Effects (1980)

 I saw Dusty Nelson's Effects (1980) in 2005 when I learned of its existence as a film made by Romero's Pittsburgh alums/colleagues. Since we all know Savini's effects and acting work, Harrison's very memorable music scores, and star Joe Pilato's acting work in association with Romero. The director, producer, and writer all mentored under Romero. I thought this was a nice close to Tuesday night, with Pilato, so young, healthy, and mild-mannered, working on a film set in the mountains with a cold and stone-faced director played by Harrison (known for his scores for such Romero films as Creepshow and Day of the Dead), debating a leg slice prosthetic blood effect and taking second unit shots with a 16MM camera. Savini is in the film as a rowdy crewmember eventually revealed to be hired by Harrison to shoot Pilato in the leg...Pilato is unaware he was hired by Harrison to be a victim of a snuff film, set to be distributed as a fake snuff film, though it is very real. The cut I watched on Tubi I do believe is the Synapse release...the quality of the film is rough. I think we are lucky to have Effects available to watch at all. It really does look like a film unearthed from the basement, found in a musky trunk, buried under boxes, forgotten for years. I would say this should be best viewed as a piece of Pittsburgh film history, loosely associated with Romero in that folks close to him or tutored by him pooled their resources and made themselves a movie. I think anyone who can should watch the After Effects documentary based on the Pittsburgh film industry which has Romero in it. I haven't investigated if that release is available. I'm guessing it would be difficult to locate the 2005 release. If folks like Effects, that release is ideal if just out of interest in gaining insight from those behind the making of the film. I'm happy this exists. I think some will appreciate it, and some will find very little value in it. I find it compelling, if just as a time capsule resurrected from obscurity. I'm particularly pleased this film is currenlty accessible on Tubi.

It actually opens with a nude actress showering. And the camera is really in close. Soon she sees a guy with a razor, and then her character husband, with CUT administered by Harrison as we see that all of that is part of a film being made in the mountains. Onward Effects deals with behind the scenes of Harrison's production, with Pilato and Susan Chapek unaware they are pawns in the director's actual plans to release this whole thing as a snuff film called Duped. There are actual crew knowingly and voluntarily assisting Harrison in this whole production. The closing shots of Harrison totally chill about his handiwork and the premiere in a seedy part of a city at a night showing feels eerily perfect not long after a truck explosion kills his "unwilling protagonists". Harrison's score for this film is very minimalist, but it feels right for the material and presentation. The "regional independent" feel of the film I really connected to. Oh, and the scene where Harrison shows his guys a snuff film he claims is actually fiction (though it would seem to be legit considering the end of the film), and their reactions, is the most chilling of Effects, I think.