Quench My Thirst

Day three is over, thank God. If you would like to hear about day two, and find out how I liked Shutter, you can head over to Top Horror Movies Club in order to read about it. I actually didn't do much today at the convention. I walked around for a while, and eventually got an autograph by Bill Moseley for a friend of mine. I can be a very nice person sometimes. I talked to Bill for a little while, since I was the only one at his table at the time. Told him how much I liked The Devil's Rejects, to which he said that was a very satisfying film. He also told me that he liked working with Rob Zombie. After I talked to Bill, I went looking for Zach Parker, the director of Quench (2007). Since his film is truly independent, like his other film Inexchange, I'm more than happy to write up a review for it. I was hoping to get to talk to him, and possibly set up an interview as well. At the time I went looking for him, I didn't see him the other two days (I think because I was looking at the wrong place), his film was showing again, so I think he was there. Since I was feeling burned out, and really there isn't much to do there once you have looked at everything and watched all the movies, I decided to take off, and have a good meal (something not fast food in other words) with some people that I met there at the convention. A friend of mine that I ran into yesterday, who was planning on staying longer, said he would talk to Zach for me, which he says he did. So if all goes well, I hope to have an interview going with Zach shortly. If you should read this Zach, I'm sorry I didn't talk to you in person, and hope you understand.

Quench starts off with us meeting Derik (Bo Barrett), who is returning to Indiana after being away in college. We learn that he has experienced a personal tragedy while away, and is looking for someone to possibly talk to. He turns to Jason (Ben Schmitt), Derik's best friend for nine years. Jason has changed some over the years though. He is married to Veronica (Samantha Eileen DeTurk), and is part of a family. The family doesn't like outsiders, they are afraid that the outsiders will see what they do as wrong. Gina (Mia Moretti), who is also part of the family, takes a liking to Derik though. Will the family drive Derik away, or will Jason and Derik overcome their differences and become friends once again?

Quench doesn't pretend to be a horror movie, but there are small hints to being one, here and there. It is a drama, and is listed as such, with no horror tag given to it. This was the first film shown Saturday, and the first Sunday. In fact, it was one of only two films shown a second time for Sunday, Martyrs being the other one. It was great that Zack Parker was sitting with everyone watching his film with us. It would have been nice to have a Q&A at the end of the film, but can't have everything I guess. With his film Inexchange, I had some issues with the sound, so I ended up giving it a lower rating because of that. I'm happy to say that I had no such issues with Quench, outside of the room making the sound hollow at times, which could make it hard to hear. But that wasn't the film's fault. I had that issue with all the films shown there. Much like Inexchange, Quench is big on character development. As much as I enjoyed that, it did seem like it was taking forever for anything interesting to happen. We meet the family, and discover what is going on there, which is more than just the goth look. The climax at the end gave me a "that's it?" feeling, once it came around. I guess I was expecting more of a horror film, since it was being shown at a horror convention. Still, I think that Quench does improve over Inexchange. Lets hope the next film improves even more.

Not a lot as far as effects, but I wasn't really expecting much. A few cuts, and a severe beating at one point, is about all you will find. Both looked very well done though. The acting was hit and miss for me. Each actor does a good job with their role, but each felt a little off to me at times. It was never what I would call bad acting, just off a little. Mia Moretti became my favorite actor out of the bunch. The interaction between Mia and Bo Barrett is fun to watch. You get the sense that Bo's character wants to belong, but because of the things he sees going on, he isn't so sure about it. Plus his past demons come into play as well. Not too many people showed up for the movies they showed on Friday. Saturday was a different story though, except for Mum & Dad, which barely had ten people watching. The crowd for Quench seemed to enjoy the movie rather well. Everyone laughed at the right moments, and I believe cringed at the right moments as well.

From what I remember of Inexchange, Quench has improved. It is a well shot film, with some very cool looking sets. It still has a low budget feel to it, but not as bad as what I seem to remember from the other film. Quench isn't really my type of film, but I have to admit that it wasn't all that bad. If you like dramas, and especially if you are into the goth scene, this is one for you to check out. I would have liked to have had more things happening, but that is me. Give this one a look sometime, it is out on DVD.
3 out of 5 At least drinking blood is gross