‘Vulcanizadora’ Review – Joel Potrykus’ Horror Film Will Melt Your Face Off

The big picture

• Vulcanizer
  is an unsettling and darkly funny take on existential horror that's another Joel Potrykus stunner.
• The film explores self-destruction and the depths of what follows, providing plenty of accurate humor and terror.
• It builds to a terrifying explosion before exploring its bleak aftermath, leaving us to pick up the pieces that break forever.

Kelly Reichardt i Michelle Williams. Spike Lee i Denzel Washington. Joel Potrykus i Joshua Burge. All of these iconic movie duos have collaborated on some notable works together, though it's the latter two, the last macabre film of which will melt your face before burying you under its bleak vision.. From the moment they enter the frame of the darkly funny vision of existential horror Vulcanizerit's like we're witnessing a crunchy version of Frodo and Sam from The Lord of the Rings while heading out on a quest. However, as the operatic chant over fiery destruction in the opening turns into a sick metal riff as the two characters in this film walk in silence, there is no adventure to be found in the forest. Again writing and directing as well as acting, Potrykus spins a yarn that's a little more relaxed in parts, almost playing like its own version of a buddy comedy before plunging us to our deaths. While there are many laughs along the way, there is nothing but pain at the end of the road. Although it's been a few years since Burge and Potrykus released the equally fascinating experience that it is relaxingsince then they haven't lost a step.

if anything, Vulcanizer is an expansion of many of the same ideas about self-destruction and isolation from that previous film. It's also a sequel of sorts to Potrykus' 2014 film Mouser, but you don't have to have seen it for this one to grab you. His latest brings a fresh sense of humor and dread that's so perfectly layered that it leaves a whole new pit in your stomach. This is a film that resembles the many fireworks of black snakes that are ignited from the beginning in the forest in a simple but fascinating sequence. As you watch the ash explode as everything burns and expands, it creates a strange feeling of dread just before it collapses in on itself. Then you have to search through the rubble for what's left when everything that provided this little piece of wonder has burned away. He makes a movie where the horror doesn't come from conventional scares. Rather, everything flows from the dreary march to what will be an empty shell of life after everything has collapsed. There's no movie you'll see quite like this one, as it patiently builds to a terrifying explosion and then picks up where most would leave off, leaving us to pick up the pieces that are shattered forever. However, as we soon see, this nightmarish Humpty Dumpty can never be put back together again.

What is 'Vulcanizadora' about?

The film takes place mostly in a Michigan forest, as the troubled Martin Jackitansky (Burge) goes out with his friend Derek Skiba (Potrykus) on a camping trip that is far from normal. Although shot in beautiful and rich 16mm by the cinematographer Adam J. Minnickwho previously worked on almost all of Potrykus' excellent past works, as well as the recent film that had been seen. Quantum cowboys, the sweeping opening shot that captures the vibrancy of the forest soon gives way to increasingly uncomfortable close-ups where the faces of the two flawed companions feel etched in phases of sadness and denial. Once we understand what awaits them at the end of this procession, that's where the horror starts to set in.

There's a lot of silly humor, but at the same time it's tied to a darker mood. Early on, in the film's delightfully dry first line that becomes even more darkly funny in retrospect, Derek comments that he left his keys on the bus that took them there. When Martin says that it doesn't matter, standing up to him and asking him why he cares, it soon becomes clear that they both have very different mindsets about what they're here to do. While the film's more extreme moments may grab your attention more on first viewing and are very well executed, Potrykus deserves praise for the precision with which he captures the depths of pain that pour out of people like ash from a firework..

Without going too far down where the filmmaker takes us so that the experience of discovery can be preserved, when the time comes. Vulcanizer where a character puts on a mask that feels like it's been ripped from the world saw about himself and his traveling companion, you find yourself caught up in what is happening no matter how much you want to look away. The scene that unfolds after a few agonizing minutes, though it feels much longer, is defined by an all-consuming sense of despair. While both men on this journey were flawed, with revelations about the damage each inflicted on the others coming out in pieces, there is no path to redemption in Potrykus' eyes. Instead, it's just panic as he looks at his co-star and longtime muse. Both Potrykus and Burge give two of their best performances to date at this point, just before the air clears from the scene and the film is largely written. The sound of weak, labored breathing, as Potrykus twists the knife more and more, as that death rattle rings in your ears, it's as horrible as anything he's ever done..

'Vulcanizadora' is Potrykus at his most haunting

Although one could easily be tempted to say that part of this is the filmmaker reflecting in some way on his relationship with his films, his collaborators and his family (especially since the his own son appears near the end in some of the most heartbreaking moments). scenes where distant Florida represents death itself) that could easily feel like a reduction of what he's tapping into. His vision is one of despair, death and the desolation that follows, which can consume us all.. That he just lets us sit in that place where others would stop and cut to black is the point. It's a film where the biggest fear is not being punished for what we've done, but the possibility that we won't be, just continuing in a state of not being able to repent. What if life is just a series of cumulative bad acts and devastating mistakes where, no matter how much we try to fix it, we're all doomed to make everything infinitely worse?

Although it does not so much tear down the walls of its environment as relaxing it did, it doesn't seem like this movie needs it when everything is already always in a state of collapse. The final act of the film is like a series of failed confessions where the sadness and nervousness are suffocating, preventing the right words from coming out if there were even any to begin with. When there's a discussion about how hell could exist in a constant state of being sad and nervous forever, you realize that the journey of Vulcanizer it's about stumbling upon exactly that. Without the characters realizing they're doing it until it's too late, they've set themselves on fire in hopes of escaping.. Now they just let themselves burn until there is nothing left but ash, swallowed by the sands of a life marked by bad choices from which there is no escape. But hey, I hear the water is good in Florida if it gets there.

Vulcanizer had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.