False Prophets (2006)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Feature: D
A woman seems to be having a baby in what one doctor calls
the closest thing to an “immaculate conception” ever seen, which some local
Religious Right types decide to follow, even if it means terrorizing the young
girl, who is already having problems with her physically abusive
boyfriend. They haunt her when she gets
advice at a clinic for family care that does abortions and want her to breed
the child, but is her “miracle baby” angle or devil? That and many other questions are raised and never answered by
Robert Kevin Townsend’s False Prophets, a video feature more interested
in pressing buttons than telling a story.
To make matters goofier, a young man who was abandoned as
a baby might be the key to helping her, and since she is white and he African
American, that should tick off the Christo-Fascist conspiracy all the
more. Unfortunately, that subplot does
not work either, with the African American character seeming to be here more
because George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead (1968) had such a lead
than anything else. Running 85 minutes,
the time is badly spent, the attempted intrigue is a waste and any moments of
good acting lost in one very bad script.
The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image was shot on video and not
well, on top of which this looks very bad on DVD with moiré patterns and inept
color for video. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix is simple, often harsh or empty and overly flat. Surrounds are minor. The
only extras are previews for other Freestyle DVD titles and director’s
commentary that is odd since he seems to be talking about a final film over
this final cut as if it were a rough draft.
- Nicholas Sheffo
