Brunswick Underground Film Fest 2025 Review - Bum
Images courtesy of Brunswick Underground Film Festival.
The SOV (shot-on-video) format was most prevalent throughout the 80s and 90s, but due to the availability of cheap handycams and a plethora of various tape formats (VHS, VHS-C, Super VHS, Hi8, MiniDV, etc.) it continued to be the default for many wannabe genre filmmakers into the 2000s and beyond, particularly those without the budget for higher end celluloid film setups. With a scuzzy, lo-fi aesthetic, the medium itself represents the down and dirty approach many took to making features, some key examples being The Blair Witch Project, basketball doc Hoop Dreams, Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots, Harmony Korrine’s Trash Humpers, as well as the delightfully grotesque films of the Polonia brothers.
Yet in our digital age, it's rare to find filmmakers still willing to go through the trouble of digitising footage, while handycams have seen somewhat of a resurgence in the videography space, largely due to a want to capture authentically nostalgic imagery. Enter the short films of Anthony Leroy, here making his almost-feature-length debut with BUM, clocking in at a lean 39 minutes. Here he continues the exaggerated and campy sensibilities of his Tad Nightingale short films (Hunting Party, Brain Bucket, and Worm Burner, all available on his YouTube channel), but cranks the dial all the way up when it comes to practical ooze, piss, and gore.
Following an amateur news crew on their investigation of a local homeless camp, dwindled down by the new mayor’s “Burn The Tents” campaign, it's clear from the opening minute alone where Leroy's stylistic sensibilities lie - with tongue surgically implanted in cheek. Overacting and hammy performances are the name of the game, which after being through a decade and a half of independent cinema where actors often opt to mumble-whisper, feels like a breath of fresh air. BUM just wants to have a good time, much like Leroy’s mulleted dude bro character Garth “Girth” Brooks, but there's enough pushback from side characters to stop the whole thing from feeling too mean-spirited (which is odd to say about a film that features a gaggle of unhoused people burning an infant for warmth).
There are many enjoyable performances from actors outside of the director, with Leigha Stiles as the crew’s up-and-coming anchor Valerie, Josh Murphy’s Shaggy-like cameraman Guy, and Grant Moore as privileged mayor Jim Lackey all adding to the feral nature of BUM. David Arquette look-alike Ian Coventry also makes a brief appearance as a particularly unhinged and possibly suicidal police officer, but not before the film has unleashed hell on its ill-prepared crew. There's lots of fun and surprisingly well-executed bits of gore as well as an extreme gross-out moment that many directors could only dream of having the balls to attempt, and Leroy and his team don't stray from playing with fire either. It's the kind of film you can look at and know the resources were definitely on the low end of the scale, but then also be puzzled by, wondering how they got the cash together to pull some of this off.
Low on budget but high on ambition, BUM represents the exact type of cinema I wish I was exposed to more in high school, the kind of art that makes you realise just how few roadblocks might actually be between your concepts and the actual execution of your first feature film. Thanks to the dope programming at BUFF for putting me onto this, because it's rare to find someone out there that's making the exact kind of art you’re inspired by.
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Bum is screening as part of Brunswick Underground Film Festival. The festival runs from the 30th of May to the 1st of June. Check out the festival website for tickets and more info here.