Chaos (2005 horror film)

Chaos
File:ChaosPoster.jpg Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	David DeFalco
Written by	David DeFalco
Produced by	Steven Jay Bernheim
Starring	Kevin Gage, Stephen Wozniak
Distributed by	Dominion Entertainment
Release date	10 August 2005
Running time	74 minutes
Language	English

File:Ds27.jpg

The poster design for Chaos was also very similar in design to the The Last House on the Left film poster.

Chaos is a 2005 movie about the rape and murder of two teenagers. It stars Kevin Gage, Sage Stallone and Stephen Wozniak and was directed by David DeFalco. It is rated NC-17 "for violence and language".

Synopsis

Chaos is the story of two teenage girls who, while on vacation at one of their parents' mountain homes, go to a rave party in the woods in order to score some ecstasy, and are then brutally raped and murdered by Eddie "Chaos" Cooper - the film's titular character - and his two accomplices, Frankie and Daisy.

This feature film retains many strong overlapping themes and storylines with Wes Craven's directorial true crime debut feature film, The Last House on the Left, itself a remake of Ingmar Bergman's Academy Award-winning The Virgin Spring. However, the director of "Chaos" has played down any connection to these two movies, and neither Craven nor Bergman were provided a story credit. Some controversy stems from the film's postcard tagline and eventual theatrical release poster, "...it's only a movie...," which is borrowed from the infamous tagline of The Last House On The Left. The original 2005 limited theatrical release poster, however, provides its own new tagline, "The Most Brutal Movie Ever Released," which was followed by the similar 2006 DVD release tagline, "The Most Brutal Movie Ever Made."

The substantial difference between Chaos and the previous two films named above is the ending, whereby Eddie Chaos Cooper eschews the questions its predecessors raised on vigilantism and revenge, and instead seems to express simply that "evil exists." "Chaos" does, however, raise class issues with the two young women who his gang holds captive, as he a blurts out questions which can't be answered under torture and duress, such as "I know your type. You're just one of these bitches thinks she's too good for anybody, ain't ya'? I think you need to be taught a lil' bit of discipline." There is an obvious disparity in economic and class levels between the ragged and wayward outcast "Chaos" gang and the obviously middle-class and well-polished visitor girls.

Chaos opens with a rolling "warning" title card, calling the film a cautionary tale. When asked to justify the movie, director DeFalco says that he is essentially trying to save lives and scare souls, that the later informs the prior.

Critical response

Chaos has gathered a substantial number of highly controversial and contradictory critical reviews in the U.S. national press since its theatrical release and DVD release.

The Chicago Herald's film reviewer, Dan Gire, was dramatically moved by the visceral effect that the film had on him: "This movie horrified me. CHAOS is blunt and brutal. CHAOS has done something no modern horror film has accomplished since 1973’s THE EXORCIST: Reacquaints us with our humanity. CHAOS comes at us with such unrestrained intensity that the movie doesn’t just cross the line, it leaves the line back at the horizon." This was preceded the by cutting-edge film review website and publication Ain't It Cool News, who said, "CHAOS is a well-crafted horror film. CHAOS is about brutality without the theatrics. CHAOS is the worst nightmare you’ve ever had. Perhaps the biggest surprise about CHAOS is the acting…pretty good performances."

"Chaos" earned Rotten Tomatoes's rating of 7%, and its Metacritic rating is 3 out of 100,, and, according to them, one of it's worst reviewed movie of all time[1]. Conversely, a positive review came from Ken Fox of TV Guide's Movie Guide, who said, "Unlike so many other Last House On The Left rip-offs, this virtual remake is reasonably well shot and convincingly acted."

The Roger Ebert Controversy

Despite general controversy, Chaos received most of its publicity from Roger Ebert's heated theatrical release review and the filmmaker's response. Ebert wrote in his initial Chicago Sun-Times review:

"Chaos is ugly, nihilistic, and cruel -- a film I regret having seen. I urge you to avoid it. Don't make the mistake of thinking it's "only" a horror film, or a slasher film. It is an exercise in heartless cruelty and it ends with careless brutality."

DeFalco responded with a full page letter in the Chicago Sun-Times to rationalize the very existence of his movie, saying in part,

"Mr. Ebert, how do you want 21st century evil to be portrayed in film and in the media? Tame and sanitized? Titillating and exploitive? Or do you want evil portrayed as it really is? "Ugly, nihilistic and cruel," as you say our film does it?"

Ebert replied to DeFalco in the article "Evil in film: To what end?" Ebert wrote:

"In a time of dismay and dread, is it admirable for filmmakers to depict pure evil? Have 9/11, suicide bombers, serial killers and kidnappings created a world in which the response of the artist must be nihilistic and hopeless? At the end of your film, after the other characters have been killed in sadistic and gruesome ways, the only survivor is the one who is evil incarnate, and we hear his cold laughter under a screen that has gone dark. [...] Your answer, that the world is evil and therefore it is your responsibility to reflect it, is no answer at all, but a surrender."

Ultimately, however, Roger Ebert did say that, "Having seen it, I cannot ignore it, nor can I deny that it affected me strongly…and when Chaos was over, I was filled with sadness and disquiet. The movie works."

External links

• Official Chaos website
• Official Kevin Gage website
• Official Stephen Wozniak website
• Chaos at IMDb
• Template:Rogerebert
• Chaos at Rotten Tomatoes