The 'man in the middle' character is timeless in revenge fantasy, a weak and submissive male who plays by the rules and gets crapped on. Then things change, for better and then worse. "Willard" had his rats, and "Falling Down" had it's bag-o-guns. Christan Jude Grillo's patchwork feature called "Booley" uses modern day 'guru culture' as a weapon for empowerment in a downsizing America. Can a family man find his inner he-man.... or is he just a murdering fool? "Booley' answers that question, like a sledgehammer to the kneecap.
Angus Booley is our man in the middle, and Tom Detrik is perfectly cast, looking like a grown-up version of the "Waldo" kid for Van Halen's classic 'Hot For Teacher' video ("SIT DOWN WALDO!). Office geek who is pink-slipped, outsourced, and shown the door. His teen daughter Rose (Carmela Hayslett) is a bullied victim by mean girls in class. His wife Fiona (scream queen Raine Brown) is cheating on him, and he can't figure a way out of his pit of sh*&t... until he watches a hack motivation speaker on late night TV named Jack Harrington (Christopher Mann). The mantra speak in Booely's head has set a killer loose on Philadelphia. Murder and mayhem are the solution to our problems. In real life, that is what disgruntled killers do.
Grillo's "Booley" has all the right elements for a classic black comedy and uses a cold Philadelphia to it's advantage. The script is pretty brutal, and Dertick is a very talented actor (casting a big name like Crispen Glover would not have worked as well because of typecasting). The best performances are the family of actors (Raine Brown is a revelation, and Hayslett reminds me of Christina Ricci at her best). Chris Mann is well cast here, doing a jerk-off Montel Williams impression. The support cast hold up, with tired cops (Bonnie Loev and John Hunt)doing sardonic humor at the multiple crime scenes.
The problems are clear when the clock time of "Booley" ticks past the hour mark, it needs another edit. Sometimes the movie stops in it's tracks right when things get interesting and over the top. Like a muscle car ride with a fuel injector that stalls out at every turn. Stunt casting the jack-ass comedy team for the Howard Stern Show, Richard Christy and Sal The Stockbroker in a throw-away scene in the final third of the movie hurt the momentum of the chase. Mean girl student is too old (Gina Lynn is good, but looks 32). The soundtrack is overkillin small scenes, and sloppy dubbing in others.
To Grillo's credit, he is doing something good with a micro budget, and doing it all himself. His writing is superior, his vision is solid, and he may be Philadelphia's version of Lucio Fulci (a mad genius). "Booley" is clearly a team effort between Grillo and Detrik, and the reaction from a full house of horror junkies was positive. Judge for yourself!
Angus Booley is our man in the middle, and Tom Detrik is perfectly cast, looking like a grown-up version of the "Waldo" kid for Van Halen's classic 'Hot For Teacher' video ("SIT DOWN WALDO!). Office geek who is pink-slipped, outsourced, and shown the door. His teen daughter Rose (Carmela Hayslett) is a bullied victim by mean girls in class. His wife Fiona (scream queen Raine Brown) is cheating on him, and he can't figure a way out of his pit of sh*&t... until he watches a hack motivation speaker on late night TV named Jack Harrington (Christopher Mann). The mantra speak in Booely's head has set a killer loose on Philadelphia. Murder and mayhem are the solution to our problems. In real life, that is what disgruntled killers do.
Grillo's "Booley" has all the right elements for a classic black comedy and uses a cold Philadelphia to it's advantage. The script is pretty brutal, and Dertick is a very talented actor (casting a big name like Crispen Glover would not have worked as well because of typecasting). The best performances are the family of actors (Raine Brown is a revelation, and Hayslett reminds me of Christina Ricci at her best). Chris Mann is well cast here, doing a jerk-off Montel Williams impression. The support cast hold up, with tired cops (Bonnie Loev and John Hunt)doing sardonic humor at the multiple crime scenes.
The problems are clear when the clock time of "Booley" ticks past the hour mark, it needs another edit. Sometimes the movie stops in it's tracks right when things get interesting and over the top. Like a muscle car ride with a fuel injector that stalls out at every turn. Stunt casting the jack-ass comedy team for the Howard Stern Show, Richard Christy and Sal The Stockbroker in a throw-away scene in the final third of the movie hurt the momentum of the chase. Mean girl student is too old (Gina Lynn is good, but looks 32). The soundtrack is overkillin small scenes, and sloppy dubbing in others.
To Grillo's credit, he is doing something good with a micro budget, and doing it all himself. His writing is superior, his vision is solid, and he may be Philadelphia's version of Lucio Fulci (a mad genius). "Booley" is clearly a team effort between Grillo and Detrik, and the reaction from a full house of horror junkies was positive. Judge for yourself!