Autopsy (2008)

JANUARY 10, 2009

GENRE: BREAKDOWN
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (REGULAR SCREENING)

I was at a birthday party tonight, so I wasn’t sure if I would make Autopsy in time (hence the unfortunate viewing of Anaconda 3). The clips I had seen at the last Fango con got me excited, and with an above average cast for an AD movie (including Robert Patrick and the great Michael Bowen), I definitely didn’t want to wait until DVD if possible. Luckily my party got out in time, so I get my movie and you get two reviews today!

Thankfully, Autopsy is the polar opposite of the snake movie. Rather than a shitty movie with occasional moments of decency, this is a fun movie with some minor blemishes. It starts off quick (maybe too quick – they wind up at a hospital as the result of a car accident that we don’t actually see), and despite the small cast (only 5 kids), the kills and gore come along at a pretty steady, fast pace.

One thing that definitely worked was having an about equal number of kids and killers. Everyone gets separated (of course), and each kid has a different psycho to deal with. While Patrick is the main villain, all the others (Bowen, Patrick’s T2 co-star Jeanette Goldstein, and Robert LaSardo) get plenty of moments to shine. Also, you know which one is the Final Girl (Jessica Lowndes – who needs to be in every movie ever), but you won’t be able to guess which ones will die first, because they’re all off in their own little mini-movie. Director Adam Geirasch (who also wrote with Jace Anderson and E.L. Katz) sometimes doesn’t make it clear where everyone is in relation to each other (and I never understood why Lowndes never bothered to return to the lobby), but does a damn fine job of keeping the film, which takes place entirely in the hospital after the first 10 minutes, continually interesting in a visual sense. A lot of the hallways and exam rooms may look similar, but you’ll never get sick of looking at em either, and it adds to the disorienting feeling that the characters are experiencing anyway.

One thing that does grow a bit tiresome is the number of times that Lowndes finds herself held down or otherwise trapped, only to reach, grab a scalpel or whatever, get herself free, and run away. It seems like this scene occurs 3-4 times in the film, which is about 2 too many. Granted, with a small cast and small location, some repetition is bound to occur, but it would have been nice to mix it up a tad bit more.

And considering how great the gore/kills are in this movie, you might even wish there were 20 kids, just to get that many more splatter scenes. Even Lowndes gets banged up pretty good, which is rare lately (I think 2005’s House of Wax may be the last time I can recall the Final Girl getting such a major injury), and the deaths of the others are far from standard. Bowen basically annihilates one girl, and the bad guys more than get their just desserts. Key though, is one of the best makeup appliance effects I have seen in I dunno how long. I don’t want to spoil the visual, but let’s just say it looks like a human tree.

I also love the sick sense of humor. It’s not an overly comedic film, but there’s a number of small moments that folks such as myself, who live and die by the mean-spirited hilarity of films like Silent Night Deadly Night, fully enjoy. Bowen and LaSardo’s means of putting a guy in a stretcher alone is worth the price of admission, and there’s a terrific gag involving a “small” shard of glass that had the whole audience rolling. Back to the “tree” too – it actually centers around a rather tender moment between Lowndes and her boyfriend, but Geirasch’s camera lovingly focuses on the prosthetics the whole time, which is just plain awesome. There are also a lot of minor subtle gags I loved; particularly a scene late in the film when one of the good guys just walks right by the villains, completely oblivious.

It was impressive how the film, which could have easily been a torture porn type film (the bad guy even has a morally “OK” motive, a la Turistas) managed to be so much fun. Sure, the heroes aren’t all dispatched quickly, and our heroine gets banged up a bit in an extended sequence, but it’s still all done with an air of goofiness that kept it far from Hostel territory. Occasional pacing issues aside, the short running time and copious amounts of blood along with a game cast (Bowen in particular seems to be having a blast) put this one in the winner category. Which means, along with From Within, After Dark 2009 is 2 for 2 in my book (and I hear good things about The Broken), so it’s a damn shame that they didn’t promote it at all this time around – even people who work for Lionsgate had no idea that the films were hitting theaters until a couple days ago. Previous years had billboards and lots of posters, but this year – nothing. Figures.

What say you?

Autopsy (2008)

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 11:19 PM

From Within (2008)

JANUARY 9, 2009

GENRE: RELIGIOUS, SUPERNATURAL
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (REGULAR SCREENING)

The whole point of After Dark was to give independent genre movies a chance to be exposed to a wide audience, but for the most part, the movies don't even deserve After Dark's idea of "wide exposure" (i.e. playing unadvertised in the shittiest theaters in town). Movies like Dark Ride and Unearthed don't even deserve to be seen on cable, let alone in a theater for 12 bucks. But it seems like every year, there is at least one movie that deserves the boost in awareness, and it looks like From Within is that movie from this year's lineup (which includes Butterfly Effect 3, making me wonder how truly independent any of this stuff is).

Coincidentally, the film is written by Brad Keene, who also wrote Gravedancers, the alltime best AD film as far as I'm concerned. It's not as successful as that film, but it's an effective tale that combines some hallmarks of both Western and Eastern fare: small town religious hysteria (as American as apple pie!) and jumpy scares/supernatural curses (as Asian as... uh, pandas). It's something we are starting to see more of these days, and I am all for it - beats straight up remakes at any rate.

The secret weapon in the film has to be the beautiful Margo Harshman as Sadie, cousin to Thomas Dekker's character. She's only in the film a little bit, but it pays off because each of her scenes is a winner. Not only does she get the film's best line (in response to someone coming into her home because the door was open: "Does that mean if your pants are open I can just come in?"), she also has a knack for providing unexpected laughs with her constant fiddling with objects. In one scene she sits at a piano and hits a low note every time our heroine finishes an exposition-filled sentence. Hilarious stuff. And according to IMDb, we have the same birthday, so I like her even more now.

Dekker is probably the weak link. He's not the worst actor, but he seemingly only has one note (the same one you see, or probably don't see, every week on Sarah Connor), and it grows tiresome. Also, and this isn't his fault really, he's a pretty boy, and thus he sticks out like a sore thumb. Whoever cast this movie did a great job of picking people who LOOK like small town folks and not actors (even the bigger names, like Adam Goldberg and Steven Culp, fit in nicely), but Dekker, who's supposed to be the town weirdo, looks like he stepped out of a Fall Out Boy music video.

But the movie could star Bruce Willis (incidentally his daughter has a small role) and it wouldn't diminish the film's true power: MEAN SPIRITED DEATH SCENES! The concept is actually pretty unique - the ghost/curse/witch thing makes everyone kill themselves, but they are actually killed by doppelgangers or mirror images. It's sort of like Mirrors, but way better. There's one where our heroine's mom, an alcoholic, reaches for what she thinks is a bottle of vodka (which is what we see in the reflection) but in the real world its some sort of cleaning fluid.

The ending of this movie is balls-out awesome too. I don't want to spoil, but I will say this: you might groan when you see the setup for an obvious final scare, but the little epilogue to it makes it all worthwhile.

I also dug the location: Maryland. I've seen some 544526756 horror movies in the past 2 years, so I am getting pretty goddamn sick of seeing Canadian cities, Los Angeles suburbs, and Texas. Good to see a unique area (the irony being that it's supposed to be Anytown USA). Director Phedon Papamichael does his part well - the movie is not flashy or stylish, which allows us to get more attached to the characters/story than usual.

Another mark in the "con" column is the fact that the movie gets a bit repetitive at times, and thus drags in spots. While the suicide/curse concept is interesting, that doesn't mean we need to see it in action so much. Our heroine has like 3 friends with their own suicide setpiece; one could have been removed easily without any real consequence. I also would have liked more scenes with Culp's preacher character, who is a key figure in the supernatural events and yet only appears in the film for about 5 minutes. Plus, Culp just rules (the scene on Housewives where Bree reacts to his death is probably the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen on a TV show - partially because at the same time I realized that the show would never be as good again without his defeated yet sarcastic demeanor), so adding to his screentime would help the movie even if he had no connection to the story at all.

So in short - this is the type of movie that After Dark should be releasing as the rule, not the exception. It's not perfect by any means, but it certainly deserves a fate better than the dozens of low grade horror films that Lion's Gate (who handles the DVDs for these movie) releases on a weekly basis. Speaking of which, hopefully the DVD will have some quality extras, which would make a purchase all the more enticing when they come out later this spring.

What say you?

From Within (2008)

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 10:52 PM

Crazy Eights (2006)

MAY 6, 2008

GENRE: PSYCHOLOGICAL
SOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)

It’s no secret that I will often give a generic movie a slightly better review if it’s technically proficient (blame all of the movies I’ve watched that couldn’t get either the technical OR creative aspects correct), but what do I do when it comes to a movie like Crazy Eights? It’s one of the best shot low budget films I’ve seen in ages, and certainly made with more effort than any of the other After Dark films from this year (save for Mulberry Street, which remains the only one I really consider independent). But the movie itself? Couldn’t make heads or tails of it. At no point in the entire film was I quite sure why the horror-ish things were happening, and the ending was even less coherent.

But man, what a great looking film. Director James K. Jones and DP Stephen M. Lyons have somehow found a way to combine M. Night Shyamalan’s endless takes (entire scenes play out in one or two shots) with Michael Bay’s non-stop camera movement. If there’s a still shot in the entire film, I didn’t catch it. They are also fond of Dutch angles, which when combined with the almost floating camerawork give the film a very interesting and energetic feel, which is all the more impressive when you consider that the entire film consists of five folks standing around looking at walls and news clippings and old toys.

And yes, five. The plot description will say six, but the film has a Noonan, played by Dan Deluca. While he is given his own death scene (and his death is acknowledged by his friends, which puts him above his namesake), his character is so extraneous it’s almost laughable in certain scenes. For example, after the funeral that serves as the reason for these estranged friends to get back together, they all go out to eat. During the dinner, everyone but him not only talks, but gets a closeup. I wasn’t even aware he was actually with them until a wide shot revealed him sitting in between two of the others. Poor sod. Naturally, he is the first to die, and even before then he is more or less written out of the film by the most exaggerated injury in film history (he falls down maybe 5 steps and yet his leg looks like it was run over by a truck and then partially eaten).

Actually, there is almost another non-character, but since she’s played by Gabrielle Anwar, she gets elevated a bit. Like Deluca’s character, she disappears for long stretches and doesn’t really interact with the others. She spends most of the film rocking back and forth on a chair (what I wouldn’t give to be that chair...) before shoving her hands down her own throat and ripping it out from the inside. Not sure why they would hire a relatively well-known actress to do so little in a film, but hey, any Anwar is fine by me.

The real casting surprise is none other than George Newbern as the lead. He plays the least obnoxious priest in movie history (he wears jeans and smokes instead of telling everyone how to live their life before molesting little kids), and even though he’s third billed, he’s essentially the lead. Newbern is the star of one of my favorite movies as a kid: It Takes Two. It’s the tale of a man who is about to get married, but before he does so he wants to buy a sports car. He does, but the car falls apart, then he eats some bad Mexican, fucks some hot blonde woman, blows up the car dealership, and gets married on time. It’s never come out on DVD, but occasionally airs on cable. It’s also got one of my favorite movie scores ever, composed by none other than Carter Burwell (I believe it was his first film) who is known for his work with the Coens. Anyway, good to see him again.

Also on hand are Dina Meyer, Frank Whaley, and Traci Lords. It’s the most impressive cast assembled for an After Dark film yet, and I think it helps smooth over some of the film’s shortcomings (you know, like, not making any goddamn sense). I’m not sure if it was the INTENT to never really explain anything (some theories on the IMDb seem to make sense, but damned if anything in the film really support them), but if so they did a piss poor job. Then again, the film has one of the strangest writing credits I’ve ever seen – “Additional Screenplay Rewrites By...” followed by three names, one of which (Jones again) is also credited with the screenplay itself? Who the fuck credits himself for rewriting his own script?

And once again, the DVD is completely lacking in extras, which is incredibly strange, since all of the AD films from the first year had at LEAST a making of featurette. So far this year, the only ones with extras are Nightmare Man and Mulberry, which incidentally are also the most truly independent of the series.

Still, the atmosphere, the pace (it’s only 80 minutes long with credits), and occasional (brief) gore are admirable, and the cast much better than this type of stuff is usually afforded. I can’t go so far as to say it was GOOD, because I think story should come first above all else, but the craftsmanship alone puts it above many others. Maybe a few more (or less?) of those credited rewrites would have resulted in this being the best of this year’s offerings, but instead we are left with a mixed bag – A well made and well cast movie that unfortunately doesn’t have a script worthy of the efforts.

What say you?

Crazy Eights (2006)

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 4:28 PM

Lake Dead (2007)

APRIL 13, 2008

GENRE: SURVIVAL
SOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)

A buddy of mine was angry that I liked Doomsday despite the fact that it had zero originality to it (other than the sort of original idea of spending 40 million dollars to recreate a bunch of sequences from older movies and fashion some semblance of a story out of it). The lack of originality didn’t bother me too much, because I was having a blast watching it. The characters were fun, the locales were interesting, it had good makeup gags, etc. Entertainment for entertainment’s sake is perfectly fine every now and then. However, I cannot give Lake Dead the same leeway, because while it also doesn't have a single original idea that I could find, it failed to get the whole “fun” part right either (to be fair, they didn't seem to be intending it that way).

Ripping off Wrong Turn, Mother’s Day, Devil’s Rejects, Bloodlines (possibly – this came along after but who the hell saw Bloodlines?), and Motel Hell for pretty much its entire running time, Lake is technically proficient and reasonably well-paced, but the characters are completely terrible, the makeup is pretty much all (bad) CG, and the setting is Motel Hell, again. Both films were shot at Sable Ranch in California, and it was obvious to me from the goddamn gravel outside of the motel our characters have “inherited” that it was the same exact place. Recycling a locale is one thing when it’s an entirely different type of movie (the Griswolds, the Murtaughs, and the Monster Squad family all live on the same street, for example), but when the movie shares a few plot similarities with another one shot in the same goddamn house, it’s a bit distracting/annoying.

The film also contains one of the most idiotic plot contrivances I’ve ever seen in a movie. The girls inherit a motel when their grandfather dies, and at the funeral they tell their estranged father they are heading up there to see it. “Don’t go there!” he yells. “Please!” They say “no” and go anyway. Maybe, I dunno, tell your fucking CHILDREN that the place is run by their redneck uncle and grandmother, who plan on using the girls for breeding and/or just plain ol’ killing? He obviously knows this (he lied about their grandfather ever being alive at all, in order to 'protect' them), and yet waits a day to bother really doing anything about it. Also, for the plot to work, the girls can never question why they only have one set of grandparents (who/where the mother is – who the fuck knows, the movie exists in a world where such things aren’t important, despite the fact that almost every character in the movie is related).

Speaking of, the characters are poorly introduced. At the funeral, a blond girl is seen with our lead (also a blonde). The next time we see her, she is talking to the lead’s boyfriend. He’s telling her to hurry up and get ready so they can all go check out the motel, alluding to the fact that it’s her motel too. So we can just assume that the two girls are sisters, but the movie never explains this until about halfway through. But why is her possibly future brother-in-law the one to call her up? Do you call up your future in-laws and berate them for being late?

There’s also a third sister, thankfully not another blonde. But she IS the least pleasant character I’ve ever seen in a film (including those who aren’t “good guys”). She swears constantly for no reason, gets angry at pretty much everything anyone says to her, etc. Luckily she is the first to go, but still, the movie never quite recovers from spending most of the first 15 minutes of its running time on a character who should be instantly killed.

This brings me to another gripe: the movie’s complete lack of a mean streak. It’s like the girl is just a bitch only to ‘justify’ her death a few minutes later. The other victims are also jerks (another irritable bitch, a slut, and a guy who cheats on the irritable bitch with the slut); all of the ‘nice’ people survive. Come on! If screenwriter Daniel Couglin wrote Wrong Turn, Jeremy Sisto’s character would have survived, because he was a nice guy who cared about others. This just voids suspense – we know who will be safe just because they haven’t broken the lie/cheat/steal rules of movie heroics.

As for anything resembling fun, like Wrong Turn 2 or most of the other movies I mentioned? There is ONE sort of joke in the entire movie, and it made me retch:

Girl: “Why do I love you so much?”
Guy: “Probably because I put you in my top 8.”

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? The irony is, all of these vapid no-name actors look EXACTLY like the people who are pictured in fake spam profiles. “Hi, I’m new to Hollywood and my first “break” is starring in Lake Dead. I liked your profile pic and see that you like Shocker. Click my profile and watch my boring movie!”

Other than that, the only other thing that got me to chuckle was the final line, spoken by the “finally doing something to stop his daughters from being raped by their uncle” dad, who shoots his brother in the head and says “THAT’S how you fuck family!” Nothing like a good joke to lighten the mood, even at the expense of his children’s psychological terror (not to mention the years of therapy they will endure now that they realize that their father is also their brother, or whatever – again, who the fuck their mother is wasn’t a concern). Dickhead.

The original Wrong Turn worked because it was the first “no humor, no bullshit” survival horror movie in ages when it was released. The story broke no new ground, but it was a successful throwback to 70s horror in the dawning age of PG-13 horror, with good performances, effects, and even a decent level of suspense to boot. But now, Lake Dead does absolutely nothing to distinguish itself from the others of the past few years. In 2007, you gotta be fun or do something original. Doing neither is just pointless.

What say you?

Lake Dead (2007)

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 2:20 PM

Nightmare Man (2006)

APRIL 5, 2008

GENRE: SLASHER, SUPERNATURAL
SOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)

A word of advice for horror filmmakers: When you set out to make a fun horror movie that’s not supposed to be taken too seriously, make sure it’s actually fun. Because if it’s not, you end up with a movie that eventually just bores, such as Nightmare Man. There’s nothing particularly BAD about the movie (other than the horrible digital video, made worse by a lazy and flat transfer), but there isn’t much to recommend, either. The films that the movie emulates and pays homage to (Evil Dead, Trilogy Of Terror, and even The Entity for some reason) are all vastly more entertaining and a better use of your time.

Remember that one Futurama where they try to explain something to Fry and after a few seconds he gives up trying to understand it and just goes “Magic, right”? That’s kind of how I feel about a lot of these horror movies that are supposed to be “fun”. Any plot hole, lazy screenwriting decision, etc, can just be chalked up to “Hey you’re not supposed to take it seriously!” But the problem is, there is a way to make a fun horror movie that DOES make sense, to a certain degree. There is nothing as glaringly stupid in Hatchet or Scream as the fact that the girl runs from her car to the house where most of the action takes place in about 5 minutes, yet it takes 40 for her husband to drive the car there. Or why the husband would say “You have company in the trunk” to his wife, when the trunk contains the very thing he doesn’t want her to know he has brought along. Fun? Not really, plus once the reveals started coming I was mainly just wondering why the guy would go through all this trouble to fuck with his wife (it's also one of those movies where the person being set up has to behave exactly as the villain needs them to for his plan to work, another pet peeve of mine).

Also, as I said, the movie has a bit of Entity in it, as our heroine is raped and presumably impregnated by the demon/ghost/whatever thing at the end. Uh... yeah that’s not exactly keeping in the spirit of fun, is it? Even though the movie never got a laugh out of me, it was at least better when they were trying, as opposed to the complete 180 for the ending.

Speaking of the ending, it’s partially spoiled by the film’s own opening credits, which promises an appearance by Richard Moll (who appeared in the more successful "fun horror" movie Headless Horseman). Since he doesn’t appear before the isolated action begins, nor is he revealed to be the killer, it’s pretty obvious that rescue WILL arrive in the form of Bull, so suspense is tossed aside as well.

And yes, I said that he wasn’t the killer. Despite the movie’s attempts to make us believe that the killer in the film is a demon, I never bought it for a second. Why? Because the fucking thing has tennis shoes on! Oh wait, “It’s not supposed to be taken seriously!” Then why bother with the whole ‘demon’ thing at all? The audience knowing for sure it’s just a guy in a mask, but not the characters, could lead to some fun situations. Or not, who knows.

And yet this is the most packed of all the After Dark DVDs so far for this year. There’s a commentary (buried in the setup menu) which actually isn’t too bad, as the director and Tiffany Shepis just pal around and point out some of the movie’s flaws. Plus some making of and deleted scenes, and Shepis’ own ‘video diary’ which is about 10 minutes longer than necessary but still kind of fun. Shepis is an engaging presence and can usually elevate a film with her natural charm (see, or not, Scarecrow) but even she can’t manage to get this one going, so at least the extras don’t betray her likability. All in all, not counting the commentary, there’s an hour’s worth of stuff here (which may have added to the abysmal transfer), which is far more than is necessary for a movie that stops cold for three solid minutes while a couple (non-amusingly) discuss their issues shortly after one of their friends is murdered by a demon wearing Converse.

I can’t call it crap, because everyone was clearly trying and having a good time, and it’s far from soulless. But it seriously needed another couple of drafts, possibly by legitimately funny writers, to make itself stick out amidst the 28 million other movies that throw a few young folks in a cabin and hope for the best.

What say you?

Nightmare Man (2006)

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 10:18 PM

Mulberry St (2006)

APRIL 1, 2008

GENRE: INDEPENDENT, ZOMBIE
SOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)

No it’s not an April Fool’s joke (I did enough of those on my other sites): the After Dark film Mulberry St. is by far the best they have offered this year (so far) and ranks up there with Gravedancers as the best film with any sort of ties to the company (don’t forget non-festival offerings like Skinwalkers and Captivity!), period.

It’s also one of the few films in the festival (good or bad) that I can genuinely dub “independent”. Unearthed, or even Gravedancers, don’t really strike me as independent films. They have big actors (well, big for horror films), budgets of a million or more, myriad producers, etc. To me, an independent film is one that quite frankly wouldn’t be made if the director decided not to do it, populated with people you haven't seen in Saw sequels. If Matt Leutwyler decided to walk off Unearthed, once Emmanuelle Vaugier and Luke Goss had already signed on to do it, you can bet that someone else would take his place. But if director Jim Mickle (who wrote the film along with Nick Damici, who plays the lead) gave up on it, it’s pretty likely that Mulberry would never be completed. And that would be a shame.

Ostensibly a zombie movie, Mickle does a good job of selling the idea that New York is under quarantine. Since he’s not exactly Francis Lawrence, he can’t really shut down whole areas of the city, so he sells these ideas via a near constant stream of news and TV broadcasts that mix footage from what I assume is from 9/11, the blackout, etc., along with standard “quick no one’s around let’s film this street” type stuff. It works well. Most of the action is confined to a single apartment building, and thus doesn’t require such extravagant shots like a deserted Times Square in order to get the point across.

The cast is a huge part of that success. With one exception, I don’t doubt for a second that any of these characters (mostly blue collar types) are genuine, hard-working New Yorkers who get caught up in a horror movie plot. Damici in particular is a fantastic lead, and carries the film effortlessly. Big actors wouldn’t work for this particular movie. I always hate when I’d see a Schwarzenegger movie that tried to pass him off as a regular family/working man (like 6th Day), because there’s no way in hell I can believe him as anything but a larger than life character. Even a character actor like Ed Harris wouldn’t be as effective in this particular film, because it would be harder to sell the whole “New York is quarantined” idea. I know Ed Harris is not a New Yorker (well, maybe he is, but you know what I mean), so I’d be less inclined to believe he was trapped in Harlem without being able to actually SEE the city being closed off. But this guy, who I don’t know from Adam? I buy it. Even Larry Fessenden, the patron saint of indie horror, pops up in a quick cameo, and it doesn’t distract from the illusion.

The only exception is the girl playing his daughter. While not a bad actress per se, she didn’t really feel as genuine as the others, seeming more like an actress playing a role than an actual person (ironic since her resume is one of the less prolific – hell, I’ve actually SEEN Damici in other films and didn’t recognize him). Her scenes also take place around the city, and in these scenes the small budget and obvious lack of an actual quarantine begin to become a bit more apparent. Luckily, the apartment stuff takes up the bulk of the film, so it’s not really a big deal.

It’s also smartly paced. The first 40 minutes are like old Cronenberg in a way, with just the feeling of impending dread instead of in your face gore sequences. We just see these guys going about their day, with minor mentions of rat problems and such sort of presented in the background. Then the 2nd half of the film (it’s only 82 minutes long, hurrah!) is an almost nonstop series of ‘zombie’ attacks (they’re more like the ratty vampire things from Dusk Till Dawn), and despite the low budget, we are treated to some good action and gore. Not to mention some unique cinematography; there’s a great camera angle from the top of a door that the monsters are trying to open, so the shot slides back and forth along with the budging door. Nice stuff.

It’s also one of the few modern horror movies to deal with any sort of social commentary. Greedy land developers and such are given their due, the heroes of the film are hard-working blue collar types who are just trying to survive. Sure, it’s hardly original, but since so few modern horror films (especially the ones Mulberry is lumped with) have anything to say, it SEEMS original.

The DVD comes with what seems like a substantial amount of extras, but sadly they are not really much to write blogs about. The video quality is poor on several, resulting in a “What the hell am I looking at?” feeling on the outtakes and makeup test portions. A pair of deleted scenes are wisely cut, and the sketches/storyboards are only of minor interest. Still, the film itself is the real bonus. This is exactly the type of film After Dark SHOULD be releasing (in the festival or not) – true independent films that would be otherwise lost on the video shelves without the promotion AD gave them. You think something like Tooth And Nail, with Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, etc. would completely disappear if not for After Dark? No way in hell. But movies like this, with no stars, no big effects to promote, etc.? If I wasn’t watching a horror movie every day I’d probably never give it a second glance. Hopefully, if they do a 3rd festival, AD seeks out more truly independent films like Mulberry and gives them the recognition they would not only otherwise not receive, but undeniably deserve.

What say you?

Mulberry St (2006)

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 8:39 PM

The Deaths Of Ian Stone (2007)

MARCH 27, 2008

GENRE: SUPERNATURAL
SOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)

This year’s After Dark festival titles have hit DVD, so I can begin the likely burden (as opposed to joy) of watching all eight before the next one comes around. Luckily, Unearthed and Tooth and Nail are long since out of the way, and I hope to hell they are among the worst, and not the best of the bunch. Hopefully, more of them are like The Deaths Of Ian Stone, which is well-made, occasionally interesting, but ultimately “meh”.

(It’s too much to ask at this point that any of them are actually GOOD).

Ironically, Ian Stone works best when it’s not really a horror movie. Ian (Cloverfield’s Mike Vogel) gets killed, then wakes up in a different life. Every hour so he is killed again, and each time he wakes up in a different persona: college student, office lackey, taxi driver, junkie... After a while, Déjà vu sets in and he begins to put the pieces together, with a little help from a mysterious stranger. And this is where the movie begins to fall apart, as the back-story is nonsensical, not to mention full of plot holes. It’s probably the first movie in which once things start to make sense for the main character, they make less sense to the audience.

Luckily, the CG is pretty good (Stan Winston designs!), so when we get to the finale, which consists of a few of the Dementor-ish spirit monster things whaling on each other, it’s at least visually impressive. And the main girl reminded me of Alexandra Holden, so that’s always a plus. However, the last act also introduces a few character who inexplicably dress in Matrix leftovers, and the sight of them is not only distracting (I actually had to rewind the movie to hear some dialogue because I was so amused by the sudden appearance of Trinity’s outfit), but laughable.

In theory, combining Dark City, The Matrix, They, and Groundhog Day could turn out OK, and for a while it works. There’s a great sequence early on when Ian witnesses another guy who is being stalked by the monsters dying on the street, and then being chased himself. And I always like seeing characters put things together. Plus, as a man who once got paid to sing Jim Steinman songs (in MTV’s Wuthering Heights), Mike Vogel is aces in my book. I just wish they could have come up with something better than “Matrix wannabes who live on fear” as the ultimate antagonist.

The DVD is strangely lacking in extras. Usually the After Darks have a commentary and/or a making of, but the only thing Ian gets is a group of Miss Horrorfest webisodes (which have nothing to do with the movie) and the usual 4505 trailers. The final Horrorfest webisode, where the Miss is announced, was filmed entirely at a party that yours truly attended last fall. If you watch the video in slow-motion and zoomed in, you can still not see me at all! Probably because I spent the entire night hovering near the crew door so I could get first pick on whatever was being put on a tray. Hardly the stuff of interesting video footage. “Hey, stop filming the half naked girls, there’s a guy in a Hatchet shirt eating a cracker dipped in hummus!”

What say you?

The Deaths Of Ian Stone (2007)

By: Abdallh Gamal on: 6:27 PM