Horror Favourites – Mark Savage

Directed by Mark Savage, PAINKILLER is a gritty thriller that takes a sharp look at those behind a crisis plaguing the United States. Mark took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about the horror film he loves the most.

After losing his daughter to a drug overdose, a broken father begins a vigilante campaign to bring down the white-collar criminals behind the opioid epidemic in PAINKILLER. The timely and powerful thriller stars acting veterans Michael Paré (Eddie & the Cruisers, Gangster Land) and Bill Oberst Jr. (‘Scream Queens’ ‘Criminal Minds’) and takes an unapologetic look at a crisis facing countless American families. PAINKILLER is available On Demand, Digital and DVD now.

In PAINKILLER, Bill Johnson (Oberst Jr.) has suffered the kind of loss that no parent should ever have to; watching his daughter fall victim to the opioid epidemic, which too long went unnoticed. Conversely, Dr. Alan Rhodes (Pare), has been leading a lavish lifestyle, thanks to the profits he’s been making from his prescription business. Seeing that no one is being held accountable, Bill sets out on a campaign targeting those made rich by the suffering of so many. Teaming up with a rogue cop, they set out to dismantle this network of doctors and pharmaceutical executives that continue to devastate families across the country.

Written by Savage and Tom Parnell, the story is drawn from the plight of millions of Americans and is produced with the raw emotions of their suffering. Co-stars include Pacey Liz Walker (The Rosa Parks Story); Alexander Pennecke (‘Blacklist’). The film was produced by Savage with Parnell also acting as Executive Producer, and in a pivotal role as a well-intentioned doctor.

Below Painkiller’s director Mark Savage talks about his favourite horror film:

“Despite its deliberately inflammatory title, Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN MASSACRE (’74) is a surprisingly subtle example of focused, sustained, troubling dread on film (16mm, in this case). Not terribly gory, it’s a masterpiece of suggestion (you never actually see the girl placed on a meathook, for example) and rising menace. Again, for a film bearing an evocative title, there is enormous contrast and great beauty in the choice of locations, the editing of sun, moon, and sky, and the stunning tracking shots that feel as natural and seductive as a gentle, calming breeze –– a deceptive style, a visual lullaby of sorts, that, ultimately, pays enormous dividends.

Working with talented cinematographer Daniel Pearl, who also shot the Marcus Nispel remake (2003), the brief explosions of violence –– which have more in common with the yakuza-inspired mayhem of Takeshi Kitano than the blood-spilling of Romero or Sam Raimi –– possess a suddenness and finality that draw us into a claustrophobic world without hope.

From the spare but eerily effective sound design to the bickering of the film’s central characters, TEXAS CHAINSAW aural world establishes a familiar reality that never assures us that this is only a movie, only a movie, only a movie. Its brilliance, and the reason it’s been so influential, is that it tells an uncluttered tale of boogeymen who may exist. Eschewing the supernatural, traditional horror tropes (it re-wrote modern “tradition”), and the deliberately comical –– though its darkest humor serves as a release valve for the pressure we’re experiencing –– it is a stunningly effective fifty year old horror film that remains utterly relentless, genuinely intense, and truly perfect.”