#the aggression scale

[schlock-luster-video]

Happy birthday Gummo and The Aggression Scale star Jacob Reynolds!

[johnnymundano]

The Aggression Scale (2012)

Directed by Steven C. Miller

Written by Ben Powell

Music by Kevin Riepl

Country: United States/Canada

Language: English

Running Time: 91 minutes

CAST

Dana Ashbrook as Lloyd

Derek Mears as Chissom

Fabianne Therese as Lauren

Ryan Hartwig as Owen

Jacob Reynolds as Freddy

Boyd Kestner as Bill

Lisa Rotondi as Maggie

And Ray Wise as Bellavance

As any adult with haunted eyes can tell you, moving house is a ridiculously traumatic experience; websites with words like “stressful” written in bold, and with more adverts than words rank it up there as one of the most emotionally and psychologically stressful events in life; along with death of a spouse and realising you live with someone who owns a book by Dan Brown. Further, as any adult who looks like they’ve been recently disinterred can tell, you once they stop crying, having kids is no picnic either. Pity poor Bill (Boyd Kestner) then, as he struggles to move into his dream home with his new spouse Maggie (Lisa Rotondi), her daughter, Lauren (Fabianne Therese) and his emotionally troubled son Owen (Ryan Hartwig). Bill obviously likes a challenge. So much so that all that isn’t enough and just to sauce it up a bit Bill might (“might”, my arse) have funded both the release of his son and the purchase of his very big house (with very big grounds suitable for stalking) by nicking a cool half mill from Bellavance (a reliably twinkly Ray Wise). Bellavance is a freshly paroled mob boss who hopes to use the missing cash to disappear to a tropical island, and is thus less than charitably inclined. He dispatches a group of goons led by Lloyd (Dana Ashbrook) to get the cash back and instructs them to make it “loud and messy”. The trail leads to Bill before he’s even managed to get the mattress upstairs. Shit then busts loose as the kids say. And the shit sprays the bad guys as it turns out that cute moppet Owen isn’t, as Larry David might have it, “on the spectrum” but is instead “on the scale”, The Aggression Scale.

The Aggression Scale wants to be described as “a gory Home Alone” so badly it risks being prosecuted under the 1824 Vagrancy Act for begging. Just to irritate it I have saved this, practically mandatory, pull-quote friendly reduction of the concept to this second paragraph. There are a lot of things to like in The Aggression Scale, but expecting a gory Home Alone (1990) only sets up expectations it can’t meet. Whatever else it might be (and I’m not a fan) Home Alone is a slick and efficient piece of movie-making, The Aggression Scale has stretches of slick efficiency but not enough. The exposition is delivered in a pacy way, characters are efficiently sketched, the stakes are clearly defined, tension is built, there’s excellent use of the stolen money McGuffin and, well,  there’s Ray Wise, which is always a bonus.  

Alas, there is some pervasive clumsiness which make the movie stumble when it should sprint. We know what’s happened to Bill, but we don’t see it; actually there’s a lack of clarity about a few of the deaths, which is a problem in a movie so kill orientated. And while the Final Thug’s demise is so protracted it’s clearly played for laughs, which is fine as we’re all 21st century creatures so a bit of sociopathy in our entertainment is only to be expected, the movie’s tone ping pongs all over the place; a mix of sad deaths and droll deaths results in a lack of lucidity. Choking off a laugh as you belatedly realise the death is a sad one is not a good look and can lead to frowns from the other end of the sofa. However, The Aggression Scale is ultimately a kill film and some of the kills do indeed sting (I went “hoopla!” at least twice) and the cast are pretty great. Ray Wise is Ray Wise so it’s no surprise that he lights up his scenes like a signal flare, Dana Ashbrook is enjoyably hateful, Derek Mears is an amusingly luck deficient thug, Fabianne Therese displays her range, Boyd Kestner and Lisa Rotondi are appealingly sympathetic parental figures in their necessarily short screen time, and the secret star of the movie, Ryan Hartwig has fun looking like he’s thinking about what ice cream to have for pudding as he resourcefully and implacably tears his way through the bad guys. The Aggression Scale is a bit rough around the edges, basically but mostly though The Aggression Scale is an impressively efficient and fun scamper through vicarious violence. Actually, in retrospect I fear I’m being a bit hard on it; after all the Mundanos watched The Aggression Scale together as a family and everyone enjoyed it; there can be no higher praise. Get on the scale!

[byroncollinmckoy]

FILM OF THE DAY

The Aggression Scale (2012)

B+

[liveforfilms]

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Steven C. Miller’s The Aggression Scale is a fantastic bloodthirsty Home Alone, so I’ll definitely be setting the Sky planner to tape Under the Bed. Miller’s Silent Night Deadly Night is cool too – if you need a kick ass Christmas kill fest.

I’ve never actually heard of The Gathering, but will quite happily always make time for Christina Ricci. Plus Ioun “spell check” Gruffud and Kerry “Shallow…

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The Aggression Scale (Steven C. Miller, 2006)

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Steven C. Miller's The Aggression Scale is on yet another 2012 Top 10 list.

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Another amazing review of Steven C. Miller's The Aggression Scale.