{"id":122347,"date":"2025-11-08T12:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T12:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/122347\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T12:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T12:46:12","slug":"savageland-should-be-mandatory-viewing-for-i-c-e-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/122347\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Savageland’ Should Be Mandatory Viewing for I.C.E. Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

On Friday nights,\u00a0IndieWire After Dark<\/a>\u00a0honors fringe cinema in the streaming age with\u00a0midnight movies<\/a>\u00a0from any moment in\u00a0film<\/a>\u00a0history.<\/p>\n

First, the\u00a0BAIT: a weird genre pick, and why we\u2019re exploring its specific niche\u00a0right now.\u00a0Then, the\u00a0BITE: a spoiler-filled answer to the all-important question,\u00a0\u201cIs this old cult film actually worth recommending?\u201d <\/p>\n

The Bait: Welcome to \u201cSavageland,\u201d Population You!<\/p>\n

I.C.E. agents are horror fans too, right? It seems like you\u2019d have to be to voluntarily risk your reputation for a hobby most famously associated with slasher villains. Sure, there are the red-blooded Americans who say they joined up to salute a bigoted version of Superman that never existed<\/a>. But when I want to talk to Dean Cain, I prefer walking directions to the most publicly pathetic man in Las Vegas. <\/p>\n

\""Little<\/a> \"FRANKENSTEIN,<\/a> <\/p>\n

No, this midnight movie recommendation is for\u00a0you,\u00a0the true-blue horror movie lover who is spending this Friday night gainfully employed by the world\u2019s foremost dipshit militia. Are you doing it because you like scaring people? I know a bunch of guys who get it. Jigsaw<\/a> torments blind guys, too<\/a>. Art the Clown<\/a> likes brutalizing women<\/a>. And though Pennywise doesn\u2019t typically choose which kids to traumatize based on color<\/a>, I\u2019m sure he\u2019d like to start. It\u2019s nice to see yourself on screen, isn\u2019t it? Good boy! Here\u2019s a treat.<\/p>\n

Directed by Phil Guidry, Simon Herbert, and David Whelan, \u201cSavageland<\/a>\u201d is about your favorite thing: undocumented immigrants. Set along the U.S.-Mexico border, this genius found footage<\/a> flick from 2015 centers on a mysterious massacre, supposedly carried out by a single man. Francisco Salazar (No\u00e9 Montes) is a shy photographer who crossed into Arizona years before the attack. On June 2, 2011, he was found fleeing the scene of a bizarre mass casualty event: 57 people,\u00a0an entire village of immigrants and one notable white family, slaughtered in a single night. How can that be? The answer probably lies in the strange bite marks covering the corpses\u2026 and Salazar, too. But that fact won\u2019t make it into court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"No\u00e9 Montes in \u2018Savageland\u2019 (2015)TUBI<\/p>\n

Convicting the killer is of paramount importance to Sheriff John Parano (George Lionel Savage) and the staunchly anti-immigrant base that voted him into office for the last four decades. But to him, this case is open and shut. Salazar \u2014 the bloodthirsty murderer from Mexico! \u2014 did this, plain and simple. Parano is supported by a Rush Limbaugh-type (Edward L. Green) and the subtle bias of Salazar\u2019s own defense attorney (Jason Stewart), who insists his client got a fair trial despite more evidence, photographs Salazar took that night, showing a swarm of monsters and victims,\u00a0being thrown out by a crooked judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Framed as a broadcast true crime documentary made after Salazar\u2019s trial, this brilliant lo-fi effort enlists several more talking heads to balance out the whodunnit. A civil rights expert (Lawrence Ross) compares the carnage to a slew of historic events implicating a racist government, such as the Tulsa massacre.\u00a0There\u2019s also a psychologist (Renee Davies) who finally gets the stoic defendant to talk in a clinical interview.<\/p>\n

\"\"George Lionel Savage in \u201cSavageland\u201d (2015)TUBI<\/p>\n

She believes Salazar when he says a mob of monsters attacked his community and the family he worked for \u2014\u00a0but she has trouble explaining why her patient would\u2019ve been taking snapshots of the mutants instead of fighting them off. Enter the late Len Wein, a real comic book legend who plays a critical part in \u201cSavageland\u201d and represents the single most intriguing element of the film when revisited in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Listen, I know you\u2019re a big-time genre buff, and I\u2019m just a girl \u201cjournalist\u201d (lulz!), but I think you\u2019ll like what comes next. Crafted in the spirit of George A. Romero, this extraordinary testament to independent filmmaking dares to ask what would happen if Duane Jones (yeah, the Black guy) didn\u2019t get shot by police in \u201cNight of the Living Dead,\u201d but instead lived to endure the white mob\u2019s torment in the light of day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Look. Illinois may have denied Secretary of Homeland Security\u00a0Kristi Noem access to a bathroom during her latest visit<\/a> \u2014\u00a0but I earnestly\u00a0want\u00a0you to enjoy this movie. Seriously. Kick back and relax! We\u2019re all in \u201cSavageland\u201d now, and if you take your mask off<\/a> long enough, horror might just save your soul.<\/p>\n

\u201cSavageland\u201d is now streaming for free on Tubi. <\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018Savageland\u2019 (2015)TUBI<\/p>\n

The Bite: What Happens If AI Starts Covering for These Zombies?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s too much happening right now to seriously fret about AI ruining the believability of found footage<\/a> movies. But amid a sea of smart choices, the decision to have Salazar photograph his attackers on film sticks out a decade later. In \u201cSavageland,\u201d the late Len Wein \u2014\u00a0a real-life artistic superhero\u00a0who created\u00a0Marvel\u2019s Wolverine, among many other triumphs<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 appears as photojournalist Len Matheson. He recalls hanging from a helicopter despite a fear of heights to capture vital scenes from the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Matheson\u2019s testimonial in the faux documentary provides essential context for Salazar\u2019s ultimately fruitless legal defense, explaining how looking through a camera lens can make someone feel invincible even in the face of certain peril. Now more than ever, capturing the truth is important, and journalism is a valuable vocation, one of a small handful explicitly named in the Constitution. Without a weapon, Salazar faced the terror that had befallen his town by documenting what he could and sharing that harsh reality with the world \u2014 regardless of the consequences. The suggestion that the photos are doctored makes sense in a post-fact America, which was emerging even when this movie originally premiered before the first Trump term.<\/p>\n

\"\"Len Wein in \u2018Savageland\u2019 (2015)TUBI<\/p>\n

Since then, faith in politicians has declined precipitously, while the rise of AI has made the public\u2019s perception ever easier to manipulate. The government officials in \u201cSavageland\u201d are obviously corrupt, but true cinephiles can take some small comfort in Matheson explaining why film photos would be harder to fake than digital images. Still, you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find any No Kings protesters lugging around a Pentax17. Despite the growing similarities between modern news and Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d no one is watching CNN in VistaVision. Toss in the possibility that it might actually behoove killer AI to let a zombie attack wipe out humanity, and the point stands even stronger. (When your enemy is made of metal, isn\u2019t all warfare biological?)<\/p>\n

\"\"Lawrence Ross in \u2018Savageland\u2019 (2015)TUBI<\/p>\n

\u201cSavageland\u201d further bolsters its credibility by casting real experts to play fake ones in the film. Wein was indeed a Vietnam veteran<\/a>, and Lawrence Ross is a real journalist and historian<\/a> who has seen a number of well-respected texts and novels about social injustice published under his name. In fact, this entire project is underpinned by the UCLA academic filmmaking scene \u2014\u00a0and the man who played Salazar, No\u00e9 Montes, continues to champion communities close to the border with his work as a visual artist. <\/p>\n

Per his professional website<\/a>, \u201cFor more than 20 years, Montes has documented and worked with underrepresented communities to effect change through storytelling, education, and advocacy around social, economic, and environmental issues.\u201d Now through April 19, 2026, you can see \u201cRegional History\u201d \u2014\u00a0an exhibition of three collections from Montes \u2014\u00a0on display at the Riverside Art Museum in the Bobbie Powell and R. Ross DeVean Galleries<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Friday nights,\u00a0IndieWire After Dark\u00a0honors fringe cinema in the streaming age with\u00a0midnight movies\u00a0from any moment in\u00a0film\u00a0history. First, the\u00a0BAIT:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,878,77579,85,77580,46,77581,397,77582],"class_list":{"0":"post-122347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-film","10":"tag-found-footage","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-indiewire-after-dark","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-midnight-movies","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-savageland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}