"Sane: The Story of the Boredom Killings" directed by Jeremy Williams and Shane Ryan (Isolation) who credit themselves as The Cousin Bros., is now online at Studentfilms.com

I see some people already gave some constructive reviews before I got a chance to post anything, so this is actually good as I might be able to explain a couple things.

1) I don't think this film would be removed from the site due to content because it is definately not beyond an "R" rating. I've seen "R" rated films w/ far more sex and violence than this. Even "Titanic" had an equal amount of nudity as this film, the only difference is that this nudity is in a rape scene, therefore making it "R" content. And there is only blood in one scene as we only had $20 to make this film, so the violence is not really that graphic. I think it's just that the movie is disturbing (which it hopefully should be) and it may get to people in a disgusting way.
PLUS: there are are multiple disclaimers.

2) "WOW! To evoke such an unsettling emotion from (the) audience is an art. Not to compare, but the killings had an Oliver Stone/"Natural Born Killers" feel...we loved it!" - Philadelphia Video Festival

I use this quote to compare some similarities. No, the filmmakers do not think their film even compares to "NBK", but Shane Ryan loves Oliver Stone and that's his favorite movie so I'm sure there was an influence. Jeremy Williams is heavy into anime, so together I think it painted an interesting movie, and like "NBK" I think most people have completely looked past the point these filmmakers were trying to make.

I remember that SHane stopped watching TV completely after he saw a preview for a one hour episode on the Columbine shooting, that used slow motion effects from the real life footage, and the masterpiece score from the bloody war movie "Platoon", to add to the drama. He thought it was sick to make an event out of that. Later, Shane and Jeremy came across a very underrated movie called "15 Minutes". After seeing that they got the idea for "Sane".

"Sane" was supposed to be an example of what our society has become: Kids killing kids, pointless murders, rape (and while all this has been going on for centuries it's TV that has decided to make a horrific entertaining event out of it). That all came down to making a short film that would be an example of a TV show today.

What if these kids really did kill people for fun and filmed it? We bet any TV station or news would pay for the footage. And edit it together in such an extreme way that it would turn out surreal, like "Sane".

End of story.

Didn't mean to rant and not ragging on the 2 reviews already posted. It's very constructive criticism and that's what we want!

Just please, do not view this film if you think you will be deeply offended, known somebody who was raped, killed, hanged. If any of these things offend you deeply, do not view this film.

Regards,
Michael-Brian
Alter Ego Cinema
www.alteregocinema.com

link to "Sane"
http://www.studentfilms.com/film/get.do?id=793

I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood. We would love for people to post reviews regardless of what they feel, loved it or hate it, offended or not.

I was just trying to give people a friendly warning not to watch it if this kind of material will offend you and you don't want to be offended or disgusted.

And the movie is also entirely fiction work that was improvised by Ryan and Williams. There was never an incident about boredom killings in AZ. At least not that this film was based on. It is a work of fiction.

I talk about this film as if it is not, because it is not. The directors are Jeremy Williams and Shane Ryan, not me. My name is Michael-Brian, as I stated on the first post in this thread. I didn't feel the need to state it on the second post but I guess I should.

I am the president of Alter Ego Cinema, the production company responsible for "Sane", so I was responding to the reviews on it, to try and explain and discuss a few things. I've been around for most of the shootings and editing and know a majority of the things about each of the films on the Alter Ego Cinema website that I promote.

As for the film not being real, it is a mockumentary. A mockumentary is supposed to look and feel like a documentary even though it's fake. That's the whole point. Documentaries have dates, times, names of locations, etc. of when stuff happens (especially if you're watching a documentary of when a crime took place), so that is why there are dates.

And usually, when people think this was a real event, we don't tell them at first or at all that it is fake. but given the fact that people on this site seemed greatly offended that it was possibly a real story, and especially since it gave us a scare that it may cause the film to be banned from the site, we thought we'd let everyone know that it is not real or based on anything real.

The filmmakers got the idea from a movie called "15 Minutes" w/ Ed Birns and Robert DeNiro and filmed an improvised movie based on what the two killer characters in the movie did.

Their idea was to show filmed evidence of horrible crimes committed, put together in a fun and surreal way, almost appearing as if it couldn't have happended cause it's too bizarre.

If you look at "reality tv" today, they get off on the pain of others. Cool car crashes, fights, etc. etc. It wouldn't be so bad if it was showing it to show what's going on out there, but when you ad voice overs of narrators practically making fun of what's happening, that is just not right. And dating shows are all about people cussing at each other, cheating on each other, fighting, crying, etc. And people watch that crap. Real people being hurt and humiliated. SO, the whole idea, was that society today, or more like the media today, feeds off of the pain of others.

And that's what the filmmakers were trying to show. If they had had a budget of more than 20 bucks, more help, a narrative story on top of the crimes, a shot list, storyboards, script, etc. they might have been able to get the point across, but they didn't. Shane and Jeremy are brothers who were seperated at a young age, and at that point rarely got a chance to see each other, so they had one weekend to make that movie and that's what they did.

It's been loved by some, hated by many, but that's how it goes.

I really hope this has given all the insight you might want as I can't think of what else to type right now.

Best,
Michael-Brian

what's with the needless arguing? i think alter ego makes some valid points. i think the fact it's presented like it really happend makes it more unsettling.

i understand and respect the thought behind the idea. and yes bigmovie you compared it to 'elepant' and that is correct - the two films simply observe this insane behavior caused by these people without ever giving an explanation. i hated elephant too, but i get the idea it presents. because there is no real explanation that's why the film just has to alienate itself from its topic.

i think the fact this film is so disturbing is good beacuse it acts as a wake-up message to people that crazy insane **** like this DOES happen...it's not meant to be 'liked' necessarily.

I understand some of the remarks, but as far as the documentary thing;

we only told people it was fake in fear of it getting banned. Otherwise we would let people think it was real or real-based.

As far as the filmmakers not talking;

that makes sense to be upset about that, but we're trying to all take on different jobs. The filmmakers make the movies, the promters promote them, etc. I know most of the stuff you need to know about the movies, if I don't, I ask them. I don't see the difference on the internet. If it were in person I'd understand.

If the filmmakers want to resond it's not like I hold them prisioner, they have every right to do their own thing.

Mike-B

I think it's funny how you're trying to pass off what it basically a poorly-done exploitation flick as something that carries a social message. This is exploitation, and it's not good exploitation. The music-video style direction prevented the killing or rape from being disturbing at all - the camera was shaking so much that you couldn't even see what was going on. If you want to see some actual disturbing violence and rape, check out "Bully." The director lets the camera sit still and observe how long it takes to actually kill someone. If you were interested in making something truly realistic and sickening, the 12 minute run time would have allowed a single killing. When you simply hoist someone into the air by a rope tied around their neck, they can survive for quite a while. In real hangings, it's the initial drop that usually breaks the victim's neck and results in a quick death.

Yes, we've all seen Bully, Kids, Gummo, NBK, Blair Witch, etc. etc. and none of these films were the inspirations for "Sane." The movie "15 Minutes" w/ Ed Burns and Robert DeNiro is what inspired these filmmakers to run out, grab a camera, grab some poepl, and have almost their entire movie done by morning w/ the $20 they had in their pocket.

And I think I've already posted this before, yes here it is copied and paste.

"The filmmakers got the idea from a movie called "15 Minutes" w/ Ed Birns and Robert DeNiro and filmed an improvised movie based on what the two killer characters in the movie did.

Their idea was to show filmed evidence of horrible crimes committed, put together in a fun and surreal way, almost appearing as if it couldn't have happended cause it's too bizarre."


They weren't trying to make it realistic. They were saying, TV likes to make horrible things look fun and be entertaining, so let's take some sick things (a woman getting her head bashed by a frying pan, a boy being hanged and a girl being raped and sliced to death) and make it out to be a fun thing.

That was just their portrayal of reality TV. They weren't trying to copy any movies, not even "15 Minutes", that just gave them the idea. And Jeremy had been making films all through high school and Shane since he was about 3 and neither ever stop studying and learning. They made this whole thing in about a week (counting editing and music) w/ an additional scene filmed later. And I think for a film made this quickly with only 20 bucks shows that these guys have undeniable talent. Maybe just not in the way that some poeple want. But what else could you except from, what were they about 19 years old?

But I doubt this will be the end of the hard-core bashing some people have been doing, like saying "Is that your mom in the Shower, get a job at McDonald's". C'mon, that's scummier than the stuff in the movie to say something like that. This person is complete pathetic trash in my book. Knowing Shane's mom, who is a blind woman who has accomplished more challenging things in her life than this guy ever will, makes me furious to hear somebody be so stupid. This movie's uncalled for? no, this guy's statement is uncalled for.

Alhtough Evan, you were very polite in your disagreement with the movie and I thank you for that. It's not easy to be polite and mature when you strongly disagree with something, so keep that attitude. You'll proabbly get a lot of respect for it.