DVD Review: Discopath

I know this is a pretty rubbish thing for a supposed ‘film reviewer’ to admit, but there are times when I just can’t come to a conclusion about a film.

What that basically means is I can’t quite work out whether or not something I sat through was a stroke of genius, or a pile of tosh.

Unfortunately, that’s where I sit with Discopath, a film I really wanted to enjoy, and at times did enjoy, but which came ladled with elements I simply thought weren’t up to much.

The title and plotline were enough to reel me in, suggesting some sort of over-the-top romp, probably played out with a knowing wink.

Duane Lewis (Jeremie Earp-Lavergne) is a down-on-his-luck young bloke, flipping burgers for a living in a sweaty 1976 New York.

Turns out Duane has issues though, issues that stem from the fact he witnessed his father being electrocuted to death while playing around with some musical equipment back in the day.

These ‘issues’ are no run-of-the-mill stuff either – rather our burger-flipper feels the need to carve up attractive women whenever he hears the pulsating beats of disco music.

And carve up he does, indulging in some pretty graphic kills (using broken records as weapons obviously).

Anyhow, with the cops on his tail, Duane decides to fly to Montreal, only to find that this does not end his problems or urges, but merely relocates them to another country….

Okay, so here’s what I liked about Discopath – for starters, writer/director Renaud Gauthier does a great job of invoking the time period (it shoots forward from 76 to 1980), both in terms of the film’s grimy appearance, through to a great soundtrack – a mix of throbbing synths and disco tunes.

The death sequences are also pretty full-on, with plenty of claret flying around on screen.

But a lot of the acting leaves much to be desired – at times it appears as if everything is being played for laughs, but then it quickly flips to some hardcore violence.

Of course, ‘cleverer’ genre fans than me will probably point out that it was all meant as a homage or something like that, but if I’m left confused as to whether I’m meant to be laughing at the film or not, then something is just not right.

There are also some plot strands that are hinted at and then quickly dropped, seemingly included for no other reason than to pad out the flimsy 75-minutes-or-so run time.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I sat through Discopath, as it is a horror oddity that I shall definitely chalk up as an experience – I’m just not sure it is one I’d recommend to anyone else.