Eternal Code

What's the old cliche? A new spin on an old thing? Hey folks, I'm back with a request review from our old friend, producer Joe Williamson of Williamson Management Company (Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance, Check Point, Holy Terror, Nation's Fire, Moon of the Blood Beast, Meathook Massacre: The Final Chapter) and he had a humble request to give the once over for a new Harley Wallen film. Director Harley Wallen (Deceitful, Moving Parts, Bennett's Song, Abeyance and Betrayed) has a new action thriller so let's give it an eyeful. This is Eternal Code.

Honey, I think this Craigslist orgy is wrong now.

We open with a young man on the ragged edge, hastily scribbling notes and pulls a USP .45 to clear his mind when a young prostitute, Stephanie (Kaiti Wallen of Moving Parts, Bennett's Song, Iced Out and Betrayed) is getting slapped around by her would-be John (Brian Heintz of Moving Parts, Lizard of Dogs, Betrayed, Revenge of the Mask, Ring of Silence and Be Somebody). Naturally the need to help another puts our suicidal lad Corey (Damien Chinappi of The Web of Spider-Man, Knightmare, Retribution, The Girl in the Attic, Betrayed and I Thought You Were a Nice Man) off his coconut scrambling ideas and proceeds to lay smack down on the puke and they disappear into the night.

Basing this story on Juan Ponce de Leon's(Conquistador, explorer, soldier and first governor of Puerto Rico) discovery of the fountain of eternal youth, a genetic research company has developed a miracle cure. One that will enrich human life for, shockingly enough for the rich and powerful. The idea of infinitely prolonging human life and slowing the aging process.

Hobo Hero...

However, the methods to bring this miraculous creation to be was immoral and completely unethical. The company's CEO Bridget Pellegrini (Erika Hoveland of Sparkle, Mary's Buttons, Ticket to the Circus, The House That Jack Broke, Believe Again, Proxy and Good News) wants to pull the plug and not watch her empire to go crumbling down. Her board of directors is trying to coax her to the dark side with promises of money and chocolate chip cookies and hey if you can't trust Oliver (Richard Tyson of 3 o'Clock High, Kindergarten Cop, There's Something About Mary, Battlefield Earth and Black Hawk Down) well, who can you trust?

Who took my smiley face mug? You Gary? Hmm?

 

The looks on the interns and lower echelon workers, seems to me a typical board meeting. Screaming and scheming is the order of the day, if not the week. Dr. Magnus (Yan Birch of Slumber Party Massacre III, The People Under the Stairs, Cyber Bandits, Ghost Rock, Terror Tales, Death House and Betrayed) also attempts to get Bridget to see the benefits that outweigh the repercussions. C'mon Bridget, the Stairmaster is right!  At least Mr. Pomeroy (Mel Novak of Game of Death, An Eye for an Eye, Sword of Heaven, Moonbase, Vampire Assassin, Thunderkick, Kill Factor, Syndicate Smasher, Holy Terror and Nemesis 5: The New Model) has her back. GO STICK!   I swear I will try to stop doing that.

Ongoing concern about this merger veto even hits home with Bridget's husband Mark (Billy Wirth of The Lost Boys, Body Snatchers, Reunion, The Talent Given Us, Duress, Chicago P.D., Last Curtain Call and Betrayed). He expresses he just doesn't want her getting hurt and is there to support her while he is making dinner. Damn right she put a ring on it!

Diabolical deeds done via Vida!

Corey and Stephanie slowly gain a rapport as two people broken by life are trying to mend. Two people guarding who they are opening up in a fashion they didn't think even possible again.

Oliver is done playing nice and contracts a crew to capture and contain Bridget and family. This nefarious piece of work, Sam (Harley Wallen of Moving Parts, Love Espionage: Spy Revenge, Halt: The Motion Picture, Betrayed, Be Somebody and Eternal Code) tells Oliver 5 million upfront so they can have a location for the kidnapping and another five once completed.

Considering kidnapping is a federal offense, yeah his team is gonna need the scratch to avoid prosecution. Costa Rica would be ideal.

With Bridget out of the way, Magnus can start the trials with the aid of Nikita (the vivacious Vida Ghaffari of Circus of Dread, The Catch, Holy Terror, Horndog's Beach Party, Robowoman, Moon of the Blood Beast and Meathook Massacre: The Final Chapter) and her talents.

With Corey and Stephanie trying to find out what happened to Bridget and Mark, time is ticking down. Can a burned out Vet and a street walker save the day? Will the company collapse?

This is just some damn good story telling. We got heart and soul of good people, that grim and gritty darkness of the villains and business being dealt regardless of the damage that it could produce. A solid thriller, good dialogue and an impressive cast, I have to say this Indie thriller is damn captivating. A nice slow build-up to give you all you need to know about the players and then, something new happens. Take notes, A-list films. This is how good yarn spinning is done. Does it need a sequel? Maybe not but I would like to see this cast brought back for a similar project. Took me ages to realize Charlie was Scout Taylor-Compton (Charmed, Halloween, Halloween II, NCIS Los Angeles, Wet and Reckless and Nashville). Brain was expecting her to be blonde. Smooth move, brain.

Just a side note here. Damien and Kaiti had real chemistry. I really hope to see them in more work. Maybe give them villain roles this time around. Sinister and brutal. Again all just ideas to toss out there. A tale of morality versus injustice. Strong character development for a 105 minute film. Excellent playing off each others emotions and I especially enjoyed Richard Tyson having next to no morals. Vicious character.

September 6 is a release of VOD on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, Vudu and FandangoNow and the DVD release is scheduled later in the fall. Keep those eyes peeled, people!

Ho boy, Joker crew.

Betrayed

Hey folks! Back again with a request viewing from the Williamson Management Company that I give their award based film some much needed love. We have "critics" about this movie and general speaking it's just trolls complaining because a story takes time to properly unfold.

With the award hailing from Queen Palm International Film Festival today's film shines a light on the horrors of the real world like human trafficking. This is Betrayed.

Good thing he didn't use a knife, fellas.

Brought to us from director Harley Wallen (Deceitful, Moving Parts, Bennett's Song and Abeyance) comes a tale of a city in need of order. Mayor Alderman (John Savage of The Deer Hunter, Salvador, Thin Red Line, The Godfather Part III, Fatal Choice and The X-Files) has serious issues his administration needs to address.

We open our movie with a couple of care free girls out on the town with a couple of jerks just looking to get in their pants. For crying out loud, guys. Just get a sex doll since you have no respect for women. No sooner do the douche duo leave, two men abduct the girls off the street, toss them in a van and take off. Now that sets a tone already. Cut to our title sequence and edgy music intro.

A supply and demand of young women is big business for traffickers, and Mikhail Kovalchek (Harley Wallen of I Declare War, Stay, Pimps, Pastors &Politicians, Moving Parts, Bennett's Song and Betrayed) is a man who meets his quotas and deadlines.   The Mayor is pissed that Mikhail and his Bratva thugs have overstepped their bounds in his town, catching a lot of flack for it from the people and will not take the heat for this.   Guess he should have seen this coming when he decided to take kickbacks from THE MOB!!!!  Hindsight 20/20 being what it is, the Mayor is trying to juggle City Hall, public opinion and assure the citizens the city is safe.

She clearly needs a Hello Kitty calendar.

Detectives Alex Redford (Jennifer Jelsema of The End of the Tour, Space Debris, Empire, Alaska Is a Drag and Moving Parts) and Sandra Miller (Aphrodite Nikolovski of Ocean of Pearls, Answer This!, Red & Blue Marbles, Cut/Print, Consideration and Bennett's Song) are dealing with these bodies showing up in dumpsters and alleys while there is no official comment from the Mayor on how this is being handled.  They are overworked, underpaid and underappreciated.

The Mayor washes his hands of the Russians and to fix his income status, he invites the Cartel in to the city. Now to me, this is stopping the brush fire with a flamethrower but hey, I know not enough about politics. Bed hopping with two different mobs is bound to have no real repercussions. Mikhail will no doubt feel "Betrayed". Y'see what I did there?   I did a thing.

Ahem, moving right along, the coroner looks vaguely familiar as I spoke and interviewed one of his co-stars, lovely Vida Ghaffari about Abeyance none other than Stairmaster of The People Under the Stairs himself, Yan Birch (Santa Barbara, Strange Days, Essence of Echoes, Charmed, Tangerine Sky, Terror Tales, Death House and Waking Nightmares)

Stone (Richard Tyson) and Mikhail take a meeting and Stone really points up the pros of being on the Mayor's good side creating a balance in the city versus rubbing the administration the wrong way. Stone will continue to do business but needs Mikhail to see that going to war with the city is just bad for business.

This was a productive meeting.

Mikhail displays his grievances with the Mayor by abducting his only daughter, Marie (Kaiti Wallen of Number One Contender, Broken, Set Me Free, Deceitful, Moving Parts and Bennett's Song) from the very club, The Foxtrot he does business in. Mikhail is under the impression he is invincible. Yeah, this is going to go down smooth as Egyptian whiskey.

Mike Wolf (Billy Wirth) is a grifter, a rambler and definitely a gambler. Contract merc for who even knows how many dirty jobs.  His gig is shadow running crews and seems to be damn good at it.  Yeah folks, there are no good guys in this one. There are the tarnished, the bad and the evil.

Will Mikhail be retired early?? Is the Mayor going to feed Mikhail his balls personally??

A few side notes now. It was insanely awesome to see Billy Wirth of The Lost Boys and Richard Tyson of Three o' Clock High and Kindergarten Cop in some juicy roles. Real meat and potato kind of roles. Two guys you know they can carry their end and then some.

Composer Kaizad Patel (Moving Parts, Love Espionage,: Spy Revenge, Bennett's Song and Betrayed) really sets the moods of the scenes with the music. Good ratcheting of tension and incidental music and I hope to hear more of it soon.

I don't understand this piss poor reviews. This was gritty, dark and a fair amount of shades of grey. Showing how Detroit can and probably does operate.  Frankly Wallen is casting a beacon at what is deemed one of the worse cities in the US and honestly it really makes you wonder how far removed is this fiction from the fact. 

We can conclude she was definitely a girl.