Written By: Ken HulseySources: Spike Official Website / Avery Guerra
Throughout the history of monster films and literature there has been one constant, the monster always falls in love with some beautiful girl. Indeed the "Beauty and the Beast" scenario has been played out on the movie screen zillions of times in such films as, "King Kong", "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Creature From The Black Lagoon." If we wanted to, we could spend the rest of the day discussing the psychological reason behind this attraction between woman and monster and how they relate to society, but this is an article about a movie not a thesis.
I think we all pretty much get it.
Director Robert Beaucage has once again tapped into this timeless formula for his latest film entitled "Spike." Indeed the film is yet another monster with human passions tale, but this time Beaucage has added elements of classic fairy tales to put his own unique spin on it, leaving the audience wondering what exactly is real and what is imagined.
Sarah Livingston Evans plays the damsel in "Spike" alongside Jared Edwards, Anna-Marie Wayne and Nancy P. Corbo.
Let's not forget the monster, which looks like something out of the "X-Files", it is played by Edward Gusts.
Here's a note from the director and a synopsis of the story from "Spike":
Dreams, fantasy, and mythology have fascinated me since my early childhood. From the exploits of Theseus, Perseus, and Odysseus to the works of C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll; from my own vivid childhood dreams rife with werewolves, witches, and dragons to the writings of Joseph Campbell and James Frazer, I have viewed fantasy and fairy tales as vital tools to understanding life.
With Spike I have set out to tell a fantasy story exploring dark and dangerous possibilities of a condition we have all experienced in one way or another: romantic love. Why do we love? What causes us to love particular individuals? What is love? Can we control it, or does it control us?
Most movies take love for granted. The phrase "love conquers all" dates back over two thousand years to Virgil -- and was probably considered cliché a few weeks later! Parsing the expression, focusing on the definition of "conquer", i.e., to overcome or control by force, evokes a different connotation for love than most of us usually consider. But who among us has never had the feeling of love -- as intangible as dreams, fantasy, and mythology -- seize, subjugate, and vanquish us? Love can tyrannize, and that aspect informs and pervades the story of Spike.
In a woodland location crepuscular and foreign, "The Girl" and her three friends stand stranded in a habitat not too dissimilar to that found in many a nursery rhyme. Like the content of such morality poems, this prelapsarian area has its own monster, the same beast that forced their car off-road. Yet far from being a monster from the Id, "Spike" originates from a more corporeal realm: The Girl's suburban childhood.
Avery Guerra informs me that the film is presently screening across the country, but I haven't been able to find any dates or locations listed. Stay tuned.
Website: http://www.spikemovie.net/
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