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SCRAPBOOK is a relentlessly bitter serial killer video directed by Eric
Stanze (ICE FROM THE SUN). It was shot on video with a look that makes
it seem painfully like it is Leonard's home video. I viewed this wicked
flick with three of my best viewing buddies. The four of us all
veterans of years of "man's-inhumanity-to-man" cinema were still stunned
by the unbridled depravity we witnessed.
From start to finish, this very grim portrayal of a serial killer toying
with his victim is unrelenting. The acts that unfold over the grueling
95 minute running time are almost unimaginable, running the gauntlet of
several brutal, unforgivingly graphic bloody rapes, a hot afternoon
trapped in a garbage can covered in spoiled milk, beatings, golden
showers, and a toe dismemberment by farm implement. The never-ending
cruelty left the room silent - and me numb and in the need of a shower.
Unlike similar genre efforts such as THE UNTOLD STORY and THE EBOLA
VIRUS, which were also both brutal looks at man's-inhumanity-to-man,
they both had a dark twisted humor. SCRAPBOOK, on the other hand, is
painfully serious with no levity to speak of, making it much more of a
brutal film.
Despite what I think of its subject matter, I have to commend the cast
and crew on an amazing job. Emily Haack and Tommy Biondo, as Clara and
Leonard respectively, are spectacular. They did an incredible bit of
acting in what were probably the hardest, most demanding roles of their
- or anyone else's - careers. Almost all the scenes were improvised on
set from plot ideas worked out beforehand. For added realism, rotten
food was left on the set to add to the actors' discomfort. Also, all
the physical aspects of the film were acted out no holds bared with both
cast members getting bruised and battered. The results are two amazing
performances.
Tommy was chilling as Leonard; very cold and inhuman, yet at the same
time, he could be the guy in the hardware store selling you power
tools. Sadly, Tommy Biondo died from a tragic accident days after
SCRAPBOOK was completed and he never saw the finished print.
The beautiful Emily Haack, having the thankless job as the victim,
endured every torture handed to her, short of actual sexual penetration,
creating one of the most painfully realistic characters ever.
Holding it all together was the director, Eric Stanze, who pushed his
cast to the limit and beyond, and had the balls to make such a potent,
unapologetic look at pain and suffering.
For me, this film marks a new benchmark of cruelty and wrongness in
film. I will be comparing future films against this from now on.
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