Trash Fire

2016

Trash Fire is a dark comedy cum horror movie where Owen and Isabel (Adrian Grenier and Angela Trimbur) have been in a relationship for 2 years but clearly hate each other with venom. This is also how they love each other as Isabel puts up with sarcasm, alcohol issues and bulimia, yet still keeps letting him back in. After another night of sarcastic barbs and Owen's epileptic fits, Owen decides to get off the alcohol and also reconnect with his only remaining family. His mother and father died in a fire apparently caused by something Owen did and he has not seen his grandma (Fionnula Flanagan) or heavily burned sister Pearl (AnnaLynne McCord) since. When they get there, his grandma is still the same terrible woman she was, highly religious and instantly hates Isabel. Owen tries to work up the courage to talk to Pearl and she has already set her sights on Isabel for her own reasons. Well, grandma is batshit crazy and believes it's God's will that she murder Owen and Isabel and sets about doing so. Pearl may just be their unlikely saviour or even worse.

I kind of like this movie, but it just falls short of being a really great movie. I think it works better as a dark comedy and Grenier and Trimbur work well together as a couple who love each other through their intense loathing of one another. The first half of the movie has quite a few laughs, but when it settles on being a horror movie, it's not quite as successful and the heavy reliance on "religion is evil" is overdone. But, as I said, I quite liked Trash Fire, If only it had stayed as a dark comedy.

Angela Trimbur film clip (collages below)