“I dunno.”

ZombieDog’s rating: Passion will carry you a long way

ZombieDog’s review: How do cult movies come into existence? Is it strictly passion? I’ll bet Ed Wood would agree with this. Is it a unique directorial perspective? I can’t imagine it would hurt — and I would desperately like to see David Lynch’s take on a John Wick movie. Is it the complete package of vision, directorial skill, and passion? This seems like the most obvious, and, to be fair, I would really like to see Quentin Tarantino’s version of Star Trek. I would say story is extremely important, but the individuals who propel the project forward have to be core components.

Enter Andrew Bowser: a filmmaker and comedian whom I became aware of with the YouTube shorts of “Weird Arbys Guy” and “Weird Guy Almost Falls into a Sinkhole.” An interesting and original character to be sure, although I wasn’t really certain where he could take it from there. As it turns out, Mr. Bowser definitely had a plan. He set his goal to movie-making, launched a kickstarter, and raised $600,000. I doubt this would even pay for catering on a $200M Marvel movie but it was enough to fuel his true passion and raw tenacity.

Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls stars Bowser (also writer and director), Jeffrey Combs (cult film royalty), Barbara Crampton (yet more royalty), Rivkah Reyes (School of Rock), and a handful of other competent working actors. It’s about an outcast loaner emo goth-type character who is profoundly unhappy with his life and desperately wants a change — any kind of change. He gets his wish by winning the “Bartok the Great’s Grand Getaway Contest” and gets an all-inclusive weekend getaway at an occult superstar’s spooky mansion.

As you would imagine Onyx is absolutely ecstatic to have to not only have won but also to meet his idol. When he arrives, he meets the other contest winners who, while not exactly like him, are unique in their own rights. Together, the group definitely fits into the quasi-Satanic spooky mansion setting. Without giving too much away, the contest winners slowly begin to realize that something more sinister is going on and that they are in the middle of it.

While this might seem like a fairly generic “this situation is not what you think” plot, Bowser puts his own spin on it. The film has an ’80s feel without being overly cliché, and it’s not entirely clear what time frame it really is. His mother (Crampton) wears a Walkman, and Onyx browses the internet on an ancient CRT monitor.

Onyx the Fortuitous tries to embrace black comedy with some horror aspects. Unfortunately, this approach turns out to be hit or miss. When it hits, it’s genuinely funny and fresh. When it misses, it’s more obvious than it should be. I chalk this up to being Bowser’s first film, and I expect that he can only get better from this point.

This is not to say this film is a disaster — far from it. In my opinion, I am beyond amazed at what he has accomplished here. As a first time filmmaker, not only did he pull in some named actors, he did an awesome job at stretching a buck. There are times when I genuinely laughed and other times where I thought parts could have been better. It’s absolutely worth your time to see it in the theater or rent it. Just be ready to sit back for a goofy black comedy.

This is the kind of stuff I live for and I would desperately like to see more of, such as Donnie Darko (2001), Napoleon Dynamite (2004), and Primer (2004). I’m really surprised that there isn’t a constant deluge of movies being produced on YouTube from kids getting their first camera and adults trying their hand at filmmaking. The entry-level is extraordinarily low, and many of the necessary software tools can be downloaded for free. I know there are services like Vimeo and of course YouTube that host content which just in my mind I expected the level of creativity be exponentially greater than when video camera first came out.

While I don’t follow Bowser religiously, I do know that he’s starting up another Patreon to develop another film. Will I be supporting a yet unnamed project? I’d have to see the pitch first. The second project is harder in many ways because it gets compared to the first and it’s often expected that you exceed expectations. How many bands have had one hit song? All things being equal though, I would definitely welcome another Roger Cormanesque prolific filmmaker who is constantly reaching for the stars while shopping at the dollar store. Or maybe, just maybe, my real fantasy is realized and a wave of creativity falls on the industry as they embrace passionate filmmakers who just need somebody to give them a chance.