Movie Review: Four Stories of St. Julian by Scott Ruth, Philadelphia Horror Examiner
Imagine being trapped in an elevator with 3 other people. Three complete strangers. Imagine one of them having a secret and that they may not be what they seem. Now imagine the same scenario except consider what it’d be like if all of them had a secret and none were what they seemed at first glance.
“Four Stories of St. Julian”, a 2010 horror/thriller directed by Shane Thueson and starring Ky Evans (“Cemetery Gates”), David Alan Graf (“Terror Toons 2″, “The Fear Chamber”) and Nicholl Hiren (“The Bondage”), tells the story of four strangers who become trapped inside the elevator of St. Julian, a rundown old inner-city apartment building that had once been a religious sanctuary.
We learn that these four strangers, an assassin, a mother, a religious zealot and a thief, all have some form of tie to both St. Julian the building and St. Julian the religious figure. We also find out to what extremes they are willing to go to correct things in each of their individual lives, as well as to what lengths they are willing to go to survive.
The film has a very Hitchcockian feel to it. The entire movie takes place inside the elevator and nothing is exactly as it initially seems. I liken it to Hitchcock’s “Rope” and “Lifeboat”. It even, at some points, reminded me of Richard Linklater’s “Tape” and Gavin Wilding’s “Stag”. In each of these films, there is a sense of both urgency and involuntary confinement.
The dialogue is well written and both Ky Evans and Nicholl Hiren are superb in their roles. It’s their performances that truly make this film work as splendidly as it does. Evans is as intimidating and repulsive as he is charming and likable. Not every actor has the ability to mold a character so that the audience likes, and yet dislikes, the character at the same time. Ky Evans is brilliant at pulling this off, and is so skilled at it, that he makes this difficult task seem easy. Nicholl Hiren’s performance is the best of her career and should afford her more leading roles in feature films.
There’s enough blood and gore in this to please the gorehounds, enough drama to satisfy fans of films that focus on the humanity, or lack thereof, of the characters, and there are plenty of twists and surprises to satiate those who crave shocks and revelations.
One note: St. Julian is erroneously labeled the patron saint of murderers in the film. Being that this is inaccurate, it may require a bit of suspension of disbelief, but please do not let this little inaccuracy sway you away from allowng yourself to enjoy the film. To be honest, being that I am not Catholic, I was unaware that this wasn’t fact until I did some research on St. Julian. Even now knowing this, it does not change the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this film.
Also, even though there are not many reviews of this film online, there are some that suggest a similarity between this film and M. Night Shyamalan’s “Devil”. This could not be any further from the truth. The only thing the two films really have in common is that they evolve around a group of people who are trapped in an elevator. There are people out there claiming that this films “rips off” Shyamalan’s film. Had they seen both films, they’d know different. And there’s the fact that “Four Stories of St. Julian” was written years before “Devil”. End of “controversy”.
I give “Four Stories of St. Julian” 5 out of 5 stars. As mentioned, despite the erroneous description of St. Julian, I found the film to be well written, well acted and the director made good lighting and camera angle choices, all of which truly enhanced the film. I will even go as far as to say that I’d include this film as one of the top 10 best films of 2010.
The fact that this film is virtually unknown and never received a theatrical release is a true injustice. It only serves to further verify that, for the most part, the only films that are shown any respect in this country are those that are either terrible remakes of classic films, or they are the unwatchable nonsense that only those who are truly clueless as far as their knowledge in movies goes, go to see. (ie: “Twilight”)
“Four Stories of St. Julian” is not rated but does contain blood/gore, violence, profanity, scenes of torture and some disturbing imagery.
“Four Stories of St. Julian” can be seen in the Philadelphia area on Verizon Fios On Demand. Check your local listings and alternate cable tv providers for availability.
For more info go to: http://www.examiner.com/horror-in-philadelphia/movie-review-four-stories-of-st-julian-review
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