Advance Review: Released Summer 2022!
ROLLER JUNKIES (2022)
Directed by Jared Masters.
Written by Jared Masters, James F Gregory, Elizabeth Rath.
Starring McKenna Alvizo, Elizabeth Rath, Rylee Singer, Jayda Raymond, Dawna Lee Heising, Jillean Cooper-Watson, James F Gregory, Aly Rae Santos-Tanner, Art Roberts, Addison Alex, Jordan Case, Tom Gander
Find out more about this film here!
Check out the trailer here!!
This is going to be a mini-review of Jared Masters’ new dark comedy ROLLER JUNKIES, a mockumentary investigating the death of Allison aka “Black Lips,” a wide-eyed country girl who moves to LA in order to expand her horizons. She immediately is taken under the wing of a roller girl gang called the Neons, who have a love/hate relationship with a rival gang the Animals. Masters’ fast and funny script bops from one member of the two gangs to the next in a documentary style interviewing each of them and highlighting their numerous quirks, showing that they would rather talk about themselves than the death of their friend. This is a smart and fast-paced film that drives the point home that the LA and Hollywood crowd are some of the most vapid and self-centered people on the planet, but does so in an often hilarious way.
Stand out performances come from McKenna Alvizo as the good-hearted Allison who gets swept up into this world. I also really loved the post-Valley girl line delivery of Elizabeth Rath as Krypto Kim. But all of the actresses that make up the two gangs are good, delivering funny lines in this smart satire on California living. This is one of those films that celebrates the punk outsider movement of the early eighties like ROCK N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, SUBURBIA, and the like. It definitely is a niche style film, but Masters does a quality job of capturing the feel of the current, entitled generation. This isn’t necessarily a horror film, but it does deal with some dark themes.
But the real reason I want to shed some light on Master’s new film is because he is currently in the final days of his IndieGoGo campaign for his next film THE NIGHTGOWN. Master’s strongest films are in the genre of horror and THE NIGHTGOWN promises to be a stylistic slasher film. Having enjoyed Masters’ indie efforts in the past, specifically BALLET OF BLOOD, AFTER SCHOOL MASSACRE, and the truly unique AGALMATOPHILIA, I’m very interested in THE NIGHTGOWN. Jared Masters is the type of indie voice in low budget filmmaking that we need more of.
MLMILLERWRITES / MLMillerFrights 