A review by David Munoz
George Lucas once said that anyone can make a movie given enough time and money. The trick, he said, was to bring it in on schedule and on budget. This statement holds true to only 3 of the 4 movie types: big budget blockbusters; mid budget movies and low budget films. It does not hold true to the fourth and final type - the no budget movie. How can it? How can a movie be brought in on budget when it has none? How can a movie be brought in on schedule when a schedule is non- existent? Indeed, some might say a no budget movie poses more obstacles than any other - the friends who don't show up, the director having to wear a multitude of hats, the list goes on and on. The simple fact is, for a no budget movie to get finished at all is a remarkable accomplishment.
This fourth type of movie - the No Budget movie- is, and has been, steadily on the rise since video cameras, HD cameras and semi-pro cameras have become increasingly available to the general public. The hybrid bastard offspring of the low budget movie and amateur home movie, the no-budget movie can at any given time be tremendously inventive, genuinely creative or downright horrendous. As a one-time no budget filmmaker myself, it is a weakness of mine to seek out these films. I absorb them. I devour them. I love to see what a handful of friends with no money and a video camera can accomplish. This weakness lead me to Jason R. Stewart's 1991 movie "The Trespassers".
The plot revolves around a scientist, Dr. Roberts (Karl Sawyer) inventing a formula which he hopes will help mankind but like most things created for good it could also be used for evil if it fell into the wrong hands. Enter the Doctors' former assistant, Tasker, (director Jason Stewart) who plots to steal the formula for his new boss, Lord Holec. Dr. Roberts, in an attempt to guard his formula against Tasker's army hires 2 mercenaries - Snake (Darrick Sawyer) and Storm (A.Joseph Baird) leading to a grand slam of a climax. Who will triumph? Good? Evil?
Upon viewing "The Trespassers" for the first time I found it to fall into the usual pitfalls of most no-budget movies. It uses friends and relatives as actors, it lacks technical expertise and I found the storyline to be somewhat confusing. This was due, to some extent, to a lot of the actors being of a similar age and bearing a similar appearance to one another when seen from afar. Another confusing aspect is who, or what, is Lord Holec.? Is he an alien? A mafia lord? The devil? It is difficult to tell what he is.
There is, however, a certain charm to "The Trespassers" that was pleasantly surprising. I found myself enjoying the nostalgia of it all. It captured a certain moment in time (the late 80's / early 90's) and I easily identified with this madcap group of friends making - and completing!!! - a movie. An amazing feat. (Also amazing was the whole thing was made in 2 days!). Another of its surprising strengths is its humor. There are parts that are genuinely funny, more so because when they happen they are not expected. Case in point is when one of Tasker's henchmen starts to play Mario Brothers on a computer which is also another great link to a moment frozen in time. All in all "The Trespassers" is a valiant effort and one that is more enjoyable upon a second viewing.
The disc itself has the standard fare of extras: deleted scenes, interviews and out takes and bloopers but the highlight is a segment revisiting the location where the movie had been filmed some 15 years earlier. What had been a house lived in by a family in ' 91 is now a burnt out carcass of a building surrounded by overgrown weeds and debris. This segment is the most interesting of the extras as Tasker himself gives us a tour of the grounds. It ends with comparison shots of how the location looked like in the movie and how it looks today. The forlorn location being run over by nature is quite a sad and haunting visual.
In conclusion, "The Trespassers" is what you might expect from a no budget movie. It has its pros and it has its cons. There are better movies out there and there are worse but if you were a budding teen filmmaker in the early 90's with a true passion for wanting to make a movie then you will most undoubtedly see a little piece of yourself in this production!
From Nightwaves Magazine (2008)
"The Trespassers"- Directed by Jason Robert Stewart
Star Theatre Video
oocities.com/trespassersmovie
When I was a youth, there was nothing more exciting to me that getting my hands on a video camera and making my own little films. My dream at the time was to be a film director, and I had visions of one day making huge, lavish Hollywood productions. Ah, the naivete of youth.
It seems that Jason Stewart and I had similar goals. "The Trespassers" is essentially a movie that he made back in 1991 with a group of friends and any talent that could be wrangled together. This film is pretty much what you would expect when a bunch of kids get their hands on a camcorder. However, that's not to say that this movie is sloppy. Not by any means. In fact, at times it is downright impressive.
The story, which is very comic book-esque, centers on characters with names like Tasker, Roberts and Kurtz, and the development of a new form of energy, an energy so revolutionary it would make nuclear power look like "a cherry bomb". Also present is the evil Holec, the quintessential bad guy whom we never actually see. The plot of the film follows the grand tradition of sci-fi films featuring good guys and bad guys. Again, a comic book appeal is very evident.
The film starts with a very smooth intro, complete with a fine narration job, but then it very quickly gives way to numerous scenes with bad lighting and amateurish acting. Again, this is pretty much to be expected considering the ages of the talent involved and the conditions under which the film was made, so I don't really hold this against the director. For the most part, the camera work is very fluid and steady.
When keeping in mind that this is the work of creatively inclined youths, a lot can be forgiven. Laughable lines like Holec stating "I'll make you fudge!" are sort of to be expected, as are scenes that were shot in laundry rooms (with washers and dryers very apparent in the background). Again, this is not classic cinema, rather, it is the charming work of a bunch of kids who probably had nothing better to do on some long ago summer afternoons.
I must mention the extras that are included on this DVD version of the film. I enjoyed them a lot. One featurette called "Trespassers House Revisited" has Stewart going back to the site where the film was originally shot back in 1991. It is genuinely eerie to see what has become of the house and the yard where much of the film was shot. The deleted scenes are fun too.
I applaud Stewart and his friends for being very ambitious and imaginative. I sincerely miss those days when I used to shoot fun little movies in my backyard. This was definitely a suburban tradition that numerous creative young people indulged in. This film reminds me of the purity of just creating something for the fun of it. Stewart's passion is evident in every corner of the DVD.
Review by Gary Flanagan