The Sporadic Chronicles

“That’s chlorophyll for you.” 
– David

SYNOPSIS: In a remote part of the countryside, a bungled kidnapping turns into a living nightmare for four central characters when they cross paths with a psychopathic farmer and all hell breaks loose. – via IMDB

So, Eric highly recommended this for me, and who was I to argue? I am a big fan of Andy Serkis and would probably watch him in anything. Anyway, when Eric told me to check out this horror comedy of Serkis, naturally I was all over it. Popping it in, relaxing, I was ready. I had a few laughs thrown through it, and I think this would appeal to viewers who have a slightly darker or more morbid sense of humour than your casual moviegoer. Serkis does a wonderful job portraying David, who is mean, angry, smarter than his brother or silly partner, but who definitely is in a bad place because his partners-in-crime are not criminals. They just suck. Reece Shearsmith was very entertaining as David’s whiny and useless lump of a brother, who really is one of the biggest reasons that things start to go wrong. His mottephobia really had me going, especially with the exchanges between him and David. Steven O’Donnell was perfectly cast as the guileless Andrew, who seems to care for his sister in a bizarre way, but was prepared to get involved with the plan to have her “kidnapped” and ransomed. Jennifer Ellison amused and irritated me in equal measure. For one, I liked that Tracey took no crap whatsoever, and had a mouth like a sailor, but sometimes instead of coming across as strong and a bit bitchy but self-assured, she just annoyed me, carrying on too much and performing and what not. Ellison is not a particularly grand actress, which I think counted against the flick here. I cannot explain it adequately. The changing relationship between David and Peter was also worth watching. One must note, however, that this movie is not without flaws. Sometimes there is too much lull, sometimes some dialogue gets iffy, Ellison’s character can work on your nerves and the flow was sometimes interrupted by silly things that didn’t gel properly. The first half of the movie and the second half are almost two totally different stories, though they are pulled together eventually (albeit weakly if you really want to nitpick). At any rate, the score accompanies the film well, the laughs are dark but entertaining, it was shot well, and sticks to its genre and what it is working with, making it a pretty strong B-movie with a trippy third act.