Reviewing a movie that is confusing is a painful task because I find it hard to describe the overall premise of the story. I hope I convey what goes on in the movie.
Written and directed by Tom Botchii Skowronski, Artik takes the horror genre and twists its meaning by add undertones of thrilling situations in dark reds, yellows, and oranges. The storytelling twists and turns into a train wreck of unclear and murky chaos. A comic book fanatic serial killer, Artik, played by Jerry G. Angelo, teaches his son, played by Chase Williamson, and other children on the farm the secret to getting away with serial killing.
A series of brutal murders continue until the boy befriends an enigmatic man, played by Matt Mercer, who warns he will expose everything.
The undertones create a complicated story that is hard to absorb while it lingers in your mind days after seeing the movie. Artik is a sick, horrific character who uses his son Holton to suit his own macabre. Holton becomes an inadvertent allies young Adam, played by Gavin White. Adam is a neglected and abused boy, heading down a diabolical, dark path, which makes him easy pickings for Artik.
The unlikely friendship sets off a precarious circumstance after circumstance, one after the other, which will leave your jaw hanging more than once on the floor.
Adam’s mother, Flin Brays, played by Lauren Ashley Carter, joins Artik and interacts with Adam. The undertones, again, come into play with neither Flin or Artik being honest with Adam.
The audience experiences a couple of sucker punches at the beginning. They are meant to fool the audience. The deception is sufficient for the development of the story. A few points in the movie leave one to assume they know what is going on in the story, but the situations don’t make sense.
Watching Artik is like watching a long, crazy disaster happening, though the movie is 77 minutes long. I asked myself several times, “Why am I watching this?”
It’s horrifying, disturbing, and gruesome, yet the story pulls at you to watch and discover how the insanity resolves.
The story doesn’t make sense, but exploring the argument that serial killers are born, not made by their environment, is one of the undertones that never delivers the answer.
The movie is complex because there are many children in the movie. It is hard to recognize their son from the children.
Risking both his mental and physical well being, Holton’s investigation into what happened to his Al-Anon sponsor leaves behind a trail of blood and violence. With relentlessly growing intensity, Artik heads for a destructive, action-filled showdown.
Skowronski says the story is about growth wrapped inside a “genre sealed envelope.”
“The character of Artik is based around my dad, who passed away three years ago. While the character of Holton is based around an ex-girlfriend, drawing from within is where the film’s tagline comes from, and I really hope it helps everyone out there turn the negatives in their life into motivation.”
He wanted to create a dynamic that pushes a straight edge character, that is entirely drug-free. “It’s been commonplace with film characters being developed around the idea that there is a cool factor behind drugs and alcohol, and I wanted to present the opposite. I’ve never seen it in film before, and I’m tired of seeing the same types of characters. Not drinking takes lots of balls, and the Holton character explores that a lot.”