Halifax filmmaker’s revenge drama gets a big-screen release

CITYnews halifax / By Steve Gow

A film that was shot in Halifax with an all-East Coast crew is getting a big-screen release this Friday.

Compulsus, a revenge queeer drama that follows its protagonist on a vigilante crime spree to avenge the sexual assault of women, will open on Friday at Park Lane Cinemas here in Halifax, as well as in Toronto before opening up in other Canadian cities in the coming weeks.

Tara Thorne, the writer and director, says she hopes people come out to support the movie, noting many people don’t realize the importance of opening weekend.

“I feel like we hear about box office a lot,” says Thorne. “But for Canadian films specifically, it is so important because theatres base the second, third, whatever week on how the first weekend does.”

She adds how Compulsus does in Halifax will influence how the distributor decides to release the film across Canada.

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A hit among festival audiences, Thorne says people have compared the movie to the Death Wish movie franchise of the 1970s or even Batman, “not in a comic book sense,” but in terms of a citizen executing acts of vigilante justice.

Compulsus stars Lesley Smith as a woman driven by rage who secretly patrols the streets at night, taking out revenge on abusive hipster men on behalf of the survivors who aren’t able to defend themselves.

“This is a weird outlying movie for me because I was just really angry and wrote it and we made it,” says Thorne, adding Lakeview, her sophomore effort takes on a much different tone.

“(Lakeview) is an ensemble dramedy, which is just about women hanging out together and talking and that’s really where my focus is, hangout movies, but I happened to hit with this kind of action-genre movie.”

Compulsus earned a nomination for Best Feature Film at last year’s Screen Nova Scotia Awards.

The film’s release comes just weeks after Lakeview saw its world premiere at the Atlantic International Film Festival in September.