A horror movie coming at the genre from three different directions, Reborn starts off in distinct tits’n’gore territory, jumps quickly into the supernatural and then eventually morphs into something altogether more psychological.
Key asset is Kayleigh Gilbert, who has a big-eyed face and long physique built for the gothic. She plays the teenager who was stillborn as a baby but then got resuscitated in the hospital by a freak burst of electricity. Raised in secret by morgue attendant Ken (Chaz Bono), a creep with a fascination for the breasts of dead women, she eventually escapes aged 16 to track down her mother, faded actress Lena O’Neill (Barbara Crampton), aided by an ability to control anything electrical, thanks to the accident that brought her back to life all those years before.
Chaz Bono ducks out early on, taking the pornified element of the plot with him, leaving Tess (Gilbert) and her gift behind to roam the outer reaches of LA, until she re-establishes contact with mama, passing herself off as one of her acting students.
From here director Julian Richards and writer Michael Mahin appear to realise that they have too many plot elements for a short (77 minutes) film like this. The supernatural stuff also gets parked, for the most part, while Tess and Lena are getting to know each other – as teacher and student only – and a game of switching sympathies starts to play out. We’re naturally on side with a young woman trying to find her mother. But what if the young woman oversteps the mark in the pursuit of her aim? And we’re also on side with a mother who lost her child years before. But what if we learn more about how she lost that baby, and it isn’t all to her credit?
This is where the meat of the story lies, with the electrical disturbance stuff – powerlines, car engines, remote locking systems – being swung into play by the boggle-eyed Tess whenever she gets upset. Gilbert is particularly good at this. A scream queen career is there for the taking, if Gilbert wants it.
As faded actress Lena O’Neill is faded actress Barbara Crampton, who used to appear in films like this a generation ago. These are the spiritual home of Reborn. Scanners, Carrie and Re-Animator (which starred Crampton) are all in the mix, though Tess is essentially Frankenstein’s monster lumbering about LA. Meanwhile, Rae Dawn Chong, as Lena’s hard-bitten agent, and Michael Paré, as the cop following the trail of bodies left behind by Tess, also blast in from the past.
It’s highly referential, in a “just kidding” kind of way, with one arc consisting of Lena’s upcoming audition for director Peter Bogdanovich, part of her planned return to the big time. Bogdanovich’s name is dropped several times and he does indeed turn up for a cameo but it’s so short it barely registers.
There is energy in the film-making, and an engagement with the narcissism of the acting profession that’s brutal and funny. The whole thing is highly enjoyable if you’re steeped in the sort of movies that Richards and Mahin are deliberately referencing. If you’re not it’ll look more like out-and-out schlock. Are they all just acting badly or are they playing actors who can’t well?
Meta-movies like this can get tricky. The lighting – “just turn everything on” – is either homage or hopeless, take your pick, though towards the end Richards and his DP Brian Sowell get more gothic as the thunderstorm rolls in for a finale with lights and electricity crackling everywhere. But there are also flappy moments and flappy scenes with no purpose. Deliberate or dunder-headed? Intriguing.
Reborn – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2024
