Compound Fracture (2013)

Wonderful Movie

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Movie review:Nice to see Tyler Mane in a role other than his typecast fare. You know him (sorta) as Sabretooth, or Michael Myers, but here Tyler shows he can act, along with write and produce. Michael receives a frantic call from his estranged father to come to his home (a fortress really full of paranoid fears of the supernatural) Here is where Michael (Mane) and his family must confront a spirit(Michaels brother) that took his sisters life. When Michael stumbles onto the murder, he then shoots his brother which leads to a short trip into the afterlife of the angry soul. The movie itself delves into the occult type transition into the afterlife which the family had a knowledge of for generations. Not all go on happy, some stay on a ruthless rampage. The gore is minimal which worked for the film since the characters did a fairly good job acting out a well written screenplay to keep your attention. Far from a classic movie, but will definitely make a fan of horror movies satisfied with a nice story, good images, kills when needed, and all the bells and whistles to bring you back to an age of horror movies that don't need gore and cheap scares to drive the movie. Kudos for the casting director for bringing icons of the horror genre together into this movie (Derrick Mears and Muse Watson, along with Tyler Mane) are very memorable faces from movies and TV I am sure you have seen (kept calling Watson "Franks" LOL ) Overall a great first effort from this team and I look forward to what Mane and Geerlings can bring to the table in the future. Enjoy 5.2/10, IMDb 4.4

Compound Fracture feels like a first outing, and it is. Tyler Mane's new company offers us a passable thriller that ultimately never truly thrills.The story works. It offers characters with interesting drama and characterization, and a villain with a purpose. There are a few forced moments, where the emotion just shows up instead of being earned organically, but that could be in part to the directing and editing, which I will get to later. The story definitely had potential for thrills, and each character is memorable in their own way, and that is something you don't often find in indie horrors/thrillers, especially first timers like Geerlings.The acting was weak. Muse Watson, the patriarch with dementia, often felt way over the top as he went in and out of lucidity. Sometimes it felt like dementia, sometimes if felt like he was tired and ready to go home. Tyler Mane will always feel like a giant to me, and it was hard, but not impossible, to see him as a family man. I think his strengths come from playing more fringe characters, less 'everyman'. Alex Saxon was a point of awkwardness for me. He fear noises really drew me out of the moment.I think, even with the acting, there is potential in the film, but it all fell flat due to the direction/editing. I'm going to group those since they were done by the same guy, Anthony J. Rickert-Epstein. First, a look at his page reveals he is a cinematographer (he was also DP on this film, that's a lot of hats for a feature). And it shows. There were some technical shots going on but usually at the cost of performance and story telling. The film plays slow, and not "slow burn", just slow. The action scenes feel forced. I felt like I was supposed to be scared or thrilled but everything was moving so slow I was usually left just watching, unengaged. There were moments that didn't fit the rest of the film. I can't say it enough: everything felt forced. It felt like they wanted us to be scared, but didn't know how to pull it off, so they just copied a lot of techniques with sound and editing and tried to make it work. And for me, it didn't.I think it was a good first effort. Hopefully they learn from the mistakes, mostly of letting one man head three departments, and can produce more films.Compound Fracture isn't a great movie, but it shows that this team has potential, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

I was really surprised by the quality of the film that Mane and Geerlings wrote and produced! I don't know Tyler Mane outside of the silent superhero/villain roles he had played previously in movies like X-men and Troy. This was the first real time I have seen him act, he's not Olivier or even a Jason Statham level, but he carried this movie well as the lead character. He's got the size of somebody you see as being Quite threatening physically without having to take his shirt off. He is just naturally a really big guy. Same with Derek Mears who plays the villain in this. The plot is mired in some genre conventions but not a rip off of any other picture in a specific way. Spoiler part.......It is a haunting story, of a malevolent spirit of Mane's character psychotic ex brother in law. Mears murdered Mane's sister right in front of Geerlings, who portrays Mane's fiancée, and Saxon, who portrays Mane's nephew. Mane then stumbled upon the scene and killed Mears before he could finish killing Geerlings and Saxon. Mane's family harbours a secret of knowing how to control your transition into the afterlife. Every family member has a rune carved into their fore-arm flesh that allows them to manifest themselves inside their family home and thus spend eternity together. Unknown to Mane and Watson, who plays the family patriarch, Saxon's mother had carved the rune into Mears arm, before he went psychotic and was a loving husband, out of love at the time.Their are some undercurrents of spousal abuse permeating the lives of Watson involving his deceased ex-wife, Mane's mother, who's cause of death is truly heartbreaking and the reason why Mane despises his dad. The violence also involves his current wife as well, played by Police Academy's Leslie Easterbrook. Easterbrook, a former Second City cast member in the 70s, does a great job in the small dramatic role. I had only seen her in comedies before and was surprised at her abilities. The movie does contain some graphic gore, nothing too over the top, the level of injury seems natural to cause a death.I look forward to seeing more of what Mane and Geerlings can provide in the future. In terms of low budget film making, they really delivered here with something better than most Hollywood A-level budget horror attempts.

This was such an incredible movie. It was more leaned towards a Thriller based movie and it was a Great one. A movie that leaves you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. In those moments your mind is running a mile a minute of what could take place. There are those movies that you can predict what will happen next because it has been done a thousand times before. Compound Fracture was not one of the movies. There was something new at every corner. The focus was more on the characters as a family unit that came together in a way you would never see before. Tyler Mane and Renae Geerlings co wrote this movie and they did a fantastic job. People always assume that "independent" means a bad movie. When in reality it is far from the truth. This movie shows the passion of doing a great movie to show people what Mane Productions is capable of producing. This movie in my opinion sets the tone for great movies to come out of Mane Productions. On top of the movie Tyler and Renae did a Meet and Greet in the beginning of the movie and a Q&A at the end. That shows me how much they value their fans. I highly recommend this movie to everyone and the movie tour is still going on now. I can promise you this isn't a movie that will leave you going "Wow I saw that coming." Instead you will leave going "Wow I never saw that coming." Go see it and I can promise you won't be disappointed.