Films 60 and 61: Dust and Broken

I've been fairly brief in my coverage of Adam Mason's second feature Dust because I've already discussed at length how awful The 13th Sign was. It's only with Broken, a few years later, that Mason really becomes interesting as a film-maker.

I reviewed this when Revolver sent me a copy and, technically proficient though it may be, Broken is a very, very long way from my cup of tea. I have no interest at all in watching realistic depictions of people torturing other people and I find it a bit creepy that other people do. Clearly, the fact that they've made about 20 sequels to Saw shows there's a market for this sort of thing, but not in this house.

Although Dust and Broken were made five years apart I've lumped them together, along with Ruby and Prey, Mason's brace of shorts which played the 2002 and 2003 Frightfests. (Prey is available online and is well-made but clichéed. However I'd quite like to see Ruby which sounds diabolically self-indulgent.) The structure of the book is still flexible, nevertheless, and I may end up shifting Dust (and possibly Ruby) onto the end of The 13th Sign. Prey is a direct precursor to Broken so really needs to stay where it is.

Mason's fourth film, The Devil's Chair, remains the only one of his pictures that I can say I actually enjoyed, although I can see why folk who liked Broken may have been disappointed with it. Mason now lives and works in America, making a healthy living out of making further unpleasant movies that I don't want to ever see, no matter how well-made they are.