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In the increasingly crowded world of shot-on-video horror, it's difficult for many projects to even see the light of day, much less garner any attention. However, that proved to be no obstacle for the ferocious and highly accomplished SCRAPBOOK, which has already earned its share of both critical accolades and censorship hassles. The cover warns that it "contains extremely disturbing material," which in this case turns out to be understatement instead of hype.
The film plunges immediately into the environment of a seriously unhinged man named Leonard (played by the film's writer and production designer, Tommy Biondo, who died due to a filming accident on another shoot before he could see the finished product). After a puzzling and effective prologue in which he's taunted by his naked sister and subjected to vicious abuse, we meet his latest captive, Clara (Emily Haack), who's bound to a chair in his kitchen papered with Polaroid snapshots. After brutally raping her, Leonard explains that he maintains a scrapbook filled with the thoughts, scribblings, and cries for help from his victims, and since the book is almost full after twelve years, Clara may be the last one necessary to complete the masterpiece that will make him a media star. Clara's written response doesn't please him, to put it mildly, and punishment is swift. Living in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, Leonard has the perfect set up to dispose of his victims in the nearby barn. However, Clara begins to closely analyze the scrapbook, devising a way to prolong her life, explore the mind of her captor, and perhaps even escape.
While many viewers may be tempted to flee in shock from the sucker punches delivered in the opening third, SCRAPBOOK is hardly your standard exercise in prurient sadism. Both of the actors deliver impassioned, uncomfortably convincing performances, often naked both physically and emotionally. Haack's modulations between shock, terror, and crafty manipulation are among the best in the rape/revenge sub genre, and the viewer's sympathies rest solidly with her all the way. Also known for his cult favorite Ice from the Sun, director Eric Stanze uses the digital video format to his advantage here, creating a smothering atmosphere of claustrophobia and using deliberately distorted, damaged video footage during one harrowing montage in a shower. Interestingly, despite the brutality of the subject matter, the level of on screen gore is fairly low considering the film's reputation. Most of the shock value comes instead from the horrific intensity of the performances and the gruesome sexual violations of Clara's ordeal, including a brief sojourn into kinda-sorta-hardcore territory that's bound to keep this off the shelves at Blockbuster for all eternity. Fortunately the film does include a few brief glimmers of humor, however dark, including one particular monologue that deserves a place in the sick joke pantheon.
Sub Rosa's impressively mounted DVD edition of SCRAPBOOK begins with jittery, tape-shredded menus which nicely capture the ambience of the film itself. The transfer looks extremely good, especially considering the formats involved, and the surround audio (featuring a nerve-jangling electronic/musique concrete score) is brutally manipulative. Stanze, Haack, and producer Jeremy Wallace appear on a highly engaging commentary track, in which all of them admit to certain levels of difficulty with making and even watching the film. However, they all have respect for each other and the final product, with several interesting stories about the technical execution. (Of course, be warned that it's also probably the only time you'll hear a horror film's lead actress recall, "We planned the urination. He asked me beforehand, and I said yeah, just don't do it on my face.") A very welcome 15-minute "Making of SCRAPBOOK" shows the lighter and more clinical side of things, with an interesting explanation of how the crew participated in the scrapbook's creation and the surprising revelation that one performer had no idea how the final scene would play out while the cameras were rolling.
Other extras include two fairly intense SCRAPBOOK trailers along with three other Stanze trailers, ICE FROM THE SUN, I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE - I PISS ON YOUR GRAVE, and SAVAGE HARVEST. A small stills gallery and a Biondo remembrance by Stanze round out the obvious extras, but there are also Easter eggs within Easter eggs. "Chokehold" is a grim black and white short film about drug addiction and blurred reality directed by Haack, while "Survive" is a Biondo-directed black and white short about a deranged homeless soldier, featuring Stanze as "the apparition." Stanze's music video for the Ded Bugs' "Slugs Are in My House," is a heavy metal homage to horror film classics, while "Shooting Slugs" is a nearly 8-minute compilation of behind the scenes footage from the music video shoot. It's fun to watch but not enough to shake off the lingering unease left behind by the main feature. And that's a good thing.
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