THE TATTOOIST

Year 2007
Rating MA
Genre Thriller
Director Peter Berger
Cast Jason Behr, Mia Blake, Robbie Magasiva, David Fane
Distributor: Walt Disney
Available: For rent & sale now
The Film: 3 Stars
The Disc: 2.5 Discs

Buy Now from our friends at Play4Me

Although interested in horror conventions - jumps, minor gore, etc – and explicitly supernatural in nature, The Tatooist is more psychological thriller than scary movie. Shot by debuting director Peter Burger on location in South Auckland and produced by the New Zealand Film Commission in a joint venture with Singaporean distributors, the film stars an obligatory second-tier American actor (Jason Behr, Roswell) to aid international sales, alongside local faves like Mia Blake (No.2) and David Fane (Bro’Town). Running a tight 92 minutes, it details a young American tattoo artist’s foray into South Pacific mysticism after stealing a traditional tattooing tool from Samoan artists and finding himself afflicted with nightmares and visions. It eventually turns out that a tortured soul is using Jake’s rage. While hardly breaking new ground in horror filmmaking or performance, The Tatooist does boast an arresting visual style, which is a credit to the patient camera work of cinematographer Leon Narbey (Whale Rider) and the efforts of “special makeup effects artist” Mike Mekash (who did the tattoo makeup in Prison Break), the man likely responsible for the terrifying “living” tattoos that consume the film’s several victims. Extras include deleted scenes and a making-of.

Brian Duff