The Commune (2009)

The Commune comes across as an interesting mix between The Wicker Man (not the crappy remake) and Chinatown. Though I may not have been the biggest fan of The Wicker Man I could respect its gripping story and very twisted ideals. That said, Elisabeth Fies – writer/director/producer/actress/production designer –for The Commune threw a cog in the wheel and played with the ideas Noah Cross brought forth in the classic noir, Chinatown. What does any of this mean? Well, while The Commune may be a slow burn of a film, the payoff is more twisted than many mainstream horror fans will be ready for (and, almost without any blood at all – how about them apples?).

Rating:

Jenny (Chauntal Lewis) just can’t seem to catch a break. She has to go spend a month with her dad, Dr. Polieos (Stuart G. Bennet) at a commune he lives at when all she really wants is to stay with her mother, Cassie (Elisabeth Fies). The commune may seem relaxing, stock full of hippies and religious tolerance hardly seen in modern society. But, things start getting weird. Jenny starts having strange dreams, and masked strangers appear at her window doing…well, things that I won’t go into here. She attempts to leave, tries to stay in touch with her mother, and finally meets a young man, Puck (David Lago), whom she falls for rather quickly. The pieces start coming together, and Jenny realizes that the peaceful commune has a much darker side. 

I’ll get this out of the way. I was a bit nervous when I realized The Commune basically resembled a modern The Wicker Man. I honestly prepared myself for boredom, and I was starting to feel like I was right, until Jenny arrives at the commune. At that point, the strange people that dwell in the commune came to light, and I realized this could turn out a lot better then I thought. Though it done very similar to The Wicker Man (yes, I keep bringing it up, but what do you expect?) the character of Dr. Polieos really grabbed my attention. This guy was nuts. I mean, who says things like this:

Dr. Polieos: I don’t care what your mother allowed.

Dr. Polieos: There will be no whoring anymore.

Dr. Polieos: And no fast food.

Dr. Polieos: You reek of french fries.

Yes, in an outburst that you have to see to believe, his entire character comes out in full force. There’s a bunch of other times when we see him being strange, odd and scary, but I think this scene explained his character quite nicely. It comes off as completely ridiculous, and a bit scary, but at the end it makes even more sense (that is, except for the French fries comment – that’s a silly rule and I’d probably burn down the commune if I couldn’t get my hands on some In-N-Out).

The tension in The Commune is pretty high and doesn’t allow for much downtime. Everything seems off, so the audience never knows when it can relax. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, and I’m also not saying the tension is so extreme that you’re on the edge of your seat for an hour and a half, because neither is the case. First off, even when Jenny is on the phone with her mother, trying to get out of the commune, there’s still that sense of dread and wondering who may be outside her window. I’m usually all for it, but I felt The Commune could have been a little better off with some breathers (although I could see how any scenes where Jenny wanders into the nearby town could be seen as downtime, but her crazy father always seems to pop up). Also, like I said, something always seems to be off (as just about every character may or may not be out of their mind), and that’s great. The constant stress brought on by every character seeming to be hiding something, adds a level of tension missing from many films today, but it was never enough to make you grab the person next to you for fear for your life.

Overall, The Commune is a pretty strong, if not flawed film. It works on enough levels that the problems are easily ignored. Taking a twist that worked so well in a major film all those years ago, and using it in a modern flick, Fies manages to take a small budgeted film and squeeze it for all it’s worth. I look forward to checking out what she has coming up next and recommend this film to any cinephiles that are looking for substance over style in their fare.