Here's Russ Tarby's complete review of "Clay"

DOWNTOWN AFTER DARK for Oct. 25, 2007 City Eagle

BY RUSS TARBY

The climax of “Clay” comes hurtling at you like a hailstorm from hell.

The movie’s build-up takes some time as the serial killer carefully stalks his victims and various subplots unfold around him, but, believe me, the wait is worth it!

The brand new multiple-murder film shot right here in Central New York centers on the homicidal maniac of its title, a troubled young man who believes his father is a god who breathed life into him when he was just a lump of clay.

Now he himself sculpts an entire city of tiny clay people who seem to live the kind of normal lives that are clearly unattainable for Clay himself.

And so…he kills.

But not before obsessively studying his victims, learning their personal patterns, and finding himself fascinated by the simple routines of their humdrum lives.

Directed by B-Fest founder Ron Bonk, “Clay” stars Wes Reid as the moody murderer, Tom Minion as Sam, his hateful father, and an amazing 12-year-old actress named Emma Koziara as Jessica, Sam’s lemonade-loving neighbor.

Emma Koziara will steal your heart. She nearly steals this show. Her Jessica is a fully realized character, the proverbial girl-next-door, cute as a button with a fetching inability to pronounce her Rs (a bit like Barbara Walters). As with all the characters in “Clay,” however, Jessica’s home life leaves something to be desired. So she turns to the elderly Sam for attention and affection.

Koziara has screen presence to spare as she bounces between carefree playmate and deeply needy child. Veteran community theater veteran Minion helps bring out her best in several touching scenes, but watch out for the ending when Sam’s growing fondness for Jessica swerves beyond the pale.

The old lady, warmly portrayed by Peggy Bonesteel, temporarily joins Clay in his imaginative world before her husband (played angrily by JC Peterman) interrupts them one afternoon with fatal results.

With his emotional connection to the old woman dashed, Clay seeks to create his own confidante. When ceramics fail, he devises another medium, human flesh, and embarks on an orgy of late-night blood-letting in an orphanage which offers easy pickings.

One of the movie’s many unsettling moments comes when one of these children, played in smooth-faced, spooky silence by Lucas Greer, willingly submits to his fate in a bathtub.

In fact, a consistent creepiness underlies Bonk's entire movie. Its none-too-subtle suggestions of pedophilia, its portrayals of personal instability and familial dysfunction and its vivid depictions of all manner of violence -- from hammering the heads of strangers to stabbing parents to strangling innocent children -- will all leave viewers squirming in their seats.

The movie’s strengths include Bonk’s spectacular photography, including exteriors of CNY in full autumnal glow, and interiors shot inside Victorian-era homes which hint at the film’s gothic overtones. The director makes good use of over-the-shoulder shots, split-screens and quick-cut editing.

Complementing Bonk’s imagery is the superlative soundtrack by local musician Emmett Van Slyke which adds atmosphere aplenty while unobtrusively amplifying the tension.

The cast similarly contributes, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Wes Reid’s Clay come off as wooden at first, like a stereotypical cold-blooded sociopath, but when he starts describing dark “dreams,” emotion naturally oozes out. And when Clay explodes in rage, Reid keeps it in check enough to keep it believable.

Other notable performances were turned in by Jenny Russo as Jessica’s grief-stricken mother and Garret Vanderwerff as her guilt-ridden dad. Vanderwerff excels in an unexpectedly touching scene in which his character tenderly talks to a slumbering loved one.

As Clay’s first murder victim, Margaret Derbyshire makes the most of her brief screen time when she makes an emotional last-minute phone call to conclude the movie’s mesmerizing introductory scene.

The action-packed ending, however, is the thing that will grip you most tightly even if you try to fight it off. Motivations are explained and characters unburden themselves of long-held secrets even as violence overwhelms them and blood spurts across the screen.

As the knife descends in the final frame, the climax of “Clay” may shock viewers, may leave them emotionally drained, and it may prompt them to applaud in rapt catharsis as screenwriter/moviemaker Ron Bonk deftly ties all the loose ends together.

But it will definitely etch the image of actress Emma Koziara firmly in their minds.

Bonk should get busy immediately writing a sequel starring this impressive young actress.

For “Clay” details visit www.claythemovie.com.  To access links to the teaser trailer, including one on youtube.com, visit http://www.b-movie.com/.