Last Kind Words (2012)

Last Kind Words: Directed by Kevin Barker. With Brad Dourif, Spencer Daniels, Alexia Fast, Marianne Hagan. 17-year-old Eli has just moved with his family deep into the backwoods of Kentucky to work on the isolated farm of a local recluse. Inexplicably drawn into the strange forest that lies beyond the farm, Eli encounters the beautiful, sweet and mysterious Amanda, seemingly the perfect girl. But with the discovery of decaying bodies hanging from the trees, he realizes that the forest – and Amanda – are harboring some very dark secrets. Suddenly, Eli is living in a waking nightmare where the lines between life and death are scrawled in blood, and there is no escaping the terror from beyond the grave.

“Leonard Rossiter immortalized himself on British television as a stressed out executive (Reginald Perrin) and a mean-spirited landlord (Rigsby) so itu0026#39;s easy to forget he was no stranger to more serious roles, including u0026#39;2001: A Space Odysseyu0026#39;. Here he is again playing it (mostly) straight as an opportunist amateur detective / debt-collector, Cyril Dugdale. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRossiter is ideally cast as the victim of his own failings (greed/selfishness) as his character quickly gets drawn into a criminal world he doesnu0026#39;t know much about. There are hints of Rigsby… the beaten down, below average man confused, helpless and lashing out in his little world.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNina Baden-Semper (the pretty, smiling, black Barbie in u0026#39;Love Thy Neighbouru0026#39;) is a bit more mysterious and menacing here as Femme-Fatale Felicity, but she still wears that winning smile… and a dreadful wig! Her role is ahead of its time, being a strong-willed, independent, black woman – yet it doesnu0026#39;t feel out of place here… except when we go to her house and itu0026#39;s empty bar a few African war masks and u0026#39;Black Poweru0026#39; posters! Very silly indeed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story opens with Dugdale evicting an Indian family from their condemned house. Thereu0026#39;s a hint of casual racism through the movie yet itu0026#39;s clear that the Indian family are happy to move on without a fuss if the price is right. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDugdale falls for Felicityu0026#39;s charms (and money) and agrees to take some compromising photos of a local property developer. Soon after, he realizes that thereu0026#39;s a whole lot more to the girl and this case than he was led to believe.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAbout halfway through itu0026#39;s impossible to even guess whatu0026#39;s going on and the show becomes a collection of chase sequences ending with a very long drawn out one in a warehouse. The bad guys wear shades in the pitch black and shoot each other… itu0026#39;s that silly.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s a poor attempt to tie up loose ends with a comedic finale but this fails very badly. Any other u0026#39;comedyu0026#39; is buried beneath the locations in and around Bristol (which are depressing and grim) and the scenarios of unexpected violence and narrative stupidity. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe incidental musical score is frankly bizarre and extremely distracting. Think of silly, campy British flicks like u0026#39;Confessions of a Window Cleaner!u0026#39; mixed in with the abstract organ grindings of the u0026#39;Thriller!u0026#39; series, and youu0026#39;ll know what to expect. The audio is also a huge letdown and comes across as echoey with lots of background noise.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eColin Welland (Jackanory/Z Cars, etc) turns in a brief, routine performance. Kate Ou0026#39;Mara provides some desperately needed glamour! Familiar face Ewen Solon is also featured but bizarrely doesnu0026#39;t say a word!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe 80 minute TV movie doesnu0026#39;t really wear well after all this time. During the 1970u0026#39;s the United Kingdom was going through something of a social and economic makeover. Pre-war red brick slums were being torn down to make way for big roads and blocks of flats. At the bottom of the heap were immigrant families being shunted around from crappy place to crappy place and on the top were the builders and local politicians making money from this brave new world. This dichotomy is bluntly exposed here but not taken advantage of.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAny fan of Rossiter may be rewarded, but thatu0026#39;s about it.”