A Far Cry From Home (2009)

Written and Directed by Alan Rowe Kelly
Starring Don Money, Jerry Murdock, Katherine O'Sullivan, Benzy, Susan Adriensen, Robb Leigh Davis and Terry M. West
2009, 45 minutes, Southpaw Pictures

A Far Cry From Home is actually one of the shorts that will be released under the Gallery of Fear moniker, an anthology of horror featuring 4 (or 5, according to their website) short films by Alan Rowe Kelly and Anthony G. Summer. This short, directed by the amazingly over-the-top Kelly deals so alarmingly with homophobia within a traditional horror setting that it stands out as possibly Kelly's finest work to date. Kelly stars in the film as well and his acting and storytelling are, as usual, awesome...

Despite playing a female in every single film he's made before (The Blood Shed, I'll Bury you Tomorrow), Kelly has never directly dealt with the concept of being accepted as a man who lives an alternative lifestyle. In A Far Cry From Home, he draws on what I can only imagine are real feelings of persecution by assholes, Christian right-wingers, and just plain ignorant homophobes. Kelly's distaste for hardcore religious persecution is more than obvious in A Far Cry. In fact, the persecutors are the extreme hillbilly horror attractions we've seen so many times before in horror movies, and they're just as crazy and cliche as usual. Though formulaic, they are a representation of everything socially backwards in the United States' current civil rights debate. In light of recent issues (like California supporting the ban on gay marriage), Kelly's desire to make his victim guilty only of homosexuality and cross-dressing is gutsy and admirable, since there are many people who still believe fags to be the sodomizing hell spawn the Bible says they are. I don't know these people personally, but I know they're out there.

A young urban gay couple (Alan Rowe Kelly & the very sexy Don Money) traveling through the New Jersey/Pennsylvania wilderness and stop at a rural antique store. I have never been to one of these stores, but I have many friends who relate stories to me of crazy hicks who sell the weirdest shit from run-down storefronts in areas not far from major cities. 'Hung By A Thread' is one such store. The couple, arguing, stops so that they can see what the store has for sale, and also for a lark. They don't come out unscathed. You see, the storeowners (Katherine O'Sullivan, Jerry Murdock & Benzy) don't like fags. They really don't like them. They don't like anything that threatens their down-home idea of what America should be, and Kelly's character is about to find out how demented hatred can really be.

Most impressive in A Far Cry From Home is Kelly's amazing performance. He manages to allow his characters to go crazy with mannerisms and eccentricities, but it never seems forced. Even the funniest parts of his movies are glazed with a pervading sense of doom and a horrifying visual atrocity committed with artistic flair. To put it bluntly, he's got a really dark sense of humor and his films have a distinct style that is both intellectual and fun.

A Far Cry From Home is extremely dark, fast-paced, gory, and well-made. This is no low-budget micro-shocker - it's the real deal and explains why Kelly is on his way to remake Don't Look In The Basement this year - a film that only Kelly could do credit with his horror finesse. The courageous plotline is indicative of Kelly's mindfulness of the changing nature of horror movies and touching the modern minds of his audience.