Plot: What’s it about?
The town of Schlarb, Ohio used to be a serene, wonderful place to live, but of late, it has become almost overrun with unusual residents. These inhabitants include various freaks, mental cases, weirdos, and assorted other goons, whom the locals have dubbed Townies. Although most of the locals tend to ignore the Townies and simply go about their business, some of them take action and harass the Townies. But even after the attacks, scares, and harassment, the Townies remain a part of the town and that doesn’t look to change anytime soon. One of the best known Townies is Dickie (Toby Radloff), a bum who digs through dumpsters looking for food, clothes, and whatever else he can discover. After a couple of locals convinced him to seduce his friend Connie, Dickie does so and fails, which results in a broken heart. But a trip back to the dumpsters yields a new girlfriend, the corpse of a woman that was stuffed inside the container. It is love at first site, but Dickie’s story is just one of the countless tales to be found with the Townies and of course, they’re all explored within this motion picture.
This movie has elements of black comedy, tragic drama, suspense, and martial arts, but not enough of any of them to fit within a certain genre. I’d call it a dark comedy if I had to choose a specific genre, but I doubt most people will laugh, though the material is often so out of whack, you can’t help but chuckle. I think the scenes with Toby Radloff (Killer Nerd) are the highlights, especially the sequences with the corpse, but even a simple conversation with some local bullies winds up hilarious, in my opinion. Radloff is excellent as Dickie and the rest of the cast is solid also, even though most are friends or relatives of the filmmakers. So don’t expect classical performances, but the cast does well enough, especially considering that they’re normal people, not trained actors and such. Townies is not the usual Tempe release, as it is not a horror movie and has minimal gore, but it is a low budget gem, so I am pleased to see it released. It won’t spark an interest with all audiences, but it is an unusual, well crafted picture that deserves an audience and with this DVD, I think it will find that audience. This movie is recommended to those interested in offbeat cinema and of course, Tempe’s disc is top of the line in all respects.
Video: How does it look?
Townies is presented in a full frame transfer, as intended. As a low budget, direct to video picture, the image here is not reference level, but for what it is, I think the movie looks good and Tempe’s transfer is more than solid. The source material has some hiccups, but looks clean enough and aside from a couple of digital defects, the authoring work is top notch. I found the black & white visuals to be sharp and crisp here, never overly soft even in darker scenes, thanks to well balanced contrast throughout. The movie’s roots prevent a pristine treatment, but as I mentioned, Tempe has done some great work here, hands down.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio here is stable and acceptable, though as expected, the low budget origins keep it from being too memorable. But then again, this movie is mostly dialogue and low impact audio, so there’s not much need for dynamic sound. The music is clean & clear at all times, while the various sound effects come through well enough also. No problems with dialogue, as vocals seem crisp and always easy to understand, no muffled moments in the least. As I said, not the kind of audio to showcase your home theater with, but for a movie like Townies, it is more than effective and fans should be satisfied.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The main find here is an audio commentary with director Wayne Alan Harold, as well as stars Toby Radloff, P. Craig Russell, and Jay Geldhof. I found this to be a candid, revealing track about how Townies was created, while a nice amount of personal anecdotes also find their way into the session, so a good mixture of topics is explored. A fifteen minute reel of outtakes and behind the scenes footage is next, also well worth a look. A news segment is also included, in which Wayne Alan Harold, Steven Michael Bosko, and J.R. Bookwalter discuss the ins & outs of low budget filmmaking, in addition to fielding some calls from assorted viewers. This disc also includes an interview with Radloff, Radloff’s web segments, a short film by Harold titled Payback is a Bitch, some production stills, and the film’s original trailer.
