DIY filmmaking takes a depraved flip in Honeycomb, a low-budget tour de power that’s as hypnotic as it’s jarring. Honeycomb feels wholly new and creates an indescribable vibe. The movie might have a no-budget method, nevertheless it feels so wealthy and stuffed with concepts and showcases debut filmmaker Avalon Quick’s pure expertise behind the digital camera. Quick and co-writer Emmett Roiko create a minimalist journey to a fantastic hell that blends Lord of the Flies, Yellowjackets, and a dreamlike, psychedelic nightmare with a house video filmmaking type. Honeycomb illustrates a brand new type of filmmaking that’s inspiring, displaying that anybody with an thought and ambition can exit and make one thing nice whatever the assets that they could have at their fingertips.
Honeycomb facilities round 5 ladies who resolve to depart their humdrum lives behind for a brand new life collectively in an deserted cabin surrounded by acres of desolate land. At first, the ladies get pleasure from their time collectively away from the troubles of regular, on a regular basis life. Their new life is good till they set up guidelines, together with the concept of “appropriate revenge.” After their pals within the exterior world develop involved for them, the ladies begin to activate one another, and a as soon as peaceable existence quickly turns horrific.
Honeycomb appears like a fever dream in the absolute best means. Stylistically riffing off horror classics from the ’70s like Final Home on the Left however feeling extra trendy in its content material, this movie offers a wide ranging cinematic expertise that runs solely just a bit over one hour lengthy. The central thought of Honeycomb feels very relatable to the present era — that feeling of simply eager to run away from every little thing and dwell off the grid. Nonetheless, this unusual flick paints an image of how that enjoyable thought can flip right into a nightmare. Whereas feeling very gritty and uncooked, that includes an virtually documentary type of filmmaking, Honeycomb can be capable of create a visually charming expertise in a quite simple means.
The appearing right here is probably not the strongest, however the performances all carry a dreamy, monotonous gloom that helps create this surrealistic really feel as if the film exists in a weird kind of pseudo-reality. Honeycomb is in contrast to most movies, leaving the viewer to really feel so many alternative feelings, one after one other. The primary half of the movie is nearly joyous, that includes scenic drives accompanied by an formidable soundtrack. The second half of Honeycomb descends into insanity, exerting an eerie dread that’s distinctive to the movie itself. There may be additionally some very intelligent foreshadowing sprinkled all through that actually provides to the spectacular nature of the film. The rating by Max Graham is great, soothing the viewer with entrancing rhythms that swimsuit the film completely. The movie’s soundtrack actually guides it, inflicting it to generally really feel like a visible album.
Honeycomb is straightforward however extraordinarily efficient, proving that what makes a terrific movie is far more than finances or particular results. Honeycomb might look low-cost to some, nevertheless it exudes intoxicating power that many larger-scale motion pictures might by no means emit. Total, Honeycomb represents what must be a brand new wave of filmmaking the place creators make no matter they need with the restricted assets they’ve, leading to a last product that would by no means be replicated by a mainstream studio.
Honeycomb is being screened at this 12 months’s Worldwide Fantasia Movie Pageant on July 25.