Machines of Love and Hate (2005)

   
Produced, Written & Directed by: Joseph F. Parda

Starring:

Eileen Daly .... Cynthia Marks
David Runco .... Jean-Charles
Tina Krause .... Erika Marks
Roland Johnson .... Alexander Marks
Milton Haynes .... Old Man

Release Date: Direct-to-DVD: October 5, 2005

 

 

Rating:

 

A strange hitchhiker named Jean-Charles (David Runco) who buried something important in the sand and then he ran into a strange old mechanic (Milton Haynes) who was working on his car. After which, carrying on he got hit by a beautiful woman named Erika Marks (Tina Krause) who takes him to her house to recover.
During his stay he encounters her dysfunctional family and goes through repetitive hallucinations about the events in the house involving all the family members.
Each hallucination became more detailed and stranger.
They started to become reality so fearing his death he tries to elude it.

 

There's a nice opening showing inner fluids of a persons body as well as shots on an inside of a machine which looked well put together for a film like this one.
The beginning of this film looked somewhat odd with the drifter Jean-Charles wearing a gas mask in the beach and trying to dig something in the sand and moments with him hichhiking as it certainly brings some nice mystery to the story.

Perfectly lit up night shot on Jean-Charles being picked up by an old man having his wisdom and mysterious remarks to Jean-Charles while driving him near to his point as this draws you in greatly while watching all of this happening.
Things start to fall flat after these situations as we spot a dysfunctional wife and husband Cynthia and Alexander having an intense quarrelling as well as Cynthia herself throwing plates at him and seeing them smash which looked too over the top while we watch on what they're arguing about. It's supposed to look disturbing but falls flat.
A nice moment when Erika Marks is driving and suddenly spots Jean-Charles in the way as it adds some neat suspenseful moments. However when she goes in to tell her parents that she ran someone over it looked too obvious and forced as well with their interactions towards one another.
Then when breakfast is about to be served the next day looked strongly done with Jean-Charles coming down and then having a chat with Alexander and he shouts towards Cynthia as well as a good close up shot on her sharpening a knife in a smiling daze as this looked perfectly twisted and then shouting towards his daughter Erika and then she opens a steaming oven. Then afterwards we spot a deadly twisted moment as all of this looked like something you'd see in a Twilight Zone type of matter. Suddenly Jean-charles wakes up from this nightmare which seemed to work in well to the story but then when he comes down for breakfast we spot this happening a few times as it's supposed to twist your mind that he isn't dreaming but it gets annoying after watching this happen a couple of times and a total time waster to fill in for the plotlines.
Then we have another twist with Cynthia getting aggressive towards Alexander as well as something bad she will do to him on a bed but then this repeats itself which was supposed to be a nightmare which looked not too badly done but didn't need to see it again with a different twist as it was yet another repeat of a scene like the previous one that was mentioned at the breakfast table.
A nice red lit up scene between Jean-Charles and Erika as the moments looked nice and still with their flowing conversations as well as good close up camera shots on their lustful scene's.
Nice strong moments with Jean-Charles, Erika and Cynthia outside at a breakfast table having a conversation which was brought to life nicely. Plus later on a good tense moment with Erika getting overly sensitive towards Cynthia as the moments here looked a bit twisted.
Well drawn in moment when Cynthia tells Jean-Charles to go upstairs with him to her room looking lustful at him as we do get a feeling on what happens next but things looked lame when we see them getting it on as well as in a bathroom with Alexander tied up and gagged watching this. Sorry folks didn't do anything for me.
Things were slow for a while as we see other twisted moments like another hitchhiker in a gas mask as well as spotting dummies sitting near a table and a little girl telling him what they're doing which looked rather pointless but a nice twist with the old man picking up up but does something deadly to him later on.
There's flashbacks on horror involving clowns with bloodied moments but then it draws in to be a true horror flick when the lowdown happens between both Alexander confronting Jean-Charles about himself as there's a nice dark room with a blue ligthing on them as well as spotting flashbacks on an insane asylum with wavy effects on the picture while we watch giving it an artsy feel to it all as well as other twisted moments which was done in a good fashion with dark secrets on what we are about to watch as well. Also some nice moments on a somewhat zombie scene too with lightning effects happening here as it totally draws out the horror story too making it weirder and twisted than ever.
Bottom line is that I found this movie very scattered with too many twists and turns although finally at the end they did come together to make a fine movie. If you can stick it through all the craziness it's certainly worth your time. Given whatever their budget was, they certainly made the most of it cause it was of good quality and effects. It begins as a suspenseful feeling movie and slowly evolves into more of a thrilling horror style so it's hard to pigeonhole this one. Very much like a British style production although it was in New York. However the story seemed somewhat pointless at the same time and overly long to top it all off.

The acting isa bit stiff for the most part as Eileen Daly (Cynthia Marks) was too over the top when she screams out or acts intense as a basket case type of family woman. However she does have some interesting moments in the story like when she's grinning in a trance when sharpening a knife. Plus at times was okay acting wicked or creepily charming in other scenes. However when she gets into a lustful moment doesn't seem to look convincing.
David Runco (Jean-Charles) stood out well as an estranged hitchhiker as well as having the right tall and featured looks but he is awfully wooden within his speaking and lacked energy at times by what he does. Seems to do well by acting calm or cautious during certain situations but needed a boost to pull off his characteristics.
Moan queen Tina Krause (Erika Marks) could use a bit of work to her role as the daughter in the film but can be strong with her words nonetheless. However she seemed to be a little stiff like when she announces that she ran someone over as this seemed too planned out and looked like she was reading a cue card. Or when she acts aggressive was not letting it come across as realistic. She needed a bit of help with her role as you could tell.
Roland Johnson (Alexander Marks) does a fine job as a bitter and obnoxious crippled man as I rate him the best out of all the cast members. He offers a great growly voice calling to someone or showing perfect insane or angered expressions. Does well acting cold and evil like when he reveals a secret to someone else near the end of his performance. Was a true powerful force of nature as he seems to present himself as if he had a training in live theatre. Had the perfect looks for this role.
Supporting actor Milton Haynes (Old Man) is very impressive with his role as a strange and eccentric type n which makes you wonder why he is involved in the picture. Has a good mysterious personality as well as showing a perfect wisdom as to what he's talking about. Was clear with his words too. Plus does a good job acting deadly at the end of his role.

There are many sex scenes involving David Runco, moan/scream queen Tina Krause (Who also has a full nude body shot in a few scenes) and Eileen Daly as all of them perform nude.

Not much along the gore, just some blood and slit throats and a 3d shot of a hallucination of Jean- Charles being dissected.

Function Zero has a nice sci fi type of high synthesizer music for the opening credits which seems to suit it well. But then it seems to sound a little too annoying later on having tapping synthesizer with the echoey sounds like we have heard in Nikos the Impaler as it was getting on my nerves. Also there's the odd techincal electronic synthesizer music for the lustful moments which I didn't find amusing either. Yet they do a neat metal songtrack for a scene with someone driving in a vehicle as this adds great flavor to the film.