The Hawaian born director Albert Pyun has a somewhat dubious reputation. Some call him a plain bad film-maker, others praise his work for his offbeat screenplays and his often use of rather impressive steady-cam shots. But regardless all that, Pyun developed quite a lot of fans with his apocalyptic 'cyborg'-movies. And his movie RADIOACTIVE DREAMS even won the Golden Raven at the 5th Brussels International Festival Of Fantastic Film in 1987. I think that last fact should make people think twice before calling him a bad director.
His newest film, INFECTION, shows a very different Pyun at work and this movie simply can not be compared with any of his previous efforts. INFECTION could be described as a cross between a 'virus outbreak movie' and an 'alien invasion movie'. Perhaps more accurate would be: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT meets THE X-FILES. Above all, INFECTION really is a true cinematic 'tour-de-force', because the movie consists of only one single, continuous shot (plus a little pro- and epilogue). That 63 minutes long shot is filmed with a high definition surveillance camera mounted on the dashboard of a police-car.
The story goes like this: A meteor, containing an aggressive alien virus, crashes on earth a few minutes before midnight near a little town called Lawton. Larry Jenkins, a local farmer, alerts the police through the radio. When inspector Bardo arrives, Jenkins infects him with the alien virus. Bardo then takes his car and drives away. He runs into the young couple Timmy and Cheryl. Bardo infects the unsuspecting Timmy, and Cheryl takes off with the police-car. She now must survive the long cold night while the virus is spreading rapidly amongst the local population. All these events are filmed from the police-car and take place in a wide forest-like park during one night. A lot of background information to the story is given through conversations we hear over the police-radio.
It is simply amazing how this movie, with seemingly one boring point of view from the camera, can tell such an intriguing and thrilling story. The occasional special effects and sounds-capes, added in post-production, help to make the movie a bit more captivating. The omni-present darkness has a claustrophobic and, a the same time, hypnotic effect. When watching this on a big screen in a theater, the viewer, at one point or another, might even begin to see things that aren't really there. Pyun cleverly accentuated this effect while editing the movie.
INFECTION is an exclusive but very successful experience, that almost wasn't even completed. The actual shooting of the movie took seven continuous hours. There was enough budget for only five takes. The actors sometimes had to wait a few hours before the camera would arrive at their location. When the previous four takes were all messed-up even within the first half of the shot, everybody began fearing the worst: it seemed impossible to shoot this movie. But miraculously, the final take went without any problems and INFECTION was history. Because of that fact alone, the movie is worth seeing and gets an extra point (If you're wondering how I got all this information: I talked to the director at the festival's 2006 edition). Although INFECTION certainly isn't for everyone, I myself enjoyed the movie much more than the over-hyped BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Albert Pyun has once again proved that you don't always need a big budget to make a good movie. Sometimes a good idea and creative ways is all it takes. If you ask me: he is forgiven his previous failures and has surpassed himself with INFECTION.
His newest film, INFECTION, shows a very different Pyun at work and this movie simply can not be compared with any of his previous efforts. INFECTION could be described as a cross between a 'virus outbreak movie' and an 'alien invasion movie'. Perhaps more accurate would be: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT meets THE X-FILES. Above all, INFECTION really is a true cinematic 'tour-de-force', because the movie consists of only one single, continuous shot (plus a little pro- and epilogue). That 63 minutes long shot is filmed with a high definition surveillance camera mounted on the dashboard of a police-car.
The story goes like this: A meteor, containing an aggressive alien virus, crashes on earth a few minutes before midnight near a little town called Lawton. Larry Jenkins, a local farmer, alerts the police through the radio. When inspector Bardo arrives, Jenkins infects him with the alien virus. Bardo then takes his car and drives away. He runs into the young couple Timmy and Cheryl. Bardo infects the unsuspecting Timmy, and Cheryl takes off with the police-car. She now must survive the long cold night while the virus is spreading rapidly amongst the local population. All these events are filmed from the police-car and take place in a wide forest-like park during one night. A lot of background information to the story is given through conversations we hear over the police-radio.
It is simply amazing how this movie, with seemingly one boring point of view from the camera, can tell such an intriguing and thrilling story. The occasional special effects and sounds-capes, added in post-production, help to make the movie a bit more captivating. The omni-present darkness has a claustrophobic and, a the same time, hypnotic effect. When watching this on a big screen in a theater, the viewer, at one point or another, might even begin to see things that aren't really there. Pyun cleverly accentuated this effect while editing the movie.
INFECTION is an exclusive but very successful experience, that almost wasn't even completed. The actual shooting of the movie took seven continuous hours. There was enough budget for only five takes. The actors sometimes had to wait a few hours before the camera would arrive at their location. When the previous four takes were all messed-up even within the first half of the shot, everybody began fearing the worst: it seemed impossible to shoot this movie. But miraculously, the final take went without any problems and INFECTION was history. Because of that fact alone, the movie is worth seeing and gets an extra point (If you're wondering how I got all this information: I talked to the director at the festival's 2006 edition). Although INFECTION certainly isn't for everyone, I myself enjoyed the movie much more than the over-hyped BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Albert Pyun has once again proved that you don't always need a big budget to make a good movie. Sometimes a good idea and creative ways is all it takes. If you ask me: he is forgiven his previous failures and has surpassed himself with INFECTION.