More Thoughts on Dutcher

I've been thinking more about the two recent Dutcher films I saw, "Falling" and "Evil Angel. (I mistakenly called it "Fallen" in earlier posts--sorry about that; I guess I was focused on the idea of Dutcher as a "fallen angel" from Mormonism.) Although I didn't get much online response to my earlier review and subsequent discussion, I did receive several private e-mails of support from people who, for some reason, did not want to speak out negatively or unsupportively about Dutcher. So I'd like to do a little more typing on this topic, with the acknowledgment that my expressions may not be 100% free of judgmentality, hypocrisy, and other flaws. WARNING: My following discussion has plot spoilers for both films.

My Wife Has Joined a Cult

So, my wife and I haven’t had any squabbles in several years. Seriously, we get along that well.

Unfortunately, we have now declared the fridge a battle zone. Yes, I said the fridge.

Why? Because my wife has joined this weird fruit-and-vegetable cult.

Debate on Dutcher

Here's an e-mail I sent out on the nearly defunct AML-List. The parts in angle brackets were responses to my original review by D. Michael Martindale, followed by my new responses:

> Dutcher's Mormonness or lack thereof is not an issue in critiquing the
> film. Many former Dutcher fans now retroactively criticize even
> Dutcher's Mormon films, films many of them once liked, because Dutcher
> "betrayed" them. As if it's any person's responsibility to subjugate his
> spiritual life to the desires of other people.

Review of Richard Dutcher's "Evil Angel"

Personally, I found Dutcher's newest movie difficult to process. Partly it's because I just recently saw "Fallen," which has so much more substance and nuance to it. Yes, I know, "Evil Angel" is a horror genre film, so it's not fair to compare... But I enjoyed "Fallen" much more than expected and "Evil Angel" much less.