DRIFTER – Review

Review by Stephen Tronicek

The concept of “copying” has become demonized to the point of criticism in film these days, and for good reason. The concept of copying story points and aesthetics or visual flourishes from other films is cheating if there’s nothing else brought to the table. However, once in awhile, there’s actually a movie that comes along that isn’t exactly it’s own, isn’t exactly original, but has enough to create an entertaining movie. Drifter surprisingly fits right into that category. There are moments of the film that call back to so many films including, Mad Max, The Rover, the works of David Lynch and a variety of cannibal movies, but the overall stellar direction, editing, and acting make Drifter a film that continues to surprise and shock.

What allows this film to better occupy the range in which it’s inherent unoriginality doesn’t matter is the aforementioned direction. Where previous XLerator Media productions failed on account of shaky editing and unnerving performances, Drifter has an eye for action and actors. There’s a scene early in the film that demonstrates this mastery. A young man, Miles is sleeping in his car on the post apocalyptic wasteland. A group of thugs approaches and rough him up. The dialogue is standard and safe, but it shows a necessary use of archetypes. There’s almost an old standard feeling to it. Then suddenly, his brother Dominic appears, and the film ratchets up its actually decent music. The expectation has been placed in your mind, in a few quick shots of jarring capability, the thugs will all be dead. Yet, no. This doesn’t happen. Instead, the camera pans slowly on a wide shot as Dominic quietly approaches the car. The music is gone all that can be heard is the wind blowing. There’s a calmness to the ever expanding wasteland behind him, and a determined cool to his movement. As the car and the thugs come into view, a few quick shots erupt as Dominic stops and shoots one man down. The moment of cool anticipation evaporates wonderfully.

This is one of many satisfying scenes. As the film delves deeper into more chaotic material, it does so smoothly on the back of its simply draw characters and arches. The hint of ever present emotions such as lust, pain, fear, and connection come out in actor performances and sharp editing almost to the point when the film passes up the quality of the works it’s effectively copying. There’s a scene that parallels recent events of The Walking Dead that manages to feel more compelling on just the principle of direction. Director/co-writer Chris von Hoffmann has a creative and still classical eye which gives the film a beautiful restraint. As exploitative as it gets the film always takes the quiet route when it’s hoping to stun with quietly brilliant action like described before, or a slow motion shot for the ages. The film even branches into terrifying and odd Lynchian sound design and imagery when the villain shows up and Hoffmann’s mastery of the diegetic sound and the actor’s willingness to go absolutely nuts sell this aspect with a sense of ferocity.

Co-writer Aria Emory plays Miles, quietly creates a compelling character out of such a simple character. The same is found in Drew Harwood as Dominic, who is rough but infectiously compassionate. The horror show created by James McCabe as the villain here is engrossing and Hoffman is smart enough to keep the camera fixed into his performance as his eyes stare through the screen. This isn’t the type of film where you expect the acting to be particularly good, but it genuinely is.

Drifter is a film that you’ve seen, but it’s a deliriously fun version of those films all placed into the same pot. If you have the taste for a familiar low-budget grindhouse feature, you could do a lot worse, and probably not much better than Drifter.

4 out of 5

XLrator Media will be releasing DRIFTER in Theaters on February 24th and on VOD and iTunes on February 28th.