Frightfest 2023: ‘Transmission’ Review
Stars: Angela Cela, Charles Chudabala, Nicole Cinaglia , Sheri Davis, Marcella Di Pasquale, Jessica Cameron, Felissa Rose, Jennifer Nangle, Sadie Katz, Alan Maxson, Dave Sheridan, Vernon Wells, Noel Jason Scott, Maria Shapley | Written and Directed by Michael Hurst
Directed by Michael J. Hurst, who has vast genre experience – helming films such as House of the Dead 2, Pumpkinhead 4 and 2006’s Darkroom, as well as writing the demented Mansquito (aka Mosquito Man), and both of Scott Adkins’ Ninja movies (personal favourites of mine) – Transmission is a dark, twisted film that feels akin to Peter Hyams’s comedy Stay Tuned, which starred John Ritter and Pam Dawber as a couple trapped in an ever-changing TV or the comedy anthology Amazon Women on the Moon that flicked between 90s TV, poking fun at the tropes of that era.
The film unfolds on a television screen as we, seeing things from the perspective of an old man, switch between different channels and slowly realise that each of these channels is actually telling different aspects of the same horrific narrative.
There’s a fun recurring show featuring two puppets which opens with them trying to put a puzzle together and promising that all the pieces will fit together eventually. This is a direct comment to the audience that – should they stick around for the whole film – all the “pieces”, the snapshots of shows and movies we see as the old man watching (whose POV the audience sees) flicks through… A documentary on filmmaker Frank T. Roth, played by Vernon Wells, whose final film Transmission also graces this film and gives the movie its title; news reports about murders involving a mysterious symbol in the town of Santa Mira; an evangelical preacher delivering a TV sermon; an early 80s-esque teen comedy called Nutballs; and late-night horror show hosted by Malvolia (Jennifer Nangle).
Everything eventually comes together into one narrative, all surrounding the mysterious symbol, Frank Roth’s obsessions and the reasons why his last film Transmission was never completed. And how it should NEVER have been screened on television! It’s all put together in such a way that each show or movie provides a clue to the mystery of what’s going on – all the while providing fans with plenty of cameos from genre actors like Jessica Cameron, Felissa Rose, Jennifer Nangle, Sadie Katz, Alan Maxson, Dave Sheridan and of course the icon that is Vernon Wells as Frank Roth himself.
When everything comes to a head and the truth is revealed it becomes something of a revelation – a revelation of just how well Michael Hurst told ONE story with such a fractured narrative; how he managed to get a throughline passing through different stories and different genres; all with one end goal, one brilliant final twist, in sight. And also, remarkably tying some of the individual shows and clips we saw while channel-surfing together too – thought it would spoil things to say more! But as the poster states… Everything Is Connected. Even a seemingly out-of-place 80s teen comedy homage!
**** 4/5
Transmission screened as part of this year’s Frightfest London
