Canes (2006)

   

Directed by: Michael Bafaro

Written by: 
Michael Angelella

Starring:

Edward Furlong .... David Goodman
Chandra West .... Lisa Goodman
Michael Madsen .... Guillermo List
Richard Stroh .... Scar
Sandra Steier .... Anika Sams
John Innes .... Roger Eno
Tobias Mehler .... Tony Sturkel
Kim Kondrashoff .... Phil Brotman
Robert Clarke .... Mr. Walters

Release Date: Cannes Film Festival: May, 2006 (France)

 

 

Rating:

 

A businessman named David Goodman (Edward Furlong) is almost chosen for his career as a PR executive for his job but however they chose someone else by the name of Tony Sturkel (Tobias Mehler) so David is feeling down about all of this and goes to the liquor store to drown out his depression.
However, he spots a punk vandalising his car with spray paint and sprays him in the eyes that he gets sent to the hospital and is legally blind.
He gets a call on his answering machine from a strange doctor named Guillermo List (Michael Madsen) that he can get his visions back to start his career again but he realises that he wants his soul too which is the cause from a demonic looking cane that keeps his eye sight going and slowly loses his sight when he doesn't have it.
He is also slowly turning evil and possessive too with the cane and is responsible for doing away some people around his area and his wife Lisa (Chandra West) tries to figure out these issues and tries to save David's soul as well.

 

Due to it's low budget the makers seemed to bring this indie film to life adding some great fantasy too.
There was a good shot on lead character David Goodman walking out of a room looking depressed when he found out some bad news. 
A good shot on his eyes being sprayed as well as an excellent suspenseful close up on his white eyes too showing that he was blinded by this. 
There's a good shot on Scar's face when David opens his front door as he looks totally wicked.
There's a nice special effects shot on David being attacked by these creatures on a wall as he looks like he really is in pain.
We also spot a vicious lustful scene between him and Lisa which looks quite demonic like.
There's a good evil reaction on David towards Anika Sams when he comes on strong towards her 
and a nice moment on her being emotionally hurt afterwards.
There was a nice discussion between David and Guillermo List sitting on a bench in the night as the setting looked very horror like.
There's good dark shots on a woman when she is looking for her dog wandering around her house and really knew how to panick after she spots David with his cold expressions towards her and really does a brutal kill on her with menacing expressions.
Lisa looked great standing by a bridge and having the demonic looking cane but the effects looked fake when the cane was spinning around before landing into a river.
The best discussion in the film was between Lisa with David when she tries to confront him about his evil behavior as it looks very Shining like and David really had that type of appeal for this moment and was great at attacking her.
There was a great shot on Scar approaching Lisa and then a great shot on his fist.
There's a decent camera shot panning on Lisa lying unconcious on the floor during a cult ceremony.
We see great shots on David and Lisa running through a forest with ghostly demonic effects as well as the creatures attacking David too which looked very suspenseful with the shots on him.
The best part of the film was with David, Lisa and Guillermo with their powerful discussions sequences towards each other near a bridge and a great battle between David andGuillermowith nice cheesy effects involved.
Bottom line is that this is one of the best indie flicks of 2006 as many of them hardly carry a budget but this one is not too bad. Sure there are poorly done special effects but some of them look interesting too.
It's horror with a touch of fantasy and sci-fi too and great performances by the whole cast too adding supernatural and some psychological moments too in a Shining like fashion.

The acting is terrifically performed with alot of Vancouver locals. It's nice to see former kid actor Edward Furlong (David Goodman) playing an adult role as a businessman who gets himself blind. Does real well by behaving like a basket case. Reacts great to being in pain when his eyes are spray painted. He also looks believeable when he is blind and feeling his way around and shows good expressions as if he is really blind. Shows nice dizzy expressions when he has trouble with his visuals during many moments in the film. He knew his part inside out and was excellent by slowly turning evil as he could have won an award for his role. 
Chandra West (Lisa Goodman) has the great looks as his wife and was smooth with her performance and showed nice energetic skills too. She knew how to act tough for a scene that she was attacked with her fellow actor.
Michael Madsen (Guillermo List) was the perfect tempting antichrist as he knew how to be wickedly charming only to prove that he's deadly and evil. During one scene he really knew how to pull some energy by trying to manipulate one of his actress' into driving the cane through her heart.
Richard Stroh (Scar) looked nasty and really knew how to come across as intimidating too by being the antichrist's assistant.
Tobias Mehler (Tony Sturkel) really pulled it off playing a businessman who thinks he's higher than anyone else as he brought alot to the story too.

Supporting actress Sandra Steier shows off her breasts during a vicious lustful scene in the film.

A cane is stabbed through a person's heart.

The music was very nicely done by John Sereda as we hear some nice chanting sounds and some cheesy music too but it was cool sounding regardless.