Intensity:🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Konstantinos Koustsoliotas
In Minore, tentacled cosmic horrors besiege a seaside Greek town, and it’s up to the patrons of a local taverna to save the city. The directors refer to this as “My Big Fat Greek Monster Movie,” which captures that boozy spirit of fun and zaniness throughout. Minore punches well above its weight class. It features top-shelf cinematography, complimented with high-end visual FX and an excellent ensemble cast.
Dreams and Songs. In Lovecraftian stories, these are potent themes and triggers of impending doom. Rather than crafting a gloomy scholarly take on cosmic doom, Minore tacks the other way. The world of Minore is fully populated with colorful characters and is framed in dappled sunlight and sparkling seas. Yes, there are tentacled monsters, but the film is about the townsfolk, not the creatures.
In an interview with Gwen Calahan, the festival director of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Konstantinos Koustsoliotas revealed that he developed the ensemble cast by creating RPG character sheets. There is an egalitarian balance to the film’s casting, where every colorful character gets to shine individually.
The Cast:
- Davide Tucci as William, a visiting sailor looking for his estranged father.
- Daphne Alexander is Aliki, a waitress at the taverna.
- Melitis Georgiadis is Nikodimos, the music teacher with cosmic knowledge.
- Christos Callow as Pantelis, the taverna owner and patriarch of the musician clan.
- Maria Nephele Douka is Marianna, Pantellis’ lovely daughter and tambourine player.
- Efi Papathedorou is Granny, who is ready to scrap. (And offer dating advice)
- Constantin Symsiris is Naris, the touched painter who loves painting beautiful men.
- Nicolas Bravos is Alexis, the band’s dim-witted, angelic beauty and frontman.
- Igor Gorewicz is The Boss, a hulking bodybuilder with Conan aspirations.
- Eleftheria Komis is Litsa, Pantelis’ common sensical wife.
- Stelios Dimopoulus is Nikos, the mobster and principal patron of the taverna.
- Apollon Bollas is Mono, the awkward preppy with a crush on Marianna.
- Christos Kongogeorgis is Pythagoras, a newsstand vendor/guitarist who works out with The Boss.
A Summary:
After opening the proceedings with introductory snippets of the entire ensemble, the film focuses on the taverna. Old Nikodimos arrives with his bouzouki (a Greek lute), and the arrival of the master musician kicks the party off, with handsome Alex instructed to “Opa!” and dance for the audience. William and Aliki flirt as she waits on his table outside the taverna. William also suspects Nikodimos to be his estranged father, as they both play the bouzouki. The locals party through the night, oblivious of the dangers in store for them.
Small tremors shake the port town the next day as an island rises in the harbor. Strange mists drifted into town, and reports of missing people spread through the community. Moreover, strange dreams afflict many townspeople, including Granny and Naris. When Aliki enters a fugue state and strolls into the sea, William pulls her out, and she has no recollection of her wanderings. Meanwhile, The Boss and Pythagoras suspect something is wrong in the fog. The Boss shows off his arsenal hidden in the basement of his gym. That evening, Nikodimos wanders out of the taverna into the misty streets, sensing something wrong. When he is struck by a hit-and-run vehicle, the movie shifts gears.
The Teacher knows that monsters are coming. When William visits him in the hospital, Old Nikodimos instructs William to learn a melody that will drive the monsters off. William dismisses this as mad ranting, but it is prophetic. Later that night, the flying tentacled beasts crash the taverna, tearing a mobster patron in half. The taverna crew rallies and manages to fight off the intruding creature, but it leaves everyone in shock. Doom has come to the town, and it is up to them to fight for their homes and loved ones.
Thoughts on the Gonzo Cosmic Tale
Minore is a labor of love.
When asked how they assembled such a motley cast, Koutsoliotas revealed that he created his ensemble using character-generating tables for a role-playing game. Each character was given a series of attributes, each with an independent role complimentary to the rest of the cast. I have never heard of this methodology used before in film, but in this case, it worked well. A few seemed archetypal, but each player managed to pop and have their moments. As odd as it may seem, this strategy of casting worked.
Koustsoliotas has a visual effects background in some of the biggest films coming out of Hollywood. He is coming off a stretch, having been the senior digital effects compositor for Nightmare Alley, West Side Story, Guardians of the Galaxy, and 1917. Unsurprisingly, the FX for this film is far beyond what a small-budget independent film ordinarily would have. The monsters are well-detailed and dynamic. Also, the practical gore effects are old-school, sloppy fun. They did not skim on the goo in Minore.
Co-writer Elizabeth Schuch is also a storyboard artist, and each scene in this movie was pre-viz developed with storyboards. She also was the art director for the evocative sets, for which the taverna was a star character of its own. They deftly captured the charming and sunny Greek environment, making the location inviting despite the alien invasion. The color and lighting design of the film was impeccable. The music saturated the story as well. The songs bind the characters to each other. The music is inspirational and eventually weaponized against cosmic evil. The songs were all crafted new for this movie, but it felt like they had a real folk legacy.
Final Thoughts
This is a joyous horror film. The ensemble is well cast, and despite the array of characters, the central theme is cohesive. If there is a weakness in the film it is in the rationale for the monstrous invasion. Though Nikodimos has been warding off the creatures through his music, the backstory of the incursion remains a mystery. The monsters don’t seem to have a motivation other than to conquer and kill.
Gwen Callahan, the festival director for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and I discussed this movie. We agreed that a good way to describe this film is a mash-up of Grabbers and Mamma Mia. It has the townies vs. the monsters vibe of Grabbers and the social dynamics of romance and family ties as Mamma Mia. Plus music! Gwen also pointed out that the music as a protective ward has roots in the Lovecraft story “The Music of Erich Zann.” If you wanted to make a more modern comparison, you could reference Stranger Things.
Minore is still in its festival circuit run. It is unrated but would likely merit an R-rating for gore. There are no trigger warnings here unless you have a soft spot for tentacle-eyeball monsters.
Review by Eric Li
The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival Q&A with Konstantinos Koustsoliotas and Elizabeth Schuch
The trailer for Minore:
