By George Butler.
Jamie Shovlin’s debut feature length film Rough Cut is a documentary that explores and revisits the exploitation cinema of the 1970s. The film somehow comes across as both a parody and an homage, showing a clear passion of the crew for the films they are reflecting upon whilst at the same time exaggerating many of the features that are very much a part of the era, such as sex, screaming women and murder.
In terms of expressing an opinion, Rough Cut doesn’t actually make any strong claims for or against the slasher genre, or of anything else for that matter. It’s more of an artistic expression of the creative process behind making such a film in itself. The focal point of the documentary, the remaking of a non-existent slasher film by the name of Hiker Meat, is where Rough Cut stands out. Shovlin and his crew created a short trailer for the made up film which expresses humorously yet somewhat accurately a representation of the entire exploitation era, which i’d say is almost as good as the documentary itself.
Watching the trailer for Hiker Meat before watching the actual documentary is recommendable, if not necessary as it acts as an explanation for what is aiming to be portrayed Recreating and to a certain extent, combing exploitation cinema into one project.
Creating key parts of a film that reflect a certain era in itself is something that Rough Cut deserves praise for. Allowing a present day audience to be reminded of the exploitation film is commendable as it is in itself a subject often put to debate of whether or not it’s films are deserving of any particular artistic merit.
Rough Cut is of course in itself clearly the representation of artists, the documentary shows a number of individuals coming together working hard to create a final production that is as good as they can make it. It’s aesthetically pleasing and pays homage individually to a massive number of slasher films through it’s use of memorable scenes and shots from films such as Evil Dead (1981), Who Saw Her Die (1970) and The New York Ripper (1982) to name just a few.
Rough Cut is essentially a reflection of the process of making a trash film, featuring interesting interviews and footage that allow it to remain interesting for it’s duration. It’s application is in no way limited to the creation of a trash film either, showing in a great amount of detail how a number of scenes are created without the need of a massive budget and yet still manage to look great on camera. Things such as exploding buildings and grim murders. Definitely worth a watch for anyone who is interested in trash and exploitation.
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