By: Mark Barber

Andrew Cymek’s Night Cries is the product of a variety of recycled ideas and premises from other movies.  Taking cues from The Matrix, Twelve Monkeys, Mad Max and dozens of other sci-fi/action films, Cymek’s film is too self-serious and rarely entertaining.

Cymek (who also wrote, produced, and edited the film) plays Joseph, a man who searches for his wife in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by weird creatures and a gang of people called “The Hats.”

Night Cries feels too much like a vanity project, one that takes itself too seriously to work.  The only person who seems to be having any kind of fun here is Colin Mochrie, who dials it up to 11 as the film’s main villain.  Cymek, who seems to specialize in low-budget genre films, rarely allows the inherent silliness of his premise to shine through.  Night Cries is incessantly dour, which seems odd for a film that features a talking marionette sidekick (which might be the most original thing about the film).

Formally, the film struggles to find a rhythm.  The sequencing of shots is not always coherent (perhaps an ill-fated attempt at discontinuity editing), and the shaky camera work is ineffective and nauseating.

Overall, Night Cries struggles the sustain a sense of originality.  It’s too serious and formally cumbersome to enjoy.

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Night Cries screens at the Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival on:

Friday, November 27 at 9:30 p.m. @ Carlton Cinema

For more information on the festival, visit the official BITS webpage here.

Buy tickets here.

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The Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival: @BITSFilmFest
Mark Barber: @WorstCinephile