Chaos (2005 film)

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Chaos

Theatrical release poster.
Directed by David DeFalco
Produced by Steven Jay Bernheim
Written by David DeFalco
Starring Kevin Gage,
Stephen Wozniak
Distributed by Dominion Entertainment
Release date(s) 10 August 2005
Running time 74 minutes
Language English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Chaos is a controversial 2005 movie about the rape and murder of two teenagers. It stars Kevin Gage and was directed by David DeFalco. It is rated NC-17.

Contents

[edit] About the movie

  • Tagline: Angelica has died a very unnatural death...and the worst hasn't happened to her yet.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Chaos is about two teenagers who go to a rave in the woods to score some ecstasy, and are then raped and murdered by Chaos, the film's titular character, and his two accomplices.

This movie is extremely reminiscent of Wes Craven's Last House on the Left, itself a remake of Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring. However the director has denied any connection to these two movies, and neither Craven nor Bergman were given a story credit. More controversy stems from the film's tagline, which is obviously borrowed from the infamous tagline of Last House on the Left.

The only substantial difference between Chaos and the previous two films is the ending, where Chaos eschews the questions its predecessors raised on vigilantism and revenge, and instead seems to state simply "evil exists."

Chaos opens with a title card calling it a cautionary tale, and when pressed to justify the movie, DeFalco says that he is only trying to save lives.

[edit] Critical response

Chaos earned Rotten Tomatoes's rating of 7%,[1] and its Metacritic rating is 3 out of 100,[2] making it one of the worst reviewed movies released in 2005. Conversely, a positive review came from Ken Fox of TV Guide's Movie Guide, who said, "Unlike so many other Last House on the Left rip-offs, this virtual remake is reasonably well shot and convincingly acted."[3]

[edit] Roger Ebert

Despite general controversy, Chaos received most of its publicity from Roger Ebert's zero star review and the filmmaker's response. Ebert wrote in his initial review:

"Chaos is ugly, nihilistic, and cruel -- a film I regret having seen. I urge you to avoid it. Don't make the mistake of thinking it's "only" a horror film, or a slasher film. It is an exercise in heartless cruelty and it ends with careless brutality."[4]

DeFalco responded with a full page letter in the Chicago Sun-Times to rationalize the very existence of his movie, saying in part,

"Mr. Ebert, how do you want 21st Century evil to be portrayed in film and in the media? Tame and sanitized? Titillating and exploitive? Or do you want evil portrayed as it really is? "Ugly, nihilistic and cruel," as you say our film does it?"[5]

Ebert replied to him within the article posting. He later printed an account of a screening and question-and-answer session by DeFalco on his website, saying,

"...Basically, DeFalco (adorned in a wrestler outfit and red contacts) started the discussion by shouting about how "hardcore" this film was. He then spouted out phrases like "I am a demon" and "I am the king of violence and evil!" But when members of the audience started in about the pointless violence of Chaos the duo fell back on the film's opening "cautionary tale" crawl. As they started on a long diatribe about how they're trying to "warn and save lives," members of the audience pointed to DeFalco's acts of shameless exhibitionism (which are also displayed on the film's website). After awhile, DeFalco basically stooped to threatening the audience ("You saw what's on screen! You know what I'm capable of!")...Sage Stallone and many of the "Chaos" actors crashed the screening. Apparently, they were forced to do the film by contract, when they had originally signed for a Last House on the Left remake (producer Bernheim came onboard, replaced the creative team, and decided to plagiarize the film instead). None of them seemed too fond of DeFalco or his film."[citation needed]

Egregious Gurnow, of The Horror Review, wrote a lengthy review[6] in defense of DeFalco's film which refutes a large portion of Roger Ebert's running commentary of the film, claiming that the Chicago-based critic's perspective and analysis suffered from a lack of professional objectivity and logical rigor, while exhibiting a personal bias toward the director. Gurnow issued the film a four-star rating.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chaos Tomatometer. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  2. ^ Chaos reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  3. ^ Fox, Ken. Review of Chaos. TV Guide. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  4. ^ Ebert, Roger (August 12, 2005). Review of Chaos. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  5. ^ Ebert, Roger (August 19, 2005). Evil in film: To what end?. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  6. ^ Gurnow, Egregious (August 19, 2005). Review of Chaos. The Horror Review. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/a/Chaos_%282005_film%29.html"