Rage (2010)

Whorticulture.com reviews Rage, starring Rick Crawford and directed by Chris Witherspoon

Day three of the International Horror and Sci Fi Film Festival, we were lucky enough to catch a screening of the movie Rage.  We also got to chat with the director Chris Witherspoon.

First we'll give you the plot, then we'll tell you what we thought.

"Dennis Twist, a 30-something man who lives in a nice 'Spielbergian' suburb just outside Portland, Oregon says goodbye to his beautiful and loving wife, Crystal and heads into town.  There he unintentionally provokes the wrath of a mysterious motorcyclist, 'The Biker.'  The confrontation between the two sets in motion a daylong battle of cat and mouse.  Beginning in the form of harmless taunts; quickly escalating into something more serious...then something unimaginable.  RAGE simultaneously seeks to redefine what is scary in current American horror-thriller cinema and even delves into existential questions about karma while addressing the very contemporary issue of infidelity and its ultimate destruction of the family unit."
Taken from the festival booklet

So let's get down to it.  In planning our festival, we came across this and didn't quite know what to think.  We didn't have terribly high hopes for it (even though the festival has never let us down before) but thought we'd check it out anyway.  We met Chris Witherspoon right beforehand, and he gave us a synopsis from screenspotlight.com.  This is where we learned that this movie might not be for the more squeamish viewers.  Obviously that's a plus for us, so we got a little excited.

There are a million and one things we loved about this movie.  It leaves you feeling like you got punched in the gut with a fist full of awesome.  The suspense is enough to drive someone insane.  Viewers will find themselves totally engrossed in the biker's game.  It's low on gore, but what it has counts in a big way.  We loved the references to Spielberg's DUEL (1971).  The biker, although he stays anonymous and silent through the entire feature, becomes a truly terrifying character along the lines of Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees. 

Without giving too much away, allow us to say this: throughout most of the movie you're led to believe that the biker is one guy, but at the very end you find out he's not - and they never reveal his true identity.  Let's examine that for a moment.  As a viewer we OF COURSE wanted to know who it was.  This was brought up during the Q&A after the movie:

But really, it doesn't matter who the biker is.  We think revealing the biker would almost cheapen the affect his anonymity achieves.  His identity doesn't matter - the movie is about how your actions impact others, not yourself.  Keeping him anonymous makes him the everyman, or the anyman.  That's the root of the scare - you steal someone's (anyone's) parking space, they could beat you senseless and rape your wife.  And murder your neighbors with a chainsaw.

In short, we fucking LOVED this movie.  Rick Crawford and Audrey Walker gave out-freaking-standing performances (as did director Chris Witherspoon, who played the role of the Biker).  The bike and the car became their own characters and gave great performances, too.

We weren't the only ones who loved this movie.

Congratulations Rage, winner of Best Horror Feature at the 2010 International Horror and Sci Fi Film Festival!

You gotta check this movie out if you have the chance.  If we ever hear that "beep beep" from a motorcycle, we'll probably wet ourselves.  Truth.  

Click here to read the screenspotlight review we recieved.

Click here to check out the movie's website.

Taken from www.ragethemovie.net

 Don't fuck with this guy.

 Click here for the trailer.

Update on 12/20:
Not only has Rage been winning countless of "Best Feature" awards in the festival circuit lately (Shockerfest International and Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festivals, just to name a few), but Fangoria - the granddaddy of horror magazines - reviewed this movie!  Click here to read it, it's pretty epic.  Congrats to Christopher Witherspoon and everybody involved in this awesome movie!  It's about time you guys are getting the accolades you deserve!

“RAGE gives homegrown horror a good name.”
- Chris Alexander - FANGORIA.COM