Transmission — Transmission( DVD)
Transmission is a 2023 film focusing on a lost/ cursed movie & a missing horror director. It’s structured/ presented in a rather creative manner- as if someone is channel hopping late one night- blending true crime mockumentary, news reports, several films with the film, parody adverts, etc. Here from Jinga Films is a bare-bones region-free DVD of the film.
Transmission is an American production, and it was written/ directed by Shoreman UK UK-born Michael Hurst. To date, he has eleven directorial credits to his name- these include six features, and five TV series episodes/ TV films. Aside from the film to hand his five other features are action thriller featuring John Hurt New Blood (1999), crime comedy The Baby Juice Express (2004), horror mystery regarding a health phobic teacher Room 6 (2006), experimental drug focused horror mystery The Darkroom (2006), and time traveling sci-fi/ action film Paradox (2016).
Transmission has a fairly short feature runtime of one hour and fifteen minutes, with its telling of its story done well, with zero fat or downtime. The channel hopping structure is both creative and fairly original way to tell the film's story, with the whole thing wrapping up well with a decent/ clever twist in its tail.
The key/ main focus of the film is the disappearance of gruff and ragged-faced horror director Frank Tadross Roth(Vernon Wells). And his once-thought-lost final film, Transmission, which is a 90s sci-fi/ horror film in the mould of Event Horizon, but if it were filmed by John Carpenter.
The film is built around a blend of mockumentary footage, which shows Frank’s granddaughter Rachel(Nicole Cinaglia) looking into the mystery of his disappearance. Footage from two films with films- Transmission & an 1980s teen romance. New reports regarding strange murders, kidnaps, and weird signs helmed by none other than Felissa Rose( Sleep Away Camp). A TV kids puppet show, a selection of adverts, and a black ‘n’ white drama/ sitcom.
The elements are all woven together well, with a few unnerving/uneasy moments along the way. Also, both of the films within films are clearly edged with moments of parody/ send-up.
For a clearly low-budget film, we get a fairly large cast, when you take in all the different elements/ those behind them. The acting is, I’m afraid, somewhat mixed, but not so bad that it becomes too grating. I’d say the best actors here are Wells as the creepy/ uneasy director, and Rose as the on-the-scene news reporter, who comes across quite convincing.
As mentioned earlier, this is a bare bones DVD release- with the film, and a few trailers, including one for Transmission. Such a pity there is no director's commentary track, as I’d have loved to have found out how the film came about, and how long it took to film/perfect the different elements.
I must say I was rather taken by Transmission, as I’m sucker for cursed film based movies, and I also enjoy the mockumentary format too. So, with these two elements added into the channel hopping structure, it makes for a most engaging/brain-scrumbling horror ride.