PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Equal parts fascinating, darkly funny and chilling, Gillian Wallace Horvat’s I Blame Society is a decidedly different kind of black comedy. It stars Horvat as herself, a director desperately trying to make her big break. Discouraged, she decides to pick up an old script of hers called “I, Murderer,” which is based on something her friends once told her: that she would make a great murderer. The film also stars Keith Poulson (Lost Holiday), Chase Williamson (Greenlight), Alexia Rasmussen (Our Idiot Brother), Lucas Kavner (Orange is the New Black), and Morgan Krantz (Neurotica).
Synopsis
I Blame Society is a darkly comedic and very timely satire, starring Horvat as a struggling filmmaker determined to prove to herself and her peers of her talents, decides to finish her once abandoned film – and commit the perfect murder!
The opening few minutes of this film blew me away. Talk about making an entrance. This film had my attention immediately! Gillian is interviewing Chase (Chase Williamson), a friend of hers, about her new movie, which he is playfully trying to guess the subject of. She seems slightly awkward, almost shy on camera at first, until she gets to the point of her interview. Her film is about how she would be a great murderer, and she has chosen Chase’s girlfriend as her victim. The interaction then turns painfully, deliciously uncomfortable as she tries to negotiate her way into Chase’s house so she can act the scene out. It’s here that Gillian turns from awkward to calm and calculating as she gleefully describes how his girlfriend is the evilest person she knows and she needs access to properly make her film.
Flash forward to three years later, and a still struggling Gillian is meeting with two condescending male producers who basically tell her that her work is dark, but that she could push it even more. Be more authentic and realistic. But her work is not good enough for the producers to use any of it, so they dismiss her and give her a blow off paper busywork assignment instead. Discouraged, she revives the I, Murderer project, but this time, she is determined to make it as realistic as possible. And if people actually have to die? So be it.
God, I loved this film. I Blame Society walked the line between horror and satire just perfectly. There’s a lot of painful truths slyly buried beneath the bodies in this film, like when the two male producers suggested that only they (men) were competent enough to address women’s issues. Wow, as a woman that one has always been a favorite of mine. Gillian is one of the least sympathetic characters I’ve ever seen, but at the same time, I also didn’t have a huge problem with her killing people. Mostly because she killed a lot of jerks. And let’s be honest, who hasn’t wanted to do that? Horvat is amazing in this, able to be both slightly bumbling and awkward one minute, and a coldly calculating sociopath the next.
What filmmaker Gillian Wallace Horvat has created here in I Blame Society is nothing less than genius. She created a documentary within a film that explores a culture constantly asking filmmakers to push the boundaries of film and authenticity.
I can’t recommend it more!
