Source: Ain’t It Cool News
Reviewed by: Mark L. Miller “Ambush Bug”
Dec. 28th, 2014
THE DIVINE TRAGEDIES is a confident little bastard of a film, trusting that the characters and the story is going to be compelling enough for you to stick around long enough to figure out the ups and downs of the weird little universe the film lives in. And it turns out, the film delivers on that confident beginning and never really lets up until the ultra-powerful final beats.
Taking a page or two from NATURAL BORN KILLERS and maybe some nuances from a David Lynch film or two, THE DIVINE TRAGEDIES is still one of the most original and entertaining films I’ve seen in ages. The opening scene focuses on two brothers Charles (Graham Denman) and Thomas (Jon Kondelik), two evil bastards who are playing a game with a crackhead they used to go to school with as kids. As the scene progresses, the conversation bips and bops, riffs and raps a lot like a Tarantino joint. There are sidebars and diatribes, discourses and distracting conversations before the actual violence they’ve been talking about occurs. The way it plays out, surely we won’t be following around these two devious sons of bitches for the whole movie. Surely, these two guys are the ones who get wiped out in the first scene in order to establish the real heroes. That’s what writer/director Jose Prendes seems to want us to think. But turns out we have it all wrong and this is a film about these two evil fucks. Beginning in such an off kilter manner gives us a hint that all bets are off and by following these two nicely dressed monsters, we’re headed into dangerous territory.
But while Thomas and Charles talk a big game, they seem to have a softer side. They take care of their ailing and bed-ridden mother (Barbara Crampton) and are obviously living a very privileged life. All of this makes their plans to murder someone for the first time all the more shocking and deliciously evil. As it walks through the two brothers’ first kill, THE DIVINE TRAGEDIES turns out to be an unpredictable little number, never really going the expected route and proving to be full of surprises all the way until the end.
A lot of the power of this film comes from the bizarre portrayal of Thomas and Charles by Denman and Kondelik. Kondelik seems to be the eviler of the two, more verbal and confident, definitely the bully of the two. But it’s the Crispin Glover-esque performance by Graham Denman that really stands out here. Denman goes through such a transformation in this film. Both brothers do, really. And to see these two brothers metamorphose after blood is spilled is brilliant to see from these two up and coming actors.
DAWN OF THE DEAD’s Ken Foree appears as a cop with psychic powers and with Crampton, really adds some solid acting foundation for these two newcomer actors to play off of. But it is the performances by Denman and Kondelik and the words and twists from writer/director Jose Prendes that make this film one to remember. Though there is copious amounts of blood and violence, the real horror comes from how fucked up these two brothers really are and how it plays out with everyone unlucky enough to cross their path. The heavy reliance on dialog is definitely going to make or break this film depending on whether you like Tarantino-ian wordplay or Mamet-esque bullet-speak. But for my tastes, THE DIVINE TRAGEDIES is a dangerous and perfect little nightmare that needs to be seen.