Get ready for spoilers.
Well it took a while to track this gem down and I finally did tonight. It's a short film of only 39 minutes but those minutes are never squandered. The film was also met with a limited physical release. People who have watched it describe it as Lovecraftian, and when you too give it a gander, you will see exactly what those people mean.
One thing that pops out about the film is the film's minimalism. It has standard filmography that doesn't break any new ground on its own, but that's not befalling of the film's quality. The quality comes from the pacing and of course the eponymous "AM 1200", a radio station from which our anti-hero catches a distress signal. At night. A number of strange goings on, starting with some of his electronics on hand shorting out or suddenly ceasing their functions, mysterious lights forming in the wilderness, and of course the seemingly abandoned radio station all hint at something sinister.
So he goes inside, daft as that may be, and he too tries calling for help. More odd things make him go exactly where he's needed. As he investigates the radio station, noticing a barricaded door in the interim, he comes across a man detained to a pole. The man has clearly come out of some strange spell for he's not only entirely irrational, but is borderline psychotic. The encounter gets stranger and stranger hinting at a greater, more sinister force at work, but then his actions lead to the protagonist being forced to kill him.
After he does this, a strange, unexplained force seems to assault his mind. It's a struggle that he ends up losing and it gets the better of him. He grabs the detained man's body, hauls him over to the barricaded door, removes the barricade, then brings him down a cellar staircase. He hoists the body onto a workshop table of some sort and in a cold fashion he dismembers it. After he takes possession of a couple of those body parts, and brings them toward a hole in the floor.
Our protagonist peers into the hole, which at first resembles a well filled with water. Then something shifts within. It is this something that beckons him to offer the fruits of his horrible misdeed as a twisted feeding ritual. When this is done, he clambers toward the radio equipment that is still working and makes a call for help. The cycle continues.
So with the plot out of the way, let's get down to basics. First is the most noticeable aspect of the film: it is very short. This is not to the detriment of the product because everything that needed to be shown to the viewer was indeed all that was necessary. Ever heard of a little something called "excess" or "bloat", when referring to movies? Well at least this film can't be declared guilty of this. It's short and to the point, which is perfect. And because the film will very likely leave you with questions about what actually happened, that means the mysterious aspect of the plot was written well. It's a horror film with a cosmic tinge. In other words, the perfect Lovecraftian horror film.
Ray Wise, not exactly an A-Lister by some means (he's had credits in RoboCop, Jeepers Creepers 2, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, and Twin Peaks to name some), does show up in flashbacks to establish the protagonist's backstory, before he's on the run in his car to be exact. Not much is done with Wise's character otherwise but the whole sequence in which he appears does help to cement the film's dreary tone, something akin to a neo-noir film.
There are damn near no special effects used at all. And this actually works to the film's benefit because it ends up being, feeling so raw. When inexplicable lights appear in the woods, seeming to float their way closer and closer to our protagonist, you do feel a bit of dread as to what it is. As more and more strange goings-on manifest to scare the main character into taking shelter. One feeling that you may get from watching the whole thing is that it is all so minimalist. The radio station of note seems particularly tiny, but that adds to how fucking creepy the place is. Then towards the ominous ending you learn the terrible secret literally lurking right underneath.
If you want powerful chills coupled with modest brevity, then AM1200 is the horror flick for you. My only complaint right now is that the official DVD for this rather short (not that it's a downside in itself) film warrants a fifteen dollar price tag. If you think that's reasonable then by all means get it, and show your friends.
B+
The Good:
+ Nothing in the duration of the film is wasted. It builds up to something, shows us the source of the horror, then sets up more atrocities.
+ Eric Lange delivers convincing emotional responses to the strange occurrences in the film.
+ Makes you keep guessing. That's how you do suspense!
+ The lack of music overall compounds the dread.
+ The radio station is definitely the creepiest part of the film.
+ Is inspired by the works of Lovecraft.
+ That thing in the hole.
The Bad:
- The film's brevity may actually turn off some viewers.
- Leaves you wanting more.
- The film's price tag is a tad on the steep side.
- Little is done with Ray Wise's character beyond providing backstory to Lange's character.
