Invoking much of the grindhouse elements, director John Fallon’s experimental short thriller is something of a royal mind fuck, one that excels in being about surreal as it possibly can while squeezing in nods to some classic films during the duration of its story. Director Fallon goes against the conventions of formula storytelling with “The Red Hours” a movie constantly blurring the realms of fantasy and reality when a club goer on a night out takes some hallucinogens to spite an ex he sees across the club canoodling with a girlfriend of hers.
With a mixture of anger and bonafide chemicals, the young man has a full on orgy of violent and extreme visions involving gun fights, blood soaked corpses, dangerous gun wielding females, axe wielding lesbians, and the like, all of which is never quite what it seems until the very end. Fallon’s film while not perfect is quite visually stunning and for the most part contains a wicked visual appeal toward it that garners some memorable scenes including some fast paced chase sequences, and stunning sweeping pans on our sexy actresses, all of whom are empowered more by Fallon’s fetishistic visual flourishes and camera angles than their uniforms and hand held weapons.
Mostly an experimental film, “The Red Hours” is a drug trip of the highest proportion and one most dangerous in the mind of a jilted ex refusing to cope with his ex-girlfriend’s new sexual preference and the inevitable aftermath of a drug binge. Fallon is a sharp eyed independent director, and I appreciated the technical aspect behind “The Red Hours” in the end. In spite of John Fallon’s sharp eye, the performances by both of the actresses leave very much to be desired with often stilted line delivery, and wooden performances that distract from the film immensely and never match the swagger and style Fallon strives for from minute one. While not perfect with stiff performances from the female cast, “The Red Hours” is an admirable experimental short with a great visual flair, an interesting premise, and a sweet sense of style.