The Man-Cave: All God's Creatures (2011)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

All God's Creatures (2011)

Good or bad, we are All God’s Creatures

Who says that opposites don’t attract or that only the good at heart can fall in love? Enter Jon (Josh Folan) and Delia (Jessica Kaye), who are two lost souls trying to survive in the cruel harshness of New York City. When Jon isn’t serving java at the local coffee shop, he spends his free time murdering innocent women and discarding their remains. Meanwhile, Delia turns tricks with strangers to pay for her rent when she is not simply trying to get by.

Once Delia stops in for a caffeine boost and meets the handsome Jon, both of their lives take a drastic turn. Since Jon is unaware of her current career path, she sees him for more than just a horny male who only wants to turn over cash in exchange for her body. On the flip side, Jon’s usual urge to bait and kill his victim does not register as he begins interacting with her. At first, Jon fantasizes about murdering her in various gruesome ways, much like he does all of his prey, but his thought process does not register in the usual manner once they have their first date. Instead of wanting to execute Delia, he feels a strong sense of compassion for her. This emotion is quite alien to him, but he welcomes it as he starts to feel almost human.

A mutual attraction forms with Jon not viewing Delia as his victim and, in turn, Delia not viewing Jon as her paying customer. The only speed bump is that every time Jon feels like their relationship is drawing them closer together, she pushes away from him – mainly due to her “on call” occupation. The more they conceal their dark habits from one another, the more likely their companionship advances to an imminent end. Once all of their hidden secrets are aired out in the open and shared with each other, can they still accept one another for who they really are?

Shot on a budget of $20K, the minds at Nitty Gritty Studios sure produced an unexpected gem. This film is indie in every sense of the word, yet a majority of the acting, the mood-setting soundtrack and gritty cinematography elevates this one to the next level. Usually employing more than one director gives off a “too many cooks in the kitchen” vibe, but co-helmers Ryan Cummings and Frank Licata take their collective visions and transfer them seamlessly into one successful end product making this film an interesting way to spend 90 minutes. The only complaint with the film is that we could have used more of the amazingly beautiful Ginger Kroll.

For the first act, it seemed as though lead male actor, and also co-writer, Folan was channeling Dexter Morgan with his mannerisms and voiceovers. However, that is not the case once Kaye enters the film as the Ying to his Yang, and his character undergoes a natural transformation. Well as natural as you can be for a serial killer. This film sets out to show that a woman “completing me” or “making me want to be a better person” does not always have to be sappy. In this case, she makes him not want to kill innocent women in brutal ways and he makes her want to stop selling her womenhood as a consumer product.

Advertised as a romantic thriller, All God’s Creatures is essentially a love story among society’s dregs of hookers and serials killers, proving that all happily ever after stories are not limousines, red roses, googily eyes, white doves, and Carly Simon songs.

All God's Creatures is now available through Indieflix.

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