Terror Firma (2023) (blu-ray film review)
Artist Lola (actress Faye Tamasa) finds a bag of seed on her doorstep which gives birth to an alien plant as it does. Actually, its her adopted brother scientist Louis (actor Burt Thakur) and, oddball flatmate, Cage (actor Robert Bretthnaugh)’s place, so watch then read the blurb. The bag of seed is between three massive food boxes delivered to their home.
Of course, she plants the seeds but, the next morning, there is a hole in the ground full of liquid goop. The group investigates and whatever is left smells like blackberry pie and they drink it. Although Louis tests it, he thinks its ok, but the juice is highly addictive.
Louis vanishes and they follow his voice and, by pulling the plant out of the garden, find a deep hole. Lola rings her friend, Teddy (actor Max Carpenter), to come over and help find Louis. Instead, he becomes a victim of Cage but we are entering spoiler territory.
There’s only a hint of the outside world with a helicopter flying around. There is a hint that anyone caught wandering around would be locked up in a government facility although that doesn’t stop Teddy coming over. A lot of that is just to remind us viewers why anyone should be reluctant to roam around.
A lot of it from here is spoiler. The juice has certain hallucinogenic properties. You would think these folk might have been a bit more apprehensive from the start but, then, no TV so presumably they’ve never seen a horror film or advice not to taste or eat unknown fruits.
There are elements of arthouse and a continual music track to keep the horror level up on a small budget. The end credits is a dull red on a black background and barely visible. Hardly a good way to promote any film.
The audio commentary with director/writer Jake Macpherson revealing how the film was made on an ultra-ultra low budget and he’s talking from his home. The parts for the male actors were written specifically for them. I suspect this is because of the home-made commentary but when Macpherson is quiet, especially with dialogue, it’s a bit too quiet. If anything, he needs to have talked more than stop to watch, although I’ve seen that happen elsewhere. Oh, he’s also a cinematographer by trade but also directed, scripted and did the music for this film. If you’re planning to be an independent filmmaker, you do learn some things from this commentary. You need to pay for a good sound technician. It also took 15-16 days of filming a 90 page script with the effects filmed later. A chap called Cameron did a similar thing with ‘The Terminator’ although I doubt if Macpherson thinks he’ll be that lucky.
For the extras, there’s a director’s cut running at an extra 6 minutes although quite what can be added in that time. In the audio commentary, the director points out that the scenes cut were from the opening where Lola grew magic mushrooms and some more scenes with Teddy.
The nearly 10 minute photo gallery shows behind the scenes from the film as much as stills from it. At least you’ll learn how to dig a fake tunnel.
For those of you who want to make independent films as a starting point for a career, this film is worth looking at on how to work with a small budget.
GF Willmetts
August 2024
(pub: MVD Entertainment, 2024. 1 blu-ray disk 81 minute film with extras. Price: £17.00 (UK). ASIN: MVD15294BR)
cast: Faye Tamasa, Robert Brettenaugh, Burt Thakur and Max Carpenter
check out website: https://mvdshop.com/products/terror-firma-blu-ray?_pos=2&_sid=fb1170837&_ss=r
