In a frozen wasteland, a mother fuels her son’s deadly urges.
Introduction:
No Tears in Hell is an example of how reality is often stranger than fiction. The film itself is phenomenal, while the contents are the epitome of morbidity, far more so than your average slasher or murder mystery. As hard of a watch as the film is, knowing that the actual victims were mostly half the age of the actors portraying them makes it far worse.
The film follows Alexander Spesivtsev, portrayed by Luke Baines, as he navigates his dystopian Siberian surroundings, posing as a secondhand dealer of miscellaneous items. I say dystopian even though the film takes place decades in the past. Regardless, it feels near futuristic with its poverty and starvation, which harkens to Alexander’s jaded views on post-communist Russia and his distaste for democracy—so much so that he eventually tries to “clean up” the problem himself by removing the eyesores of society (homeless children). Alexander is already living in his post-communist dystopian future, and director Michael Caissie captures this aesthetic well.
An infuriating, frustrating parallel that can be drawn between Alexander and Dahmer here is that most of these deaths could have been completely avoided if not for absolute police ineptitude. Both killers picked on marginalised minorities that few would miss. Complaints about smells and loud music went ignored. Police were informed multiple times in both cases, but a nonchalant attitude meant that Alexander was able to continue his rampage for an avoidable five years after the first complaint. With a rumoured kill count of over 80 victims, one can only frustratedly reflect on the unnecessary loss of life.
My sister and I always had opposing viewpoints on what really made a film a true horror: My stance being that true crime and serial killer flicks lacked that abject other-worldly horror that was the key ingredient needed to truly terrify a person. Be it aliens, cosmic creatures, devils and daemons, or even the unfathomable unknown, horror needed something to take us away from the mundane. She, on the other hand, was often bored by fantastic things. She found real-life bogeymen far more fearful than their fictitious counterparts. No Tears in Hell is one of the few times where I feel my sister would have won her case; Alexander Spesivtsev is a creature far more terrifying than Freddy, Chucky, or Jason ever were.
Technicals:
Cinematographically, the film is clearly an indie production that has used innumerable tricks and tools of the trade to produce quality practical effects. The bathtub body-hacking is filmed at just the right angles, as are all of the stabs, bites, gouges…you get the picture. It’s cheap but well-made and near seamless in its production. The pacing works, though the film is less action and more gore and murder. Slow, methodical murder. I found the scenery and score tying in nicely to Alexander’s decaying state of mind; a physical representation of the rot and atrophy of his psyche. It is also worth noting that some of the scenes are going to be a hard swallow for some viewers, particularly those involving forced cannibalism, rape, and necrophilia. This is not a film for the light of heart nor the queasy of stomach. It is an important film, though, and as hard a watch as it may be, it is a story that really needed to be told.
As far as the acting goes, there were two standouts for me: one good and one strange. Firstly, Baines’s portrayal of Alexander is spectacular. I cannot imagine the mindset one needs to put oneself in to pull off such a difficult role, but Baines does so incredibly well. His swinging back and forth from good guy to carnivorous ghoul is almost like a pendulum—two sides of a coin, yet one twisted soul. The other was Gwen Van Dam in the role of Alexander’s mother. Her performance was—not quite what I had expected. She often comes across as somewhat senile or inexplicably simple, like she has no idea that what she is doing is wrong. Whether this was intentional or not is neither here nor there; her scenes were the only part of the film that felt out of place or awkward. You never quite know if it’s dementia or just a psychotic parent doting after her son. Researching the story after watching the movie offered no help in understanding the matter, as she has not spoken so much as a word since her arrest.
No Tears in Hell is absolutely worth your time and money. Indie it may be, but the film feels upscaled and fresh. It will please (or repulse) viewers that enjoy all forms of the horror genre and it will most definitely teach you a thing or two about one of the world’s most notorious serial killers. Thanks for reading, and as always, stay sordid. The trailer and artwork for the film can be found below. NO TEARS IN HELL will be arriving on digital and VOD platforms on August 12th.
