Paranoia is the Story of One REALLY Bad Night
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Paranoia is an indie psychological thriller about a man who thinks he’s killed a serial killer at large. Unfortunately, he might just drive himself mad over whether or not he actually did.
Written by James “Crypticpsych” Lasome
November 27, 2011
Release: June 7, 2011 (US DVD)
Directed by: Ryan Mitchelle
Written by: Brad Jones
Starring:
Brad Jones as Mark Bishop
Brian Irving as Carl Stowers
Sarah Lewis as Marisa Bishop
Jillian Zurawski as Claire
Brian Lewis as Randy
Mark Bishop (Brad Jones) is having a rough night. After his wife, Marisa (Sarah Lewis), leaves him, he gets visited by a drunk stranger named Carl (Brian Irving) who’s been shot in the side. When Carl begins acting strangely and threateningly, Mark shoots and kills him, thinking he’s a mysterious serial killer who’s been in the news. Now, with blood on his hands and a dead body in his trunk, Mark sets out to get rid of the body and ease his mind. Unfortunately, his strange night is only beginning, and, before it’s over, his paranoia that the real serial killer is still at large and hallucinations that Carl is still alive and stalking him may just send him over the edge.
Fans of internet film critic Brad Jones may know that, in addition to various popular and funny web series’, he’s become fairly adept at making exploitation-influenced independent films with his friends. The movies are usually super low-budget, written and/or directed by himself, star himself and his friends and, with one exception, are available for viewing for free on his website. The exception to that rule is also the only movie the group has made so far that Jones did not direct, Paranoia, which has instead been given an independent DVD release.
The movie, influenced by late 90s surreal
thrillers like Pi
and made at an estimated budget equivalent to the price of some cars,
holds together better and is more thrilling than many indies with the
same or greater budgets. Part of this is because, in terms of
technique, director Ryan Mitchelle does the small things and basics
well. The use of real restaurants, bars, homes, apartments, and streets
around Springfield, Illinois absolutely help keep the film grounded in
some form of reality, no matter how strange the action gets. Sound also
is better than expected featuring a decent score and the use of native
audio for many dialogue scenes. Some other indies have a nasty habit of
redubbing audio or dialogue in such a way that they fail to sync up
properly with what’s on screen, but Paranoia avoids that
problem. It would’ve been nice if the score had been present more
often, though, as some of the movie is too silent in background noise
for too long. Finally, while there are a distracting number of shadows
seen in the background, possibly due to a compressed shooting schedule,
all of the action is still well-lit with nothing important obscured or
shot too bright or dark. Transitions between scenes are also pretty
impressive.
The acting by the cast is decent, which is to be
expected
given how
long many of these people have known each other and worked together.
Jones himself manages to be both likeable and intense, allowing the
audience to back someone who’s seen murdering someone in self-defense.
Irving makes a great antagonist, coming off as imposing in his
on-screen appearance and body language before adding to it during a few
dialogue scenes. Finally, Jillian Zurawski’s “Claire”, a waitress Mark
meets up with during the night, is believable and likable as an average
person having to cope with being caught up in Mark’s ever-more-bizarre
evening.
There are still some low-budget filmmaking flaws in Paranoia that can’t be ignored. In addition to the shadows in the backgrounds of shots, the movie’s dialogue scenes are edited in such a way that the person who’s talking is almost always the sole person on screen. This can get monotonous and feels a bit lazy. Also, while the script does make sense overall it has a tendency to get a little too surreal and confusing for its own good. Although this helps to make Mark’s plight relatable as we’re experiencing it too and actually explains a plot hole or two, it also makes it a little challenging to keep up with who certain characters are and the order of the events we’re seeing.
Paranoia doesn’t reinvent the thriller,
and, in some
ways,
that’s its greatest strength. By being well-made and more technically
sound than some low-budget indies, it rises above the pack. It’s helped
further by great atmosphere and settings and good performances by its
main leads. While it does still have a few minor giveaways of its
low-budget roots, they don’t hold it back from being a decent watch.
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