BY ALEX DAVIS
Canada, 92 mins
Lucifer Valentine is one of those directors whose work you always approach with an element of caution. Having suffered through all four parts of the aptly titled Vomit Gore Trilogy (well, apt in terms of vomit and gore – four parts is obviously a bit more than your typical trilogy) as well as the short film A Perfect Child of Satan, I've been sharply aware for a while that my viewing collection of Valentine's films has been missing one, the 2012 documentary-style piece Black Metal Veins. The story follows a cast of individuals involved in the Black Metal scene – although that's not really as much of a focus as the title might suggest – who are heavily into using heroin and other very strong drugs. As you would expect from this director, the movie is pretty unflinching and shows very frankly plenty of drug use and plenty of the negative effects of it. In fact, the film is presaged by a message to say that the film is not an attempt to glamorise the use of heroin, although I simply can't comprehend how that would be your take away from this bleak piece. While some of the Lucifer Valentine touches are featured in the movie – the slowing down of images and distortion of sound among them – it's also a pretty different piece to anything of his previous work. I suppose ultimately it actually looks more like a film as you would recognise it – it has a clear plot and journey for the characters rather then being a host of surreal images and disturbing vignettes. When we first meet some of our main characters – including Doom and Raven – they seem to be relatively healthy and happy despite their continuous, excessive use of drugs. It's not initially presented as such an absolute horror show, although some of the tales they tell are pretty hair-raising. It's when we cut to six months later that things take a darker turn, and it's immediately apparent that our characters – especially Raven – have suffered a pretty serious downturn in health, both physical and mental. It's also here that we encounter one of the standout characters, Autumn Misery, a colourful prostitute with a fine line in anecdotes told while vomiting into the toilet. The story closes with a pretty serious scene and a very dark image, although this is where we veer away from true 'documentary' – some of the footage, by Valentine's own admission, was made particularly for the movie. In fact, to simply film what transpires in the end would be mighty questionable – and some of what precedes it is questionable enough. In the end, if you're a fan of the director's other work you might get something out of this, but it is a very different experience – it's simpler, it's more straightforward and it's less surreal and twisted. Equally if you're a bit nervous of approaching Lucifer Valentine's material, this one would be the place to start – it's no easy watch, but compared to the Vomit Gore movies it pales in comparison in the pure shock stakes. It's more a psychological than a physical range of torture on display here, and for me this was significantly easier to swallow. The plot is slim, and the pacing isn't the best – as a neo-documentary it loses pace here and there – but it's an interesting insight into a dark area of life nonetheless. RATING: 7/10. Personally I don't consider this Valentine's best work – as brutally hard as the Vomit Gore films were to watch, they were simultaneously fascinating and have a kind of mystique that is going to be hard to ever replicate. Black Metal Veins is another pace entirely, and maybe from another director you would consider this shocking – maybe it's simply a matter that I've watched these in something of the wrong order! It has some strong and intense moments, but wanders around a bit too much to really reach the heights. 
BOOK REVIEW: BAD VISION BY DAVE JEFFERY |
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