Review: Cryptic Plasm (2015)
Directed by: Brian Paulin
Starring: Joe Olson, Brian Paulin, Kevin Barbare
Written: Brian Paulin
Music by: Tony Vilgotsky
Country: United States
Available on: DVD (Morbid Vision Films)
IMDb
Although it’s easier and cheaper than ever to snag a camera and get your ass out there to make a movie, fewer and fewer folks are doing horror in the grimy, guts-splattered spirit of the shot-on-video boom of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. But here we’ve got Brian Paulin out pounding that debauched pavement, along with filmmakers like Todd Sheets who were pumping out VHS carnage back then and haven’t stopped. Paulin first made an impression with his zombie splatterfest, Bone Sickness, back in 2004. But he’s gained additional notoriety from twisted flicks like Fetus (2008), Blood Pigs (2010), and this, Cryptic Plasm.
In many ways, Cryptic Plasm — about a host and cameraman for a cryptid-hunting reality TV show who end up finding some really bizarre, dangerous shit — recalls The Burning Moon from Olaf Ittenbach. Both are essentially ultra-violent anthologies that go absolutely insane in the third act. There’s no hyperbole in saying that the gore that’s unleashed in the final 20 minutes of the two films is some of the most brutal and gnarly in the genre. Cryptic Plasm is slightly less successful in its realism (blood isn’t quite as plentiful in the body or as watery as it is here), but it’s nonetheless super effective at inducing wretches amid bouts of disbelief. It’s not just that the splatter is incredibly graphic (it is); it’s also morbidly, heinously inventive the myriad ways in which Paulin manages to rend flesh asunder. There’s some truly brain-obliterating stuff going on here.
Although it’s the splatter for which Paulin’s most renown, there’s quite a bit more to like amid the strewn intestines, ruptured chest cavities, and flayed faces. It’s lo-fi and a little bit repetitive, but Tony Vilgotsky’s music is sinister and, along with some of Paulin’s unorthodox shot and lighting choices, conjures an eeriness that rarely dissipates. The non-existent budget forces Paulin to get creative and downright primitive in the ways he compensates for the absence of technique an actual professional crew could provide. Often, his blunt tools and ultra-sober approach forge an unusual and menacing atmosphere. The movie never gets too bogged down, and its brisk pacing is given a big assist from its segmented structure — although the first “assignment” to film a river monster doesn’t tie in with the larger story as well as the latter two, and feels a little like padding since it’s not particularly scary, interesting, or savage.
Cryptic Plasm has the expected shortcomings of a DIY horror film made with zero cash: barely passable acting, meager production and sound design that’s far too dependent on library sounds you’ve heard in dozens of movies, a screenplay that could have used more polishing and direction. But it makes up for that stuff with genuinely creepy vibes, plentiful gore well beyond its poverty-line budget that’s as visionary as it is explicit, and a palpable undercurrent of assured fervor.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10
