Coven

It's not likely that anyone who hasn't seen the documentary American Movie will stumble into Coven in their filmgoing careers--unless director/writer/star Mark Borchardt succeeds at his dream and becomes a wildly successful independent filmmaker working exclusively out of Milwaukee, which I certainly hope happens. American Movie tells Borchardt's story as he struggles to complete Coven, a short black-and-white horror film, to earn money for the production of his true dream project, Northwestern, a more personal film about his own life.

In the film, he's constantly talking about how he needs to sell 3,000 copies of Coven to reach his personal goal, and the American Movie official website has a meter that keeps track of Borchardt's progress. He's at 2200 copies right now, and for that 2200, he's a pretty lucky guy. As a piece of the American Movie story, Coven is vital--it's this hazy nebulous thing that dangles constantly out of Borchardt's reach throughout the film, until one last drive of superhuman willpower drives it toward completion.

As a film on its own, Coven is a more sticky proposition. It tells the story of an alcoholic writer (Borchardt) who is nearing rock bottom and finds himself seduced into joining an addiction support group by one of its key members (Tom Schimmels). The group isn't all it seems to be, though. It's really a sinister cult with an undetermined focus and a penchant for smashing car windows. The film then deals with the writer's desperate attempts to escape the control of the support group and gain his own life back.

There will be little doubt in your mind as you watch Coven that it's a low-budget independent film. It's shot on gritty black-and-white film stock, the brightness levels don't always match from shot to shot, and the sound is inconsistent at best. It becomes hard to follow the story on one viewing based simply on the fact that much of the dialogue is difficult to hear and understand.

But once you accept the limitations of Borchardt's filmmaking style--and even the fact that no, you won't understand a thing that's going on in the story--Coven does gain some real momentum, based solely in the editing, the cinematography and the music. Even if you can't follow who the characters are and how they fit together, it's still a creepy story, and it's creepily told. Sequences where the writer's car is smashed by a cadre of hooded cult members and where the writer is dragged through a muddy riverbed in the forest are especially intense. Coven has a weird tone all its own, and it's easy to get carried away in it.

Which makes a purchase of the Coven videotape from the American Movie website all the more worthwhile. Not only do you get an atmospheric little horror thriller, but you also get to help an indie filmmaker realize much bigger dreams. Everybody wins.