Clapboard Jungle (2020) Part Vlog Part Vital Tool for the aspiring filmmaker (Review)

New Arrow Video documentary, Clapboard Jungle, is a curious creation. It’s a documentary about filmmaking that covers multiple strands almost simultaneously. It’s a personal diary of director Justin McConnell as he grapples with the existential angst of being an up and coming writer-director who is seeing their peers, whether talented or not, get opportunities that he isn’t. That eventually segues into a “making of” for Lifechanger, however, not the sort of “making of” you’d expect to see in the extras of your favourite film. No, this “making-of” is even earlier in the process as McConnell attends filmmaking networking events and the buyers market at major film festivals – peering way behind the camera. The last string to Clapboard Jungle’s bow is an embarrassment of riches from indie stalwarts to recently deceased legends like Dick Miller, Sid Haig, Larry Cohen and George A Romero to the likes of Barbara Crampton and Guillermo Del Toro. Unfortunately, Richard Stanley is there too, but we can’t hold that against the film, can we? 

Much of the first strand of Clapboard Jungle could have had a previous life as a video blog series made for YouTube. Perhaps if the timeframe covered started a bit later than 2014, it would’ve been a successful and intimate YouTube series about the trials and tribulations of trying to crack the world of professional filmmaking. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. It would be incredibly petty to hold the presentation style of the film against it, yet, it is a barrier with the audio being variable to poor and the visuals being just as inconsistent. Sometimes you are privy to things and parts of McDonnell’s inner musings that are a little too private, but I understand why he included such musings. Being a filmmaker is hard work, and if you are not 100% committed – it’ll tear through your mental health like wet tissue paper. Seeing such emotional destruction does have a place in the narrative, even if the presentation is far from ideal.

Once McDonnell gets out of his head and becomes more proactive in his desire to produce independent genre cinema, Clapboard Jungle becomes a more compelling autobiographical documentary. The content that peers behind the curtain and into his creative process is fascinating. Seeing the ins and outs of other peoples creative processes will always be intriguing. Some curtains we only ever get to peer behind when we head into that line of work ourselves or the massively rare occurrence when someone decides to open up the inner workings of their industry to an audience. Lifechanger does see the light of day (I saw it at a previous FrightFest), and it’s only through peering way behind the curtain in the first act that Justin McConnell’s career can become the “story” of Clapboard Jungle. There is a fine line between indulgent video therapy released to the masses and a documentary about the hardships endured by the many who “don’t make it”, but I believe McConnell pulls it off.

There have been many documentaries about someone chasing their dream career, that which elevates Clapboard Jungle above the riff-raff is the quality of interview subjects. It’s here where this new Arrow Video Blu-Ray becomes 100% vital for anyone dreaming of making films. The advice offered concerning every part of the filmmaking process is worth more than its weight in gold. Okay, the way these illustrious talking heads have been incorporated into the main feature are choppy, but, for me, that rawness is part of the documentary’s charm. We are getting a collaborative masterclass for the price of one blu-ray. The archive of interviews from industry legends and upstarts in the extras alone are worth the price of admission.

Having a director struggling through the quagmire that is the film industry offset with all these directors, producers, writers, actors and legends who have made sees the documentary at its most rewarding. Clapboard Jungle is a vital educational tool. I harbour such aspirations and have started bulk writing scripts, and watching this lit a fire of inspiration underneath me. No hyperbole. Yes, it’s raw and crude, but it made me want to go out there and make films. If you don’t have such ambitions, the previous vlog comparison probably rings truer, albeit one like Lost in Oblivion (1995), a feature film about filmmaking that asks why anyone would be crazy enough to pursue it.

The extras in this blu-ray are beyond generous – not only does it have 13 of McConnell’s films complete with commentaries and director introductions, but it also features his two documentaries – Working Class Rock Star (2008) and Skull World (2013). On the disc are also extended versions of interviews with the following names from the genre world: Anne-Marie Gélinas, Barbara Crampton, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Brian Yuzna, Charles Band, Corey Moosa, Dean Cundey, Dick Miller, Don Mancini, Frank Henenlotter, Gary Sherman, George A. Romero, George Mihalka, Guillermo Del Toro, John McNaughton, Jon Reiss, Larry Cohen, Larry Fessenden, Lloyd Kaufman, Mette-Marie Kongsved, Michael Biehn & Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, Mick Garris, Paul Schrader, Richard Stanley, Sam Firstenberg, Tom Holland, Tom Savini and Vincenzo Natali. Arrow Video have been beyond generous with this release. Being the perfect target audience, it goes without saying why I get so much from this release. However, if you have no such ambitions, there probably isn’t much for you here save for some interviews that allow you to see the faces of some beloved and recently deceased icons of horror and cult cinema one last time. 

Often accused of being pretentious, the Style Council chose to face down these allegations in 1987 by promoting their album The Cost of Loving with a non-linear musical satire on British identity in the age of Thatcherism, narrated by a pre-Reverend Richard Coles. Surprisingly, this did not stop people from calling them pretentious, and the resulting film JerUSAlem (it is our sad duty to confirm that yes, you saw what they did there) vanished from sight.

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Thanks for reading Rob’s review of Clapboard Jungle

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