[Red Victoria]
Plot:A writer is forced to write a horror movie by an undead muse who motivates him by killing his friends and family.

Cast:Tony Brownrigg, Arianne Martin, Edward Landers, Miles Brennan, Christian Taylor, Cory Turner, Haven Riney, John Phelan, Mary Ann McCarty, Jenna Finley.

My Thoughts:Brilliant!

Review:"Red Victoria", written by, directed by, and starring Anthony (Tony) Brownrigg, is a new take on the slasher and zombie sub-genres. While the film dabbles in both worlds, it also makes new strides in both worlds. Leading to an excellent end result. The movie follows a writer named Jim (Brownrigg), who has hit a wall when it comes to his recent screenplays. Well, not a wall of talent. Just a wall of buyers. Because the buyers all want horror films these days (it's a hot commodity currently in real life as well as in the universe of this movie), Jim can't sell any of his other screenplays.

So his agent pushes him to write a horror movie. Jim doesn't want to however, and feels the genre is quite beneath him. But because he needs the money, and that one break-out script every writer craves...he decides to take on the job. Albeit begrudgingly. Jim however finds that writing horror is not as easy as he'd like it to be. But luckily for him, his yet-to-be-tapped-into passion for the genre results in the creation of a muse named Victoria (Martin).

Who appears to Jim as an undead female corpse. Complete with rotting skin, flies, blood, the works. Jim's first reaction? Of course he's scared out of his wits. Especially when Victoria begins killing people in his life such as his pool cleaner and eventually even his agent. Jim tries his damndest to rid himself of Victoria. From voodoo dolls, to being mean to her, to even the old school option of a handgun. But all to no avail. Victoria is there for a reason, and it's up to Jim to find out why, and how her appearance and influence will eventually lead him to completing his horror masterpiece.

"Red Victoria" is brilliantly written, and that's really it's charm and it's strong point. Not the blood, guts, etc. But it's story, and after that....the performances that go along with it. Brownrigg and Martin have great on-screen chemistry, and Martin plays the clever, morbid, and darkly-sexy Victoria very well. The character herself is very complex. At first, she's just an undead spirit that shows up to help Jim with his work. A zombie muse of sorts, but then, you find yourself trying to figure out whether or not she really is there to help Jim.

Or is she there to hinder him? Or worse yet....is she the grim reaper in disguise, just looking for an opening to wack him? You ponder all of these "what if's?" as you watch Jim and Victoria's relationship change by the moment within the film. To make matters more interesting, Jim's friend and also Jim's agent can both see Victoria. Although Jim's friend gets the ugly version of her, while Jim's agent gets the gorgeous living version of Victoria. A change which seems to be driven by Jim's emotions.

As he becomes more familiar with the genre of horror, and becomes more passionate about it...Victoria seems to come alive more and more. She not only gains human flesh, but also a more cheery attitude towards Jim. It's as if she started out as a gray canvas, and Jim's growing motivation to pen the script seems to give her more and more life, inside and out. A fact which Victoria informs Jim of right away when they first meet. That she's there to get him to appreciate horror as a genre.

And she goes to many extremes to get him to appreciate the genre, including murder among other things. So the tale takes many morbid twists and while you eventually grow tolike Victoria, as does the character Jim...you can't deny however that on the surface she is still somewhat of a villain. But underneath that layer of the story, you also wonder if she is doing this for her own sick amusement, or is she really trying to get Jim to understand horror as a genre.

And as a muse, might not have any moral qualms about what is right and or wrong, but instead just sees helping Jim get motivated and passionate about his script as her one true goal? There are really many different layers to the films script, and Brownrigg proves that you don't need blood, guts, and an enormous body count to create good horror. The film truly blends black humor with horror and morbid moralism very well, and the movie gets deeper and deeper into Jim and Victoria's relationship as things move along.

A very interesting, intriguing, and entertaining relationship to watch develop and grow. Despite all of the chaos surrounding it. The films final 10 minutes are a strong period at the end of this cinematic sentence, and I couldn't have thought of a better way for the film to conclude. "Red Victoria" is a good exercise in what a talented writer/director/actor can do when he's given creative control over a movie, and has a great lead actress to work off of. It's definitely a movie worth seeing.

Positives:Great script by Brownrigg, and great performances by Brownrigg as Jim and Martin as Victoria.

Negatives:Nothing major.

Overall:Four out of four stars.





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