The other day someone asked me how I choose what movies to
watch. I told them that just about anything could be the cause, from a director
to a poster or an actor. Once in a while I will discover someone new who I just
decide to watch the entire filmography of. I added Eddie to my watchlist after
watching Pontypool, not because of Stephen McHattie, but Georgina Riley. I’m
not sure if I would have stumbled on Eddie any other way, but that would have
been a shame because it is a nice entertaining Canadian horror comedy.
Now, usually when I set out to watch someone’s entire
filmography I get distracted and never get around to all of it. Such has
happened with David Lynch, and David Cronenburg as of late. However, when it
comes to a small time indie actress, it isn’t hard to knock off most of the
major pegs in that list. While I may not have covered her entire resumé I
think I covered the two more major of Georgina Riley's performances. Now two supporting
roles in a couple of Canadian horror films really isn’t any kind of major
Hollywood style stardom, not even up here in Canada but apparently it is enough for me to notice, and it did lead me to discover some of the better Canadian
horror movies to come out recently in the great white north of independent
filmmaking.
Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal is about, you guessed it, a
sleepwalking cannibal. Now, on the one hand, having a title like that kind of
gives away all your cards right off the bat, but there really isn’t any other way
to go about it. If I try and hide the surprise I would describe the movie to
you as follows; a Dutch artist moves to a small Canadian town to teach at an art
school after struggling with inspiration
for over 10 years. There he reluctantly takes Eddie, a mute and mentally
challenged man into his home and together a friendship is formed with its own
share of dark secrets. Now, sure that is going to attract a few watchers, but
not at all for the right reason. Half of them are going to expect a Rainman
style comedic drama and the other half are thinking some kind of Brokeback
Mountain type thing. You couldn’t be farther off. While the drama in Eddie
might be there, it is a horror comedy, if on a bit of a more serious
note than most of that ilk.
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| The harsh survival conditions of a Canadian winter. |
Now Canadian films are not big budget productions. As far as
I know, we don’t have any major movie studios up here. There are tons of movie
filmed in Canada, because you know, we are the best place to live in the world,
but unfortunately we don’t have any major studios and so pretty much every
Canadian movie is inherently an independent movie. That being said, don’t
expect any big budget special effects, but neither is Eddie lacking in the blood and
gore department either. You’ll get a fair share of severed limbs and blood
spatter, which always compliments nicely with a snowy Canadian winter.
Apparently this movie was filmed in Ottawa, Ontario, however it must have been
pretty far on the outskirts, as it is rather isolated looking. Eitherway, for those of you unfamiliar with the
concept of winter and snow, Eddie is a good representation of a typical winter
in southern Canada.
The most interesting thing I noticed in Eddie however was
that for a movie about artists and art, we never actually see anything. Not a
single one of Lars' masterpiece paintings was ever shown, and we only ever
see the edge of the sculpture. The only artwork we actually see is the childlike
drawings of Eddie, effectively making him the best artist in the movie. But, I
don’t think Eddie is setting any records with its lack of actual art. I may not
watch a lot of movies dealing with struggling artists, but I doubt we ever see
any of their masterpieces either.
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| Now that's art! I mean look at the lighting of the room. Great work lighting guy. |
I’m not sure that Eddie really succeeds on the comedy level
of the horror comedy. It isn’t an over the top, this is so outrageous type of
comedy, nor is it about one liners or jokes. The only real comedy comes from the
whole concept of what happens, but personally I found the movie to be rather
morbid and cheerily dark. I’m not even
sure I actually liked where it went, as by the end of the second act I wasn’t
very happy with the way things were going. Of course, like I had suspected, and
I also suspect what was making me unhappy, was that in the end there isn’t exactly
the ideal happy ending. It is as realistically happy as it can get, but it
isn’t going to be fairytale style. I think that, perhaps I wasn’t looking for
such a serious and realistic type of movie, and that wasn’t exactly what I was
expecting either, but if that is what you are looking for, then Eddie might be
the movie for you.
As for the cast, I would say they did a good job. They
aren’t Hollywood stars but I recognized almost everyone of them. Thure Lindhardt does
decently as the lead, with Dylan Smith as Eddie doing his part in the titular role. Georgina Riley whom I came to see held up her end, and I was surprised to see Stephen
McHattie return with her from Pontypool. (Speaking of which, a sequel is in the
works, and if you haven’t seen it do.) There isn’t much anyone else major,
although I did enjoy watching a trio of snobby American tourists getting ripped
limb from limb. Don’t worry, they deserved it.
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| It's not all happiness and art, there are also late night bathrobe phone calls and impending dramatic music. |
Overall, Eddie wasn’t the movie I expected, and while it
didn’t please me I can respect it and it was entertaining. It is always good to
watch a Canadian film, especially when it is my favourite genre, horror. While
it might not be the most hilarious horror comedy, I’m sure some viewers might
take everything in a completely different light than myself. The next movie I’m
looking forward to along these lines is A Little Bit Zombie, but I have no idea
when I will get a chance to see it, having missed my chance at Fantasia Fest, a
couple weeks ago.
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