Industrial Animals: Written Review

Industrial Animals

Written Review

Hi everyone and welcome to MyIndie Review Vlog, the show that gives you spoiler-free reviews of indie films. My name is Asaf Angel from MyIndie Productions.

Today I’ll be reviewing 2016’s Trash Arts horror feature Industrial Animals, distributed by Troma Team. The film is directed by and starring MyIndie featured artist, talented UK indie filmmaker and actor Sam Mason Bell, who co-wrote the screenplay and co-produced the film with co-star Tamsin Howland. Also starring is Thomas J Davenport, who is the film’s director of photography.

Thanks guys, for sharing your film with us.

Two young indie filmmakers T. Ellis and his director of photography, Owens, portrayed by Sam Mason Bell and Thomas J Davenport, are making a documentary with the purpose of exploring sexual fetishes and depravity.

For that purpose, they hire a young, attractive prostitute for three days, Chevonne, played by Tamsin Howland. The plan is to stay at her house for the weekend and film Ellis, indulging in various fetishes and exploring the unique services she offers.

Fairly quickly Ellis, the director, unveils a predisposed urge to dominate, and demonstrates a sense of carnal power trip when Chevonne gives him her body to do as he pleases with.

Throughout several sessions, revolving around different fetishes, some more perverse than others, we get to vicariously study the personalities of our characters.

Industrial Animals is a found-footage style film, and was reportedly made for an extremely low budget. It runs an hour long with a cast of only three characters in a single location.

The story depicts the theme of objectification at its rawest, nastiest form, and places us right in the middle of it, essentially as voyeurs. Sexual scenes, though provocatively presented, are loaded with social commentary, regarding frowned-upon male-dominant fantasies, as those scenes quickly bring a notion of unease rather than curiosity.

Even though I focused on the more sexually provocative nature of Industrial Animals, do not forget that we are talking about a horror film. Sam and Tamsin give us a ride through some pretty unexpected directions with this story.

I did feel that, though the audacity is admirable to say the least, and the performers weren’t timid about being vulnerable on camera, there was somewhat of a rough feel regarding the dynamics between the characters. As if one can almost see how they struggle through certain scenes, but I can’t really hold it against the performances, considering that these are very difficult roles to play, for any actors anywhere. They get full points for daring to take on this quite ambitious project.

All in all, for the low means at the disposal of Sam, Tamsin and Thomas, the film holds rather well in its 61-minute runtime and feels to mostly give the experience it was meant to.

Industrial Animals gets a 7/10 on the Look At Me, I’m A Film Critic scale!
The film is available via different platforms. Links included.

Until next time, keep supporting indie film. Watch, share, spread the word, my name is Asaf Angel, I thank you for tuning in to MyIndie Review Vlog. I’ll see you next Thursday!