Here’s a project just stumbled upon, although I suspect it’s been making the rounds for a little while: Ashley Cahill’s CHARM, which looks to be in the darkly comic vein of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, AMERICAN PSYCHO and MAN BITES DOG. No easy task reaching those heights, but judging by the film’s cheeky “look at me!” teaser trailer, it doesn’t want for pretension or attitude.
Produced by Jonathan Craven, CHARM breaks down thusly:
Being the adventures of a young man whose principle interests are movies, New York, and mass murder. “Charm” is an electrifying new film about Malcolm (Ashley Cahill), a New Yorker who gets tired of how gentrified, tepid and antiseptic it’s all become. What’s happened to the ‘Good ole days’?! And so he decides to take matters into his own hands by personally starting a crime wave which he hopes will catch on and drive real estate value down, opening up the city to bohemians, artists and a swell of creativity, just like the supposed good ‘ole days of the 1970s and 80s. The only problem is: Nobody is paying attention. A fresh, shocking and darkly comic film in the vein of “American Psycho” and “A Clockwork Orange.”
In addition to Craven, CHARM was produced by Cody Zweig, who worked on THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and THE HILLS HAVE EYES II alongside Wes’ son.
Film, which is being represented at the Cannes Film Festival by Bleiberg Entertainment, stars Ashley Cahill, Rebecca Dayan, Jennifer Murray, James DeBello, Jake Hoffman and, evidently, Kirsten Dunst (?!).
Kirsten Dunst