THE SUPER
Directors: Evan Makrogiannis, Brian Weaver
Writers: Brian Weaver, Evan Makrogiannis
Starring: Demetri Kallas, Lynn Lowry, Manoush and Ron Braunstein
Reviewed by: Char Hardin
9/10

THE SUPER
“I’m gonna teach them a lesson! I’m going to make them pay!” George

“THE SUPER is a Triple Threat: decadent, depraved and a dirty movie.” Char Hardin

George (Demetri Kallas), a Viet Nam Veteran and the superintendent of a Queens, New York apartment building has just ingratiated his way onto to my top ten list of the year. His quirky nature is wildly entertaining and applauded. George appears to be nice old man, but his tenants bring out the beast of him. He goes from super nice to a raving lunatic in 3 seconds flat.

“After they came back from Nam, they were different. It took a part of their souls.”Tony

George returned home from Viet Nam, a changed young man. He became a superintendant to a family owned apartment building. His wife, (Lynn Lowry) tried to appease him and offer words of comfort and unconditional love and a daughter. At times her voice is heard calling out for George, to go home to spend time with his family. Family and loyalty are important to George and there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his family and friends.

“I’ve see things in Nam, I did things in Nam, that I won’t tell anyone about…not that I am ashamed…but because their intimate…special.” George

It’s Queens, New York during the Christmas Holidays and George the apartment building Superintendant is on edge. He works hard to keep the building up .He goes out of his way, to make sure his tenants are happy and will stop at nothing to make them feel welcome or part of the family. For appearances he seems like kind, friendly man that people just can’t help but like. But George has another tendency to be pushy and overextend himself into the privacy of his tenants’ lives. He is a far cry from Mr. Roper of the 70’s hit comedy television show Three’s Company. Where Roper was a crotchety comical, George is dark, devious, malevolent, and vindictive or in the words of tenant Karen, “He’s such an asshole.” Strangely though, George is comical but darker.

A beloved pet was poisoned and George confronted a tenant and tried to get to the bottom of it. His confrontation led, to the entering of the tenant’s apartment later garbed in camouflage left over from his time in Viet Nam. He took matters into his hands and oops, his rage pushed him over the edge and the young tenant was killed. George turned to the mysterious and very private Russian tenant, Olga (Manoush) who had a plan, to help George the one time, but her aid didn’t come for free. A third party was brought into the equation. More moments or episodes where George lost control continued and the tenants of the apartments became pieces of a nightmare, from which George couldn’t or doesn’t want to wake from.

THE SUPER is a decadent, depraved and a dirty movie. Shot with that whole seventies Grindhouse vibe, the movie draws you in and goes for the jugular. The viewer sees this character struggle to keep his demons at bay only to see him slaughter his way to a total breakdown. The kills scenes are slick and the entrails look believable and there is blood…lots of blood is spilled. There are a couple of gunshots wounds that didn’t particularly sit well with me, as far as technicality goes, they just didn’t look right. There’s one kill scene, where the character is murdered by Olga and George in a tag-team effort to “teach” a tenant a lesson, to me, was most cool by using a simple kitchen utensil. It is my favorite kill scene.

I enjoyed Kallas. The mood swings for his character were alarming and frightful and damn, if Kallas wasn’t funny as hell. At first glance of the movie, one wouldn’t think of this a funny movie, far from it. My DVD case shows him, with a stern blood splattered face. His antics were humorous, where he would break out into little dancing jigs relayed his aggravation and intense dislike for the person or persons who had pissed him off.

Manoush as Olga, balls-to-the-walls…I think Olga liked George. They shared a common demon, hers was more restrained and his was wild and out of control. Everything about Olga screamed control and the actress Manoush nailed it. I loved her scene, where Olga is watching NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD on television with her feet propped up on a human ottoman.

THE SUPER has been circulating the Film Festival scene and was shown at the Coney Island Film Fest in September and the Pollygrind earlier this month. It will be at the Buffalo Scream Horror Film Festival in Amherst, NY on October 29th. For more up-to-date festival locations go to: www.noosehillfilms.com .

I highly recommend if you are able to attend a film festival where THE SUPER is featured, that you go. I viewed this at home, but I would love to have watched it on the big screen with a live audience, once to enjoy it and another time to watch the audiences’ reaction to THE SUPER. This film will be on Top 10 Lists at the end of the year, it will be on mine. THE SUPER is a fantastic movie meant to be shared and viewed, so yes, I recommend this film whether by seeing it at a festival or in the comforts of your homes once it goes to DVD, it has the “Holy Shit!” factor and then some! 9/10.