“All of us do what needs to be done so that we can pass except for Marc. He is panicking trying to complete his final paper, and the only solution is pulling an all nightery in the library, cramming. When he woke up, Marc was shocked to realize that his paper was missing! Now alone in the columns of the tall eldritch library, Marc yearns for a way to escape this dilemma. When Marc does wake up, where is he? And what is going. There is way too much light in here. I guess I am going to do the only sensible thing there is, which is give up. Scary, I know. But the library has other things planned for him.”
CRAM thrives on the solid aspects of college life, focusing on the familiar stressful time of finals. Sure, I do recall dozing off in the college library only to be rudely awoken by a member of staff, or maybe it was the security guard. I think it might have been more than once. At any rate, that library did have some obsolete parts that were, in fact, scary. Abie Sidell as a filmmaker incorporates all of those elements and follows Marc, his character, in his gruesome “Wonderland” which is ruled by The “Master of the Books” Sidwell’s depiction is what the classroom lacks.
Sidell has done an amazing job telling the screen. He follows his main character Marc Lack on a journey through an academically dystopic Nightmare which may or may not stem from Marc’s unconscious mind.
Does he step outside, contemplate his surroundings, test the air, and then wander into another building? I feel like Marc is on some form of a quest. Eventually, he has to confront an academic council that resembles the inquisition which brings him to “The Master of the Books.” He had a lot of gravitas and I did like that character, and it was not exploited in excess. It would make a good franchise in the line of Freddy, without the knives of course. I really enjoyed the characters, the plot, and how everything was written. It was an entertaining ride. It’s engaging.
The filmmakers do an excellent job in transforming the library into a dark dreamscape. The framed scenes that act as portals to other locations are nice. Nice and slick editing creates good transitions and sustains energy throughout the whole film. Some organic costumes help add to the dream-like quality in later scenes. I’m on the fence when it comes to the makeup for “The Master of the Books.” I get that they were possibly trying to create the aesthetic of dried out pages, but I think they could have done better. I found it distracting and was not a big fan.
I liked the score composed by Daniel Rudin. In the beginning, it has a youthful feel to it, which sets the mood for the film, and as Marc’s journey progresses, the score slowly intensifies. The emotional are of the film is beautifully portrayed through the score, and so is the tension and suspense which is built throughout the film.
On the whole, the movie has a good ensemble of actors. John Dimino plays Marc’s character. Dimino’s role is that of “that guy” you went to college with. He is reminiscent of Justin Long, but a tad smoother. He makes the character much less one-dimensional which is very refreshing. It makes the character dynamic and interesting which is important for the audience’s sympathy. In contrast, Brandon E. Burton’s “The Master of the Books” portrays this powerful character that reminds you of a James Earl Jones character with a similar deep booming voice. There is an element of this character that would be very close to John Housemen’s character from “The Paper Chase,” but darker in its irony and satire. The rest of the cast also performed phenomenally which definitely put the audience in the mood for guessing the film adding to the mystery and suspense of it all.
If CRAM is going to be classified as Abie Sidell’s foremost work then one thing is very clear, it is that Sidell is new to filmmaking. The film’s duration is just below the hour mark. His contemporaries in feature film making are pumping out 80 or more minutes films. So sure, there is energy, it certainly feels swift and snappy, but it is not even 60 minutes. Sidell being a Fellow of Queens, NY earns him some brownie points in my book. He gets points for weaving a dark college life story. I also enjoyed the journey of the film. But actually, if you consider the cost of purchasing the digital copy or on demand access, it is almost 20 minutes shorter than other films. In comparison, “Scream VI” happened to be 122 minutes long. It’s your move friends in fright, but my guess is that you get the thrills as well.
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