Schism

Then, there was the disparity in acting styles. Moira was doing an excellent job of acting serious to the bone, keeping aloft with realistic reactions to outrageous situations. Phoenix, however, was doing a performance that seemed completely in line with a soap opera, while Duffy was doing her lines like a supporting player in one of John Waters’ earlier movies. However, both performances develop substantially and potently as evil comes to the surface, and you realize this is done by design.

So just when you are ready to chalk up the incongruities to “well, that’s the indie biz,” you have these incredible onscreen events that are punching way above their weight. Suddenly, everything settles in a certain way, which rings dead solid perfect, with amazing lighting and angles, plus the music hits it just right.

Then it hit me why this movie was so electrifying: Schism is camp to a degree we haven’t seen in decades. Camp is a lost art, as it deteriorated in the late 80s from camp to cheese and has stayed that way. The imperfections enhance the whole with an entirely subversive aura, like rips on jeans. The slightly off-kilter execution makes the exploitation sizzle its sockets out, increasing the impact of all the insanity.

“Schism caught me off-guard, as it has been years since I have run into a movie like this.”

This is high camp of such purity that it may cause fainting among the less seasoned members of society. I also noticed how effectively the script by Moreno got down to business in riveting the viewer’s attention to the storyline. Moreno also did a masterful job of establishing tunnels of mystery for the audience to look forward to going down. A good movie will give you a locked door in order to eager you up to see what is behind it. *Schism* gives you several such doors, but it gets even better.

What is inside the mystery tunnel is even more confounding, being just defined enough to be sinister but undefined enough to really intensify the horrible possibilities. It plays like a lethal chopped-down version of Shutter Island that is easier to follow and twice as scary. Moreno has a lot of talent and maverick instincts that make his work worthy of tracking. Schism is a creepy camp classic for modern times.