When I first heard about "The Laughing Mask" was through AINT IT COOL NEWS AmbushBug horror movie column, I watched the youtube video at that point at around 150k views and was amazed by the story. It was in the heels of the "Casey Anthony" trials and the filmmakers used a very similar person, and definitely capitalized on the hate every American had for Anthony and the views skyrocketed..
Suddenly that video was gone and more news came about the short being turned into a full length feature, then the movie dropped from sight for a year.
This happens quite often specially with indie flicks, but apparently Director Michael Aguiar spent quite a large amount of time actually raising funds and the film was fully funded by the Brazilian Community.
With Funding in place, Michael Aguiar went on to find Director of Photography William Schweikert and shooting started. 29 days of a grueling shoot took place ending in The "Wolf's Museum of History " in St Augustine, FL
Both teasers released raked in over 100k views total and were very well received on the internet, so we were very happy to get the screener and the opportunity to review this movie.
Both teasers released raked in over 100k views total and were very well received on the internet, so we were very happy to get the screener and the opportunity to review this movie.
"It was a great opportunity to work with fantastic people" Aguiar says.
Casting was also a big part of this feature, John Hardy's performance as Jake Johnson is flawless, he is haunted by the death of his wife and disappearance of his child, not caring about anything else except bringing The Laughing Mask to justice.
Sheyenne Rivers is great as Kate O'malley, and Gabriel Lee steals every scene he is in as Officer Cordova. The scenes with the three of them are the high point of the film and the acting was definitely there.
But the greatest character in the film was for me The Laughing Mask himself played by Jeff Jenkins.
Jenkins shows you don't need to speak to act, as The Laughing Mask doesn't talk but his snakelike movement and mannerisms speak for themselves. Every time you see him on screen you have the idea something bad is about to happen..
This is still a low budget film and although it looks spectacular you can see where some things had to be sacrificed in order to tell a story and that is ok with me. It's inventive "Grassroots" filmmaking at its best and in a world where everything is CGI this is very much a movie driven by storytelling rather then Gore..
This might be a turnoff to some fans of Gore Horror, but Laughing Mask is more of a crime thriller starring a serial killer then Horror, this is definitely no slasher flick..
I won't spoil the ending but it has a pretty decent twist. Even if you get the main twist the second will get you spinning, and that's where this production sets itself apart from other independent films, it carves a piece of the market for itself and does so very well..
Laughing Mask is a well shot thriller with a lot to give and I recommend everyone to take a look at it.
