[Bryan Loves You]
Plot:Revolves around a cult known as the "Bryans" who take over a small desert community. A therapist named Jonathan who resides in the town, starts poking around after noticing strange behavioral changes in the community. But his investigation catches the eye of the cult, who eventually try to kill him.

Cast:Tony Todd, Seth Landau, George Wendt, Daniel Roebuck, Daniel Schweiger, Jilon Ghai, Tiffany Shepis, Lloyd Kaufman, Brinke Stevens, Chuck Williams, Jeff Dylan Graham.

My Thoughts:Although a bit too slow at times, a pretty creepy and disturbing look into the cult world.

Review:Much has been made about Seth Landau's cultish horror pic "Bryan Loves You", in which Landau pulls triple duty in. He also wrote the film, and stars in it as Jonathan, the films main character who after receiving a creepy tape from his Uncle Gary documenting recent events in the town, decides to along with two of his close female friends...conduct his own investigation into weird occurances in the town, which surround a local cult known as "The Bryans". "The Bryans" are not the scariest horror movie cult I've ever seen.

That honor still belongs to the children of the corn. But they are creepy in their own way. One of which being the white masks they wear. As well as their robotic and clannish behavior. Unlike the children of the corn, who are enthusiastic about their religion, "The Bryans" are all over the cult spectrum. Some members are quiet and subdued, while others are loud, violent, and attackful. Landau does a good job of using the camera and his character Jonathan to promote the movie and push it ahead in very Hitchcock-esque fashion. Most of the film is seen through Bryan's video camera as he documents the days and times of his investigation into the eerie cult.

The overall start of the film is comparable to "Cloverfield", kicking off with a narrator (Tony Todd) setting up the story, and informing us that what we're about to see is recovered footage. Todd as the narrator does an excellent job of setting the stage for what's yet to come. Perhaps too good of a job, as the movie doesn't quite reach the levels of which he hypes it up to be, but it does come close in it's own little way. In many ways, "Bryan Loves You" is a parody of cult-related films and society's need to document and videotape everything different or weird that they come into contact with. There's also an underlying theme to all of this which suggests that filming everyone and everything around us is tantamount to a form of new-age harrasy.

The usual cult-movie cliches are also present here as well, such as friends being turned by the cult, the walls...slowly at some times, and quickly at other times - closing in on the hero of the movie as the cult becomes aware of his snooping and filming of their movements, and a few yet-to-be-converted citizens who Jonathan turns to for help. Landau also uses the films score sparingly, which creates a very unsettling mood and tone within the movie. The large amounts of musical silence within the film give it more of a realistic feel compared to other cult-related films which are a bit more heavy on the music tracks.

Landau tries and succeeds in making his movie into a documentary/mockumentary/very personal story of a normal guy who got a little too close to something much bigger than him. There are plenty of cameos in this movie as well coming from horror familiars like Tiffany Shepis and Brinke Stevens, to film regulars like George Wendt. The one thing Landau does the best though is concealing his title character, "Bryan". Bryan, being the leader of the cult....is per usual, a conspicuously absent character, who is never at the forefront of anything that happens in the film, yet at the same time is pulling the strings on everything from behind the scenes.

Sort of like The Wizard Of Oz if you will. Do we ever see Bryan at any point in the film? I won't give that away, but Landau does an excellent job of building up to that point where we may actually be introduced to the infamous Bryan who pretty much has the entire town in the palm of his hand. The films ending shows Landau is a student of the genre, as it has alot of overtones from "Halloween" 1976 and harbors a very high element of suspense. "Bryan Loves You" does move a bit too slow at times though, and sometimes you feel that certain chunks of the movie are wasted on long introductions of minor characters, or too much crytpic dialogue.

When said scenes could be better served being turned into chase sequences, or stalk-and-slash moments. Something to give the film some more excitement. Despite being a tad bit too methodical and dramatic in it's story advancement, instead of adding some bang to everything, "Bryan Loves You" is a good nostalgia movie, a film which goes back to the cult-related horror movies of the 80's where less seemed to be more, and for the most part...worked quite nicely. The dvd also contains a pretty unique commentary track which should strike most horror fans (as it did me), as one of the more creative and interestingly crafted commentary tracks to date, when it comes to straight-to-dvd releases in general.

Positives:Good directing and acting job by Landau. A pretty decent writing job as well, modest performances, and an intriguing group-antagonist.

Negatives:The film is far too methodical at times, and sometimes you wish it would just hang loose and take a few more risks with the story.

Overall:Three out of four stars.





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