MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘Nothing’ Has a Lot Going for It

Rolfe Kanefsky may have been only 20 years old when he wrote and directed the spiffy low-budget horror comedy “There’s Nothing Out There” (midnight only Fridays and Saturdays at the Monica 4-Plex), but he certainly knows how to send up “Friday the 13th”-type movies with wit, style and suspense (and without overdoing the gore). His film is fast, funny--and a fine calling card for Hollywood.

Pile a bunch of young people into a car, send them off to a cabin in the woods and you’ve got to know that there’s going to be more than sex in the offing. When on the way to the sticks Kanefsky’s group passes a car accident, the intense, irrepressible Mike (Craig Peck) takes it as an ominous sign. “Haven’t you ever heard of foreshadowing?” he asks.

There’s no point in giving away the nature of the danger inevitably lurking ahead. What’s newsworthy is that Kanefsky, backed by unflaggingly swift and inventive cameraman Ed Hershberger, never lets up. He devises one clever incident to trigger the next, much like setting off a string of firecrackers.

In his most inspired moment, he allows one of his key characters simply to reach up and grab the mike boom overhead in order to swing to safety, Tarzan-style. Kanefsky can get away with this assault on his film’s reality because of a breezy what-the-heck lack of self-consciousness. Mike may be in the thrall of every horror picture he ever saw, but for Kanefsky spoofing such movies is clearly a liberating way of having fun (as well as a shrewd way of launching a career).

Not all the members of the cast are as assured as Peck, a sharp, good-looking comedian with a take-charge presence. That everyone gets into the spirit of the picture, however, counts for more than polished performances. In its unpretentious, throwaway manner “There’s Nothing Out There” (Times-rated Mature for language, some adult situations, some violence) is a winner.

‘There’s Nothing Out There’

Craig Peck: Mike

Wendy Bednarz: Doreen

Mark Collver: Jim

Bonnie Bowers: Stacy

A Valkhn Film release of a Grandmaster production. Writer-director Rolfe Kanefsky. Producer Victor Kanefsky. Executive producer Alice Glenn. Cinematographer Ed Hershberger. Editor Victor Kanefsky. Music Chris Thomas. Set designer Virginia Dare. Sound Nathalie Butelis. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Times-rated Mature (language, some adult situations, some violence).