school’s much needed reconstruction and restoration. As soon as they start with the sweeping, dusting, and polishing, three demon nuns, let to suffer behind an enclosed brick wall by a child molesting priest, unleashes their vengeful wrath, a gift from their new lord and savior, the devil, to whom they’ve sold their soul. Quickly, one-by-one the volunteers fall to the flesh hungry demonic nuns, using their sins against them, and extracting their souls for hell bound eternity. The select few to survive the ordeal of nuns will come face-to-face with Satan himself where praying for mercy will get them nowhere and is the same as burning in hell.

Director Richard Griffin once again pushes down the throttle to wrap the shooting of an entire movie in a matter of days on another lightweight budget. “Flesh for the Inferno” had a 9 day shoot with, and no surprise here, Griffin hiring some of his entourage of talented actors and actresses. The stage actors employed are always remarkable to watch; the underrated Michael Thurber, even in a toned down performance, is such a joy to watch with his adaptable skill set to jump into the shoes of any role in any film. The same can be said about the co-leads, Jamie Default and Jamie Lyn Bagley, who easily adjust into various roles from one Griffin film to the next. However, to my surprise, Griffin’s works with new faces, such as Ryan Nunes, Andrew Morais, and Kevin Michael Strauss, whom fit into his homage work of European possession horror. Then, there’s the talented Aaron Andrade who puts any other actor’s portrayal of Devil to shame.

Griffin and long time collaborator and cinematographer Jill Poisson purposefully softens the lens to give the photography a dreamlike or surreal state to mimic the iconic European director styles such as from Mario Bava or more in tunely with Lucio Fulci and though this respectable style was succesffully achieved and did contribute to the Bava or Fulci level of cinematic and atmospheric charm, the haziness was a bit overbearing, almost closing in on the actors within a modified frame of dominating clouds. The effect mostly shadows from what I noticed, right off the bat, the recognizable set from a previous Griffin film, “Future Justice,” sporting a new coat of paint and constructed with new, or new-ish, set pieces to create the Catholic school locale.

Screenwriter Michael Varrati churns out a script in less than a week to give Griffin much time as possible on a location rented much longer than needed. Varrati has written remarkable natural banter between opposition, connected, and flirtatious characters and does well with the dynamics for a quickly progressing story where shit hits the fan, crossing over into act two, in a matter of minutes. Its the dialogue, however, that slightly over saturates “Flesh for the Inferno” and it’s demonic, habit-wearing nuns. Fully engaged conversations between the nuns and the unlucky survivors cross over into theological debates rather than leading into a sacrilegious and unholy curse. Though at times, scenes like the one with Michael Thurber chasing his own tail in a Groundhog Day movie-type scenario was well placed in the story and well shot, even if little-to-no dialogue was present.

“Flesh for the Inferno” was suppose to be Griffin and his crew’s all out gory effects movie the homage attuned director has ever filmed. Yet, I can’t help but feel as if the opportunity was bobbled to recreate a “Demonia’s” bloodshed. The John Dusek effects were simply effective though, catering to all the film’s intention and needs to pull off a nasty nunnery narrative. The Timothy Fife soundtrack isn’t necessarily Fulci inspired as well that perhaps resemble more of a Goblin and Ennio Morricone blend and that’s highly more notable.

Scorpio Film Releasing and MVDVisual distribution together created and distributed another fantastic film that’s graced with retro-sleek cover art, like always, and I’m always impressed by director Richard Griffin’s capability to turn low budget horror into a formidable admiration of the old days of all kind of horror. Griffin and his entourage are on a whole separate level than their counterpart in their Hollywood doppleganger Eli Roth. The MVDVisual DVD looks sleek with a 16:9 widescreen presentation for the 79 minute feature. Bonus material is limited, but informative, that includes a crew commentary, cast commentary, and the film’s trailer.