By David Dent
The ‘cursed film’ idea is an occasional but resilient theme in fantastic cinema, from the haunted video tape of 1998’s Ringu to Antrum from 2018.
Michael Hurst’s take on the idea literally puts us in front of a constantly changing barrage of TV channels (operated by an old man – we are seeing what he sees) until, gradually, a story of sorts emerges, through two separate ‘documentaries’, about a maverick, dark film director, Frank Roth. Roth made a number of horror movies, known for the accuracy of detail in scenes of ritual and magic, and for being a difficult guy to work with (the Carpenter deployed font of the titles and Alan Howarth esque score point clearly to the director on whom Roth was modelled). At some point in his career he discovered an Italian sect who followed something called ‘The Endless Path’, becoming obsessed with footage shot by the sect’s members which showed the arrival of…something.
Roth’s final movie, a big budget (well big for him) sci fi flick called ‘Transmission’, was notorious for having an ending free script (the actors would find out only when it was time, which kind of assumes it was shot in a linear fashion) and also for the death of one of the cast on set, and a mysterious fire.
Drawing this together is a descendent of the director, keen to tie up the loose strands of the mystery, but herself becoming part of it. As we the audience gradually understand what’s going on in the disparate news items, infomercials and TV horror host interventions, a bigger plan is hatched with potentially world changing consequences.
Transmission is a bold film but its tangled elements make it a difficult movie to love or, frankly, care about. Roth’s final movie is kind of a riff on Event Horizon (which itself had a mysterious reputation), a bit of a cheeky steal which for me deprived the whole thing of the originality it was clearly looking for.
OK then but rather slight despite the big themes it was trying to cover.
Transmission screened as part of Frightfest 2023.
Bloody Flicks 