Best movie of this year hands down!

Please don't spend money on this.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

"Coven" is a black-and-white 36-minute short film from 15 years ago. The writer and director is David Borchardt and he combines the world of emotional struggles with the world of supernatural occurrences. A man (played by Borchardt as well) goes through some turmoil and decides to seek professional help, but unfortunately the group he joins are not exactly what he was expecting. This is a really weird movie I must say, script looks like it was written under the influence. I wonder how much Borchardt suffered in real and if there is an autobiographical side attached to it. In any case, I thought this dragged and was not a great watch in my opinion. Not recommended and I cannot say I am surprised that Borchardt didn't manage to build career on this fairly famous short film. I can't see much talent in here.

This short film shows real talent. Very artistic looking and reminiscent of horror films of the 70's. The acting left allot to be desired, but it actually looks really good. I like the black and white. I hope to see more movies from Mark, he's classic. The documentary about the making of this film is called American Movie and it's a fascinating look into how this film got made and all the characters that were involved in doing it. Mark and his cronies are super interesting portraits of middle America and the depiction of what a long process it is to make even a short film, is extremely inspirational.

The black&white cinematography is very uneven, some shots almost impossible to make out, others kind of beautiful in a dream-like way.The actors are a bit campy in large part, some are flat-out wooden, and look, we have an obsessed drug abuser who is trying to stay non-mainstream at the heart of the story. But not only that, we have religion playing a large role (although its pretty warped religion)In short, this film is basically PI about writing instead of math, but its budget is so much smaller it has the expected lesser amount of style or graphics. Personally, I like this film, and would even if I hadn't seen Chris Smith's documentary. Recommended viewing if you are hoping to be an artistic filmmaker.

I watched Coven after the intrigue that manifests from watching American Movie, it is totally roughraw, this is a must-see for anyone interested in film making and film rhetoric, the inventiveness and creativity that is apparent here sticks out like a sore (bloody) thumb. The story is wierd yet strangely compelling (well it compelled me :) ) and some of the visual shots are ultimately memorable, there are some great bits of dialogue and the early signs of a great directing style waiting to be developed.Keep your eyes on this guy, if he ever gets lucky enough to get a decent budget he could make a real classic movie, hopefully starring Mike Schank as a gritty new york cop :)