Shattered Lives (2009)

   
Written, Produced, Directed & Edited by: Carl Lindbergh

Starring:


Christina Roseberg .... Older Rachel
Lindsey Leino .... Younger Rachel
Lucia Sullivan .... Jennie (Mom)
Jeff Zurowski .... John (Father)
Wendy Dominguez .... Melo
Jon Overgaauw .... Lelo
Gary Kohn .... Michael

Release Dates: Direct-to-Video: 1990

 

Rating:

 

A disturbed little girl named Rachel (Lindsey Leino) is unhappy with her family as her Mom (Lucia Sullivan) is jealous of her as well as cheating on her Father (Jeff Zurowski) whom she is close with and he is trying to make the family happy but then things get out of hand as her toy clown dolls named Melo (Wendy Dominguez) and Lelo (Jon Overgaauw) seem to come to life. Or is it her imagination? They manipulate her to get a kitchen knife and to kill her mother.
Years have passed and she is now a teenager and finds out some devastating news that her father was killed in an accident and gets very depressed by this. Plus she is niot getting along too well with her classmates and she sees Melo and Lelo appear before her eyes again with her younger version wearing a killers mask and holding an axe which may drive her to do more deadly damage on her enemies.

 

Alot of people put this film down by saying it's a cheaply done slasher film. Well it was made on a low budget for sure but I quite admired it. Sure it's a bit confusing and you wonder where all of this is coming from while watching it but still alot of the scene's are very well done and imaginative like too.
We have a real beginning with a masked killer doing in people in a gruesome fashion which is a great start for a flick like this one.
There's lots of good camera looking up on the masked killer shots in the beginning as well as nice graphic shots on him doing in his victims in different styled shots and gruesome ways which looked brutally intense.
Next up, we see a dysunctional little girl playing with her toys and talking like her Mom does with her which makes you convinced that she is a part of an abusive type but they tell her that they are happy but just trying to work things out which makes you think to yourself that these parents always say that when there's something not right with this family picture.
There's nice circling camera shots aroundthis child by having a tea party with her dolls as well as her saying harsh things which looked a bit tense as well as a good close up shot on a clown doll and her throwing it.
Of course we spot a scene between the married couple with the husband trying to work stuff out while the wife is quietly sulking and disturbed as well as being negative towards him in which this moment is quite psychological and difficult to watch at times cause it's truly sad to watch.

Good shot on young the little girl lying in bed and an effects shot on a TV with a face looming out of it which looked really effective and then her Mom entering near her bedroom door asking what she's doing as well as her weakly speaking out her answer to her which showed some good timing and then a nice moment later on cursing at her behind her back.
There's of course the affair with the Mom and the little girl spotting this which is very necessary as well as her clowns coming to life and manipulating her to go to a kitchen and get a knife so she will kill her Mom in which some elements seem almost similar to the story in Halloween.
Nice shots onthese deadly clowns creeping around her and a nice cmaera shot looking up on them talking to her which seems quite spooky and manipulating her to get a kitchen knife with her hesitant about it and some odd moments with one of them getting aggressive towards her which looked greatly done too.
Lots of good shots looking up and down on this child climbing up to a kitchen table and reaching out for a knife which looked dangerous wondering if the knives will all crash down.
Good moment with the father coming up from behind the mother near a kitchen sink and trying to talk to her and she has a negative attitude towards him which kinda breaks the peaceful moment and realistic looking too with all that's happening and very sketchy like too.
Good moment with the little girl holding a knife behind her back and telling the Mom that she doesn't like her and then she demands to her to go to bed in which you wonder if she will stab her which looked very convincing.
Another good moment with the child at the dinner table telling the Dad about what her Mom was doing while he's working with a great crude moments and snapping snapping towards each other in which really looked like a believeably dysfunctional family.
There's a great raging argument between both parents in which it was high and very intense with good shots surrounding them while this moment is happening making you wonder if one of them is going to be physical with one another.
Nice shot on the child stabbing her Mom in the breast with a great shocking reaction on her and falling down. There's a nice camera shot looking down on a door opening with a bloodstream near and the Dad noticing it and then a great shocked expression after he spots what has happened and then a good shocked answer with a nice shot on the girl looking a bit bloodied and almost innocent like which made this scene look impressive for a psycho slasher.
Then there's the moment with this little girl now a teenager after killing her Mom but now karma hits her when her only friend which is her father died in a car accident and just losing all control of life around her and spotting the clowns and her past self as the little girl with a mask and axe in her hand driving herself to go even more crazy which looked very horror and artsy too while getting into the movie.
Bottom line is this film is a bit confusing wondering why this is all happening as you wonder if these clowns are real or is it this child's imagination since she's going through life with a Mom whom is jealous of her in which there's alot of parents like that sadly and how far she'd go to try and get rid of her for good. All of this was still well put together and may thrill fans who enjoy both psychological and slasher films put in one.

The acting is fairly good. But however child actress Lindsey Leino (Younger Rachel) seemed to lack a bit as a disturbed child in the flick but seemed to pull off her cute personality. Yet when she starts to act aggressive and nasty she doesn't seem to do the trick all too well like she's just saying her lines and that's it. Oh well she was young and maybe she will improve in time.
C
hristina Roseberg (Older Rachel) who played the older version of this character I must say really got into the mood by portraying a teenager in which she deos well with her upsetting emotions and knew how to cry quite well while grieving her father's death. She also does well by going in a rage at time and acting vulgar too. She was a great horror character for the film.
L
ucia Sullivan (Jennie - Mom) portrayed a nice basket case of a mother in the film by being unhappy with her life and really showing a dysfunctional attitude towards her family with her aggressions and harshness too. She brought out alot of great energy by being very negative.
Jeff Zurowski
(John - Father) who portrayed the father however had a great opposite attitude as a caring one and niceness to his role in it. He definetely brought out alot of great characteristics as the family man next door type of appeal. Plus he had the nice well groomed clean cut look which was another plus to his role.
Gary Kohn
(Michael) knew on how to portray the teenage boyfriend in the flick as he seems like a guy next door as well. Yet he looks a bit too old to play a teenager as he seemed to be close to 30 years of age. Still he knew how to come across with his character very well and really studying this type of part too.

Lucia Sullivan exposes her breasts while making love to another guy in a shower.

There's bodies chopped up with guts revealed
A breast is bloodily stabbed with a violent bloodshed

There's some good synthesizer classical sounds and high tones which does well for the scene's involved but there's some sad sounding piano playing too which sounds like it was taken from one of those daytime soap opera's in which I'm not a fan of. There's great powerful classical composing during a scene where there's a scene on a hallucination sequence outside which worked out terrifically.