The style, pace and mood of this short distills the ethic of 70s horror to it's purest form. While Borchardt could be criticised for his poor exposures and lazy overdubbing (only noticeable if you know in advance) he should be commended for stunning use of bleak Wisconsin landscapes and music in black and white to create a dark mood. The long shots of deserted winding roads, desolate snowy trees and the drive in theatre are exceptional cinematography without doubt. Elements of living dead, wicker man and evil dead. And the ending is impressively abrupt. Watched in conjunction with American movie gives fascinating insight, but i suggest seeing this before watching the documentary - I hope he makes more horror. And i would like to see his basic style used more often in today's age of cgi and special effects horror. If i was producing a Hollywood horror i would employ him as associate producer. Respect.

The black&white cinematography is very uneven, some shots almost impossible to make out, others kind of beautiful in a dream-like way.The actors are a bit campy in large part, some are flat-out wooden, and look, we have an obsessed drug abuser who is trying to stay non-mainstream at the heart of the story. But not only that, we have religion playing a large role (although its pretty warped religion)In short, this film is basically PI about writing instead of math, but its budget is so much smaller it has the expected lesser amount of style or graphics. Personally, I like this film, and would even if I hadn't seen Chris Smith's documentary. Recommended viewing if you are hoping to be an artistic filmmaker.

Mark Borchardt is the wannabe director made hartless fun off in the documentary "American Movie". Coven is his supposedly worthless movie.I watched it a week ago and thought it wasn't that bad.But wait a minute. This last week I have watched "Paycheck" and "Kill Bill Volume 1". They were really crap. Compared to them "Coven" is a masterpiece.What Coven does not have is production value. The kind of dependable thing you find in your average TV-movie. What Coven does have is artistic vision. Borchard has a camera eye for sure. The story is different for sure, an existential and delirious take on drug addiction.

Spoilers herein.In true reflection, the same DVD hosts a film and a `making of' film, but the A and B sides are reversed - the attention is all on `American Movie,' a vile, non-cinematic exercise in slumming.Watch instead this little film. It is horrible. Forget about deficiencies in production values because they aren't so bad you can't ignore them. The problem with the film is that thanks to the documentary, we know that the filmmaker really is a dope - that there can be no shred of intelligence or insight here.But if we came upon it without the derogatory wrapping, we might be able to make something of it, along the lines of `Begotten' and `Carnival of Souls.'That's because the story is about a delusional man, and what we witness could be `real' or delusions or both, or perhaps they are same, or (since the making of films is the creation of worlds) reality is a delusion. Usually, the device is more overt than just booze - the best examples employ absinthe (Dracula, Moulin Rouge, From Hell). Usually, there is an attractor for the delusion, as in `Pi' as opposed to random drifting. Usually, there is some introduction to an external menace (`In the Woods'). Usually, sex plays a big role, as in `Blair Witch' of the same era.If you can, watch this with your imagination on and without seeing the documentary. At least it is honest.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.