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Severed Head Network, The
Sub Rosa // Unrated // July 1, 2003
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movies
I'm one of those people who loves to read novels, but isn't all that crazy about short stories. Sure, I've read some good ones, but for the most part, I don't like the compact, "quick fix" nature of short stories. And, after watching The Severed Head Network, I apparently have the same feelings about short films...or maybe this wasn't the best place to start.
The Severed Head Network is a collection of short experiment films, compiled by a company called Wicked Pixel Cinema. This DVD represents the "Best of" the two volumes of the compilation released thus far. Below, I will offer views on the eight short films offered here.
1. "Vomire" -- Directed by Chad Eivins -- 6 minutes -- This is an purely experiment film, which has no cohesive narrative or story, but is simply made up of a series of "shocking" images. The film consists of graphic images of animal slaughter, giant intestines, religious iconography, and violent sex, all of which is set to annoying, ambient sound. I'm sure that Eivins meant for all of this to be disturbing and thought-provoking, but the image of a man dressed as jack-o-lantern humping a cross is the nadir for this awful offering.
2. "Faith in Nothing" -- Directed by Eric Stanze -- 7 minutes -- This is a music video for a band called Analogue Satellite, and the "song" is little more than ambient sound and verbal samples. The video itself consists of a couple who have a discussion of some sort, and when the man leaves the room, the woman proceeds to belly dance and get naked. Is this symbolism? I don't know, but it certainly was boring and the song would make a cricket nervous.
3. "Satisfaction" -- Directed by Tommy Biondo -- 21 minutes -- And this isn't porn, why? A man and woman who are chatting on a bed, proceed to get naked (unfortunately) and have sex. As the "sex" proceeds, the "action" is intercut with images of the woman being attacked by another man, and from there, the sex begins to get weird. In the behind-the-scenes video provided in the extras section, Biondo explains that the woman had been previously raped and was getting her vicarious revenge on this new lover. Oh, okay. The mixing of the color and black-and-white photography is nice, but otherwise, this one is way too long and very pretentious. The most disturbing aspect of this piece is how truly unaroused the male is when a naked woman is sitting on top of him.
4. "Unwanted" -- Directed by Todd Tevlin -- 4 minutes -- This is another music video, this time for the band Purple Screwdriver. The music is a hard-driving industrial number and the video features numerous violent images edited in a very rapid manner. Not as polished as anything you'd see on MTV, but the song is pretty good and the images are interesting.
5. "Victim" -- Directed by Jason Christ -- 5 minutes -- Whenever I see an artist named "Christ", my immediate reaction is, "Oh, here we go...", but "Victim" is the best of the bunch on this DVD. (But, then again, that's not saying much.) This intriguing black & white film is essentially the last 5 minutes of a slasher film, as a young man arrives at a location to find that all of his friends have been slaughtered and that only one woman has survived. The camera angles are well-done and the music is a spot-on homage to the Halloween theme. I now want to see the first 85 minutes of this movie.
6. "Sedgewick" -- Directed by Stephen M. Lashly & Quinn M. Botthof -- 22 minutes -- The (semi) hits keep coming with the second best film of this package. Sedgewick is an old man who is constantly hallucinating, mostly about things that he hears on the radio. He imagines that he's caught in a hostage situation, that he's menacing a young boy with nightmares, and that he menaces the butcher at his local grocery store. "Sedgewick" has some good ideas and nicely framed visuals, but the movie is simply too long for its own good. The section involving the boy with nightmares is especially well done and has some great imagery. The filmmakers should have concentrated on this part and cut down the rest of the film.
7. "Liontown" -- Directed by Aaron Crozier -- 10 minutes -- Umm, a group of actors who are wearing hats which represent various animals...umm...sing and dance and are eventually bullied by a group of lions. I have no idea what this was supposed to be, political satire, maybe? All I know is that the song was dumb and I was constantly distracted by the odd headgear.
8. "Curveball: Pile of Junk" -- Directed by Jason Christ -- 7 minutes -- This second offering by Jason Christ is a music video for the band Curveball. Unlike the other two music videos offered here, this actually looks like a music video, as it offers footage of the band performing, mixed with somewhat cohesive imagery.
Video
As the eight offerings on The Severed Head Network come from various sources, the video quality varies greatly. For the most part, all of the offerings look fine. All are presented full-frame. As several of them were shot on video, there is a minimum of defects, other than some video noise or oversaturation of colors. The only entry with any overt problems is "Sedgewick", which displays grain, defects from the source print, and is often blurry.
Audio
All of the short films offered here contain digital stereo audio tracks. These tracks are truly unremarkable, but serviceable. The music sounds fine, and the little dialogue here is always audible. "Sedgewick" contains some hiss, but otherwise, the audio is status quo.
Extras
The DVD contains a few extras. As mentioned above, this disc represents a collection of the two volumes of The Severed Head Network. The original opening credits for the original volumes 1 and 2 are included here. Each is about 5 minutes long. Volume 1 features a scantily clad woman dancing around a basement full of S&M gear, while Volume 2 shows the heart-warming story of a man cutting off a woman's head. Fun! There are behind-the-scenes videos for "Faith in Nothing" (11 minutes of on-set video footage), "Satisfaction" (3 minutes of on-set video and a short interview with the director) and a combined 11 minutes of on-set footage for the two opening credits. (Note: the opening credits are referred to as "Open Credits" here.) Finally, we have still galleries for "Curveball", "Faith in Nothing", and "Victim".
As with any other artistic medium, filmmakers have to start somewhere, and many start by making short films. And there's nothing wrong with that. The problem with the shorts on The Severed Head Network is that most of them are boring and pointless, with only two showing any real promise.
I'm one of those people who loves to read novels, but isn't all that crazy about short stories. Sure, I've read some good ones, but for the most part, I don't like the compact, "quick fix" nature of short stories. And, after watching The Severed Head Network, I apparently have the same feelings about short films...or maybe this wasn't the best place to start.
The Severed Head Network is a collection of short experiment films, compiled by a company called Wicked Pixel Cinema. This DVD represents the "Best of" the two volumes of the compilation released thus far. Below, I will offer views on the eight short films offered here.
1. "Vomire" -- Directed by Chad Eivins -- 6 minutes -- This is an purely experiment film, which has no cohesive narrative or story, but is simply made up of a series of "shocking" images. The film consists of graphic images of animal slaughter, giant intestines, religious iconography, and violent sex, all of which is set to annoying, ambient sound. I'm sure that Eivins meant for all of this to be disturbing and thought-provoking, but the image of a man dressed as jack-o-lantern humping a cross is the nadir for this awful offering.
2. "Faith in Nothing" -- Directed by Eric Stanze -- 7 minutes -- This is a music video for a band called Analogue Satellite, and the "song" is little more than ambient sound and verbal samples. The video itself consists of a couple who have a discussion of some sort, and when the man leaves the room, the woman proceeds to belly dance and get naked. Is this symbolism? I don't know, but it certainly was boring and the song would make a cricket nervous.
3. "Satisfaction" -- Directed by Tommy Biondo -- 21 minutes -- And this isn't porn, why? A man and woman who are chatting on a bed, proceed to get naked (unfortunately) and have sex. As the "sex" proceeds, the "action" is intercut with images of the woman being attacked by another man, and from there, the sex begins to get weird. In the behind-the-scenes video provided in the extras section, Biondo explains that the woman had been previously raped and was getting her vicarious revenge on this new lover. Oh, okay. The mixing of the color and black-and-white photography is nice, but otherwise, this one is way too long and very pretentious. The most disturbing aspect of this piece is how truly unaroused the male is when a naked woman is sitting on top of him.
4. "Unwanted" -- Directed by Todd Tevlin -- 4 minutes -- This is another music video, this time for the band Purple Screwdriver. The music is a hard-driving industrial number and the video features numerous violent images edited in a very rapid manner. Not as polished as anything you'd see on MTV, but the song is pretty good and the images are interesting.
5. "Victim" -- Directed by Jason Christ -- 5 minutes -- Whenever I see an artist named "Christ", my immediate reaction is, "Oh, here we go...", but "Victim" is the best of the bunch on this DVD. (But, then again, that's not saying much.) This intriguing black & white film is essentially the last 5 minutes of a slasher film, as a young man arrives at a location to find that all of his friends have been slaughtered and that only one woman has survived. The camera angles are well-done and the music is a spot-on homage to the Halloween theme. I now want to see the first 85 minutes of this movie.
6. "Sedgewick" -- Directed by Stephen M. Lashly & Quinn M. Botthof -- 22 minutes -- The (semi) hits keep coming with the second best film of this package. Sedgewick is an old man who is constantly hallucinating, mostly about things that he hears on the radio. He imagines that he's caught in a hostage situation, that he's menacing a young boy with nightmares, and that he menaces the butcher at his local grocery store. "Sedgewick" has some good ideas and nicely framed visuals, but the movie is simply too long for its own good. The section involving the boy with nightmares is especially well done and has some great imagery. The filmmakers should have concentrated on this part and cut down the rest of the film.
7. "Liontown" -- Directed by Aaron Crozier -- 10 minutes -- Umm, a group of actors who are wearing hats which represent various animals...umm...sing and dance and are eventually bullied by a group of lions. I have no idea what this was supposed to be, political satire, maybe? All I know is that the song was dumb and I was constantly distracted by the odd headgear.
8. "Curveball: Pile of Junk" -- Directed by Jason Christ -- 7 minutes -- This second offering by Jason Christ is a music video for the band Curveball. Unlike the other two music videos offered here, this actually looks like a music video, as it offers footage of the band performing, mixed with somewhat cohesive imagery.
Video
As the eight offerings on The Severed Head Network come from various sources, the video quality varies greatly. For the most part, all of the offerings look fine. All are presented full-frame. As several of them were shot on video, there is a minimum of defects, other than some video noise or oversaturation of colors. The only entry with any overt problems is "Sedgewick", which displays grain, defects from the source print, and is often blurry.
Audio
All of the short films offered here contain digital stereo audio tracks. These tracks are truly unremarkable, but serviceable. The music sounds fine, and the little dialogue here is always audible. "Sedgewick" contains some hiss, but otherwise, the audio is status quo.
Extras
The DVD contains a few extras. As mentioned above, this disc represents a collection of the two volumes of The Severed Head Network. The original opening credits for the original volumes 1 and 2 are included here. Each is about 5 minutes long. Volume 1 features a scantily clad woman dancing around a basement full of S&M gear, while Volume 2 shows the heart-warming story of a man cutting off a woman's head. Fun! There are behind-the-scenes videos for "Faith in Nothing" (11 minutes of on-set video footage), "Satisfaction" (3 minutes of on-set video and a short interview with the director) and a combined 11 minutes of on-set footage for the two opening credits. (Note: the opening credits are referred to as "Open Credits" here.) Finally, we have still galleries for "Curveball", "Faith in Nothing", and "Victim".
As with any other artistic medium, filmmakers have to start somewhere, and many start by making short films. And there's nothing wrong with that. The problem with the shorts on The Severed Head Network is that most of them are boring and pointless, with only two showing any real promise.
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