AnythingHorror Central

Indie Horror Scene: Wisconsin Project X (2009)

Posted by anythinghorror on May 17, 2011 · 3 Comments 

Have ya ever gone to a restaurant where everything seemed to be ok yet you still walked away feeling a little let down?  The service may not have been stellar but it was solid; the food, too, was decent … not great, decent; and the ambiance was pleasant enough.  The restaurant didn’t have a “hip” feel to it but it was relaxing and pleasant.  All the elements of the restaurant were nice and pleasant, yet you drove home feeling like there was something missing from the entire experience.  Well that’s exactly how I felt after watching WISCONSIN PROJECT X; all the components and elements that make up the movie were “nice,” but after it was all over I felt there was something missing … something that could’ve made the film great.

The plot is pretty simple:  Experiments are being conducted in a lab in Wisconsinville, Montana to create an artificial humanoid organism.  Something goes terribly wrong and the experiments escape (don’t they always!!!) and terrorize the town.  Now our plucky little cast must step up and save the day.  There’s not much more to the plot than this, and if WISCONSIN PROJECT X was a little better executed this would’ve been a strong enough spring board for the filmmakers to make a fun, fast-paced film.  But there’s something off here.  The picture quality looks like that of a b-grade sci-fi flick from the 1950’s (MONSTER A-G0 GO immediately came to mind).  But this isn’t really a complaint.  Making it look like an old cheesy b-grade movie from the 1950’s actually fits here because the plot is rather cheesy, just like a b-grade 50’s flick.  Having that kind of washed out, yellowish look to it was a nice touch by writer-director-producer-star Christian Ackerman.

Are they zombies? No way ... they're B.E.H.A.O.’s!!

But there’s other elements here that do, in fact, take away from what could’ve been a fun time.  The acting, for example, wasn’t horrible yet it wasn’t great.  The actors just didn’t look all that comfortable in front of the camera and it was obvious the entire film that you were WATCHING a movie.  I never got completely sucked into the story.  The details of the plot also fell apart the more the movie progressed and tried to explain everything.  The humanoid creatures are called B.E.H.A.O.’s, or Bio-Engineered Humanoid Artificial Organisms, and apparently the use of trans-fats is essential during the process of making them.  Our cast somehow discovers that caffeine kills the humanoids so they (I can’t believe I’m about to write this) brew a couple pots of coffee and fill up squirt guns with the coffee (yikes!!).  The caffeine makes them explode almost instantly.  Interesting idea to say the least!!

The chambers creating the B.E.H.A.O.’s.

And ya know what?  These silly plot points could’ve been laughed off but the cast is playing everything straight up.  There’s no hints of dark humor or that the filmmakers might be tipping their hats to the cheesy creature flicks of the 1950’s.  None of that is going on here.  Everything is played serious … too serious.  But there’s also some technical problems here as well.  The sound quality is poor and in some scenes ya can’t hear a damn thing the actors are saying.  There are some really well-shot scenes where you can see Ackerman has some chops, but the nighttime scenes are terrible looking.  I would guess that the night scenes weren’t lit properly.  Filmmaker Christian Ackerman has the basic story down, but the film’s budget really knee-caps the overall production.  You all know by now that I never let the budget of a film be a deciding factor on whether or not I like a film, but here the lack of budget is felt in every frame.  Ackerman also relies too much on the jump scare.  We get the same scene of a weird looking face suddenly popping onto the screen with a loud growl to represent the creatures attacking.  The first time Ackerman does this it was effective and did make me jump.  But the second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. times … not so much.

Now we get to the f/x.  The f/x were inconsistent but overall pretty well done.  The humanoid make-up isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.  But things go kinda crazy after the doctor in charge of the experiments, Dr. Winston, drinks the formula and transforms into a humanoid-human hybrid that kinda looks like a MAD MAGAZINE’s Alfred E. Newman mask with some blood on it.  And then the good doctor turns into a terrible looking creature right out of THE POD PEOPLE (if you ever watched MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 you’ll remember them calling the alien here “Trumpy”).  The doctor basically turned into something looking like a gooey ALF.  A lot of the f/x were done practically but there is a lot of digital f/x too.  We get tons of CGI blood and fire and damn it doesn’t look too good.    But mercifully it has a runtime of only 60 minutes and that was a smart move by Ackerman.  Ackerman does keep everything moving along at a quick pace and this one is unintentionally funny.  Now I know saying a horror/scifi film is “unintentionally funny” isn’t really a compliment, but the humor that comes outta WISCONSIN PROJECT X makes it all pretty fun.

Don't ask ... you wouldn't believe me anyway!!

Even with all it’s problems I still found myself enjoying WISCONSIN PROJECT X.  Its truly bizarre in some places (like the coffee-filled squirt guns) and just down right laughable in others (when the laboratory “blows up” and there’s phony looking flames digitally added to attempt to make it look like the building was engulfed in flames.  Well it didn’t and it was extremely funny.)  Failure to pay attention to the details of WISCONSIN PROJECT X is what ultimately hurts this film, but just like a moderately fair experience at certain restaurants, you’ll find yourself going back for more to give it another chance.  Overall WISCONSIN PROJECT X is a flawed film but I had some fun with it.  This one won’t be for everyone, but it’s best enjoyed with some buddies and beer!!

My Summary:

Director:  Christian Ackerman (& writer)

Plot:  2.5 out of 5 stars

Gore:  3 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  0 out of 5 brains (even though the make-up does look a little “zombi-ish”

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer