Lola (Faye Tamasa) has arrived in a suburb of Los Angeles to stay with her brother, Louis (Burt Thakur).
Seems prosaic enough, but there are a few hiccups. For one, Los Angeles is pretty much closed for business due to a mysterious governmental mandate which enforces folks staying within the confines of their homes… which is odd, but doesn’t hold a candle to the strangeness of Louis roommate, a man known as Cage (Robert Brettenaugh)… a kind of New Age observer of the human condition with next to zero social skills… additionally, he’s a pervert… a big one.
Soon, shipments of food arrive along with an unmarked packet of strange seeds which Lola plants in the backyard which results in a hole appearing in the ground filled with a blood-like substance that tastes exactly like whatever the taster finds delicious… so naturally our heroes down that shit like shots, which results in some rather nasty crimson-hued hallucinations involving mysterious holes… this is surely going to go smoothly for all involved…
Tensions mount between Louis and Cage as their addiction to the ground juice escalates, and soon Louis turns up… missing? I mean he’s there, but not there as only his voice can be heard emanating from the hole in the ground… a hole that also produces a strange plant.
Of course that leads to an expansion of consciousness and the opening of portals that will make Lola’s existence fight for survival hallucinatory as it is harrowing!
Coming from Writer/Director/Cinematographer Jake Macpherson, Terror Firma is an absolute psychotronic masterpiece that refuses to hand-hold the audience, but rather puts a boot up their ass and throws them headfirst into a swirling pit of strange people, stranger plants, alternate realities and most enjoyably in the eyes of this revoltin’ reviewer, absolute fever-dream insanity!
As mentioned, the narrative is ambiguous, and while the basic premise of a small group of people trapped (mostly) in a single location as the world goes upside-down is a tried n’ true terror trope, the reasons why these events are transpiring are never fully revealed… which instantly makes the viewer feel as unsure and uneasy as our heroine, making the journey even more exciting to take.
That single location (minus a few exteriors and one room elsewhere), along with the small cast makes this a clever use of budget, and via voice overs and snippets of info here and there we never feel as if there isn’t a world gone mad right beyond the doorstep.
All of that is sold expertly by an amazing cast that features only three main actors, one smaller role, and the aforementioned voice overs. To break it down a tad more, Tamasa makes for a strong lead as a woman who has definitely been through this shit and is rather unwilling to go through anymore, which stands in sharp contrast to her brother played by Thakur to lovable (though unafraid to be protective) perfection.
The villainous turn from Brettenaugh is truly excellent as well, and he generates everything from slightly weirdo vibes to full-blown psychopathic intensity with conviction, and the more he appears the more creeped out you will doubtless become.
To enhance your enjoyment of all of the above, this Blu-ray from MVD Entertainment contains some bonus features to expand your mind… in regards to the film at least…
First up comes an expanded Director’s Cut of the film (which contains more on the relationship between Lola and Ted (Max Carpenter) that only marginally appears in the regular version), followed by a fascinating audio commentary from Macpherson that details how this awesomeness came to be!
Also included are a “behind-the-scenes” photo gallery, and the film’s trailer.
Unique, surprising, mind-bending, disturbing, and totally off-the-wall, Terror Firma is a psychotronic crown jewel of a picture that I can’t recommend highly enough!
