THREAT
Directed by Matt Pizzolo
Written by Katie Nisa & Matt Pizzolo
[9 out of 10]
In film, the term ‘indie’ has an even more damaged pedigree than in music – you can expect your average critical indie smash to pretty much be a lo-fi tweak of Hollywood values, albeit with the cultural superiority complex that using hand-held cameras and cardboard sets can give you. ‘Threat’ is different. Genuinely unsettling, thrillingly chaotic, a tale of a cross-cultural riot that takes in philosophy, polemic and politics without taking a breath. S’like you hired private dicks to follow your kids around at night and they hired Abel Ferrara to do surveillance. Put together by an utterly untutored group of kids on 16mm cameras with discarded film stock, it’s a morally complex, beautifully acted, occasionally sickeningly violent portrayal of the underground NYC hip hop and hardcore scenes without a moment of false patronisation or sociological merit. The story skewers you precisely because it’s left so open-ended and realistically without closure. A genuinely independent feeling film – seemingly creating a new cinematic aesthetic from the noise that is its soundtrack and spur, and if nothing else it contains voices and thoughts (particularly about politics and 9/11) that you’re not likely to hear anywhere else.
THREAT: Music That Inspired The Movie
Various Artists [8 out of 10]
The soundtrack’s a doozie too, pitting Alec Empire and a host of tech-terror merchants (The Tyrant / Edgey / Holocaust) against a slew of hardcore genii (Agnostic Front / Glassjaw / Killswitch Engage / Minor Threat) with frequently devastating results (the Defragmentation re-rub of Gorilla Biscuits is worth the price of admission in itself). Hear, see, never set foot in a multiplex ever again.
