It takes a lot to disturb me and make me uncomfortable, but Face: A Frat Party Massacre is one of those movies that left me with the ick. The deeply unpleasant found footage film from Norith Soth and Taka Arai is back on Gumroad through October 31, giving you another chance to discover a tiny horror movie that’s spent years flying under the radar.
I have some history with this one. Back when I lived in Los Angeles, my buddy Norith went off and made an extremely low-budget, do-it-yourself horror movie after feeling inspired by what we were doing with V/H/S. He held a small test screening in North Hollywood, which I attended with a few filmmaker friends, and we were taken aback by how jarring and authentic it felt.
It was also sloppy, messy, and overly long. The version we saw felt padded to meet the demands of a feature-length release, and I remember thinking how much I would have loved something like this condensed into a 15–20-minute V/H/S segment. As a feature, it needed work. So I hopped on to help reduce some redundancy and pick up the pacing without losing the ugliness that had gotten under our skin in the first place.
The movie presents itself as leaked police evidence documenting a horrific Halloween night at a sorority house. An annual competition between a fraternity and sorority becomes an opportunity for revenge, with some truly vile behavior setting off an increasingly nasty chain reaction.
One of the choices that stuck with me is the use of a camera attached to a dog, reminiscent of Jason Eisener’s Slumber Party Alien Abduction segment in V/H/S/2. That perspective makes the camera feel like an unwitting witness. To me, it pulls you away from the usual male or female gaze and closer to being a fly on the wall, watching something you really shouldn’t be watching. The camera doesn’t understand what it’s seeing, but you do, and that makes it all the more uncomfortable.
There’s comeuppance, too, although I’d rather let you discover how that plays out. This is a transgressive little movie, and the roughness is part of the experience. I’m not going to pretend it’s polished or that everybody will enjoy sitting through it.
But it has found its people. In a post about the film’s renewed attention, Soth credited horror creator Rickysixsixsix with encouraging him to bring it back for another limited online release. It’s become one of those “if you know, you know” discoveries, with these brief opportunities to watch becoming part of its life.
There’s something about that which reminds me of the Blockbuster days. If your store didn’t have the movie, you weren’t watching it. You had to catch these things when you could.
If you’re looking for something raw, nasty, and uncomfortable to watch before Halloween, here’s your chance to see Face directly through the filmmaker’s release. Just know that I’m recommending it because it made me feel gross. Whether that’s a selling point is up to you.
Categorized:News Streaming / Home Video