Hello all! McEric here with a review of the Furst Brothers' new horror/comedy A BREED APART, out now in theaters and on-demand. The film follows several Internet celebrities who are invited to an island overrun by rabid dogs to compete for a prize... survival. Check out the trailer:
The film stars Grace Caroline Currey (SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS, FALL), Virginia Gardner (FALL, 2018's HALLOWEEN), Page Kennedy (THE MEG, THE MEG 2), Troy Gentile (ABC's "The Goldbergs"), Riele Downs (Nickelodeon's "Henry Danger"), Zak Steiner (Netflix's "Jessica Jones"),and Hayden Panittiere (NBC's "Heroes"). The film is directed by Griff Furst and brother Nathan Furst, whose previous collaboration as co-directors brought us NIGHTMARE SHARK. Solo, Griff Furst has directed such films as SWAMP SHARK, GHOST SHARK, and TRAILER PARK SHARK, so he clearly knows his way around a creature feature... even if he doesn't really want to.
"Who is Louie Myman?" I asked when we spoke this past Friday. [Louie Myman is the credited director of Furst's films 100 MILLION BC and ALLIGATOR ALLEY.)
"Oh, Louie Myman! Do you know Alan Smithee?"
"Yes."
"He's Alan Smithee's brother. Yeah, I mean, it's a tough thing. It's an interesting thing to explore. It's like when you do a creature feature and it rates well, and it does well, they just offer you more of them. And I love them, don't get me wrong. I grew up watching all these creature features - Mysterious Island and Jaws and Cujo. I love those movies, but I love ALL kinds of movies. The creature feature, itself, is like a little box."
"In truth," echoes Nathan, whose background is in film scoring, "a lot of people don't realize it's not just actors who get typecast. And so, yeah, with filmmakers, it's the same thing. It's like if I do creature features, I can probably do 70 more creature features because I'll just keep getting calls about them."
A BREED APART takes a meta approach to the genre, opening fifteen years prior on a remote island where movie star Hayden Hearst (Panettiere) is filming a creature feature about rabid dogs when the stunt dogs actually go rabid. The movie shuts down and the entire crew deserts the island, leaving the dogs to multiply and conquer. In the modern timeline, an Internet Influencer has begun construction of a luxury getaway on the island, but notes that the dogs are still an issue. To humanely deal with the problem, he contacts several other notorious influencers and invites them to the island to rescue as many of the pups as each can, with the one to bag the most awarded with the deed to the island. However, as soon as the contest starts, it becomes apparent that the dogs aren't the ones who need rescuing, and the fight for survival is on.
I'll admit, I was reluctant to cover this film. I let emails languish in my inbox unanswered because I felt that I'd either already seen this movie a dozen times before or deliberately avoided it. When the carrot of speaking to Grace Caroline Currey was dangled, I took the bait and watched the film. I must've missed the phrase "hilariously harrowing tale of terror" in the synopsis because I expected this movie to be dire and serious despite its premise. Thankfully, the Furst Brothers are fully aware of the film they're making, and they have a blast making it. A BREED APART is funny, slapsticky, self-aware, and irreverent.
The gathered Internet Influencer characters are clear parodies of reality and literally interchangeable. "[Virginia Gardner] originally was going to play Collins, my brother, but as my sister. But then as we were workshopping it and trying to figure out what the dynamic would be, it was a couple of days before we had to start filming and we were about to fly out, and I looked at Ginny and I said 'I think that you need to be Thalia.' And she said 'I think so, too.' We called Griff [Furst] and thank goodness we had Zak [Steiner] in the wings, who could jump in as my brother," explained Currey when we spoke about reteaming with her FALL co-star.
Still other casting was inspired, such as Page Kennedy as Big Farmer Jay. A standout from the days of Vine in his own right as well as an established rapper, Kennedy's Big Farmer Jay is a DIY farmer who raps about chickens into his GoPro while it's mounted to a cow's head during his introduction. In a true art-imitates-life moment, Kennedy told me his latest self-titled album was scheduled to drop the day the film premiered, this past Friday. "I always typically try to have a project come out when I have an acting project, so this is my sixth album that I'll have dropping. It's probably one of my better albums, sonically, and I'm super excited about it and passionate about it."
Troy Gentile as a Crypto Bro is just sleaze personified, and Riele Downs' character Queen Bee is given a somewhat sympathetic backstory as a survivalist, encouraging viewers to root for her as the plot thickens. Currey leads the cast as Violet, a reluctant YouTuber who decorates and eats cakes via her brother Collins' (Steiner) hands. Lured to the island by Vince (Joey Bragg), these personalities clash as the camera frequently resets on Violet as our eyes of reason.
The real star of a killer dog movie is typically the dogs, and A BREED APART is no exception. You won't be able to take your eyes off the killer pooches, largely because their presence is so very quixotic and irksome. The quantity is unidentifiable and the effects used to demonize these dogs range from practical and laughable to CGI nightmares - not of fear but rather confusion. The dogs are never scary, but trying to wrap one's mind around what the filmmakers were thinking when they settled on any one shot of them will send one spiraling into a doubt that swallows the wider world like a black hole. It is only at the end, when the credits have begun to roll, that A BREED APART makes sense.
The credits feature BTS of the filmmaking process, with bloopers, dancing, puppets, laughter, smiles, and delirious energy. One gets an idea quickly of how much fun this film was to make and no longer worries about its intent or merit. Its intent was for them to have fun - its merit is in that they've chosen to share that fun. If one is tuning in for a shared experience, they will be rewarded. Film is not a vacuum of individual escape but rather a communal effort of shared experiences. Viewed through this lens, A BREED APART works if one is as aware of the forthcoming viewing experience as the production was aware of what they were making.
A BREED APART is currently in theaters and on-demand. Rated R for violent/bloody images, language throughout, and some sexual references.
Until next time, take care.
-McEric, aka Eric McClanahan-
