Dys- (2014) Fantasia Fest 2014

Maude Michaud's first feature film is world premiering at Fantasia Fest this year.She's a director known for on line web series from a female perspective. Based on this film I really have no interest in pursuing them.

The film tells the story of a couple who are going through the motions. She's a former model looking to change careers. He's a professor of photography.The spark to their relationship has gone. Things are complicated because they recently lost a child to miscarriage. As they begin break apart things are  weird reports of terrible things out side their door filter in. Maybe the flu isn't that...the slow slide down into madness begins.

I didn't like this film very much.

From the get go the film feels like the work of pretentious film student trying to ape a run of the mill inde-film and add in not particularly transgressive horror. I'm sure that some people are going to like this but recently I've seen so many better inde-films recently that I have no patience for a film that looks and feels like so many other films. Worse I saw the Honeymoon at Tribeca,(Mondo's review and my review)  a gloriously freaky horror film that is light years ahead of this one in both scares and in pondering relationships. No the films are not the same except in some of thematic elements.  However where Dys- tries to be disturbing with black gloves, weird sex and a thing in a jar, it never moves the needle on the disturb-o-meter, Honeymoon on the other hand has the meter pegged near the top of chart before the really f-ed up stuff starts.

As I said I'm sure that some people will like it, I just don't

(And you'll be happy that I didn't go for all of the puns I came up for describing the film like DYS-functional or DYS-appointing and in no way DYS-turbing.)

The film's only scheduled screening is in ten minutes, if you're reading this and aren't in the theater be thankful you missed it. For more information on the film check the festival web page.