All genres of suspense, terror, and horror will be reviewed by Richard Gary. His address to send preview copies supplied upon request to rbf55@msn.com.
Jethica Directed
by Peter Ohs
Visit Films; Spartan Media Acquisitions; Pretty Ideas; Lightbulb Film Distribution;
Strike Media
72 minutes, 2022 / 2023 www.strike-media.com
Love-obsessed stalkers
fall into two categories: the first is the ex- that cannot accept that it is
over, the second is the one who is delusional and believes there is a
connection between the two parties, when there is none.
After a 20-questions type
prologue that introduces Elena (Callie Hernandez, who has some major credits such
as the recent Shotgun Wedding, 2016’s Blair Witch, and Alien: Covenant
in 2017), one of the three four characters of the story, we are told the events
as a flashback.
Callie Hernandez, Ashley Denise Robinson
From LA, she moves to New
Mexico to live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere (near Mountainair). Not
even a forest, so this is a cabin in the…desert? The introduction to her domicile
there is obviously a homage to the opening of Evil Dead (1981), perhaps signaling
to the viewer that something unearthly is afoot. Also noteworthy is a later
scene reminiscent of “The Hitchhiker” episode of “The Twilight Zone” (1960,
with “The Farmer’s Daughter” herself, Inger Stevens).
New Mexico is a beautiful
place. Much of what we see is open fields that go on for miles. It is winter
there (hence the coats) in the film, and desolate as you can get. Actually, it
reminds me of the Canadian prairies in the spring. There is an old joke that
says if you stand on a cigarette box, you can see a dog run away for three
days. This is the type of landscape that we see a lot in the film. It makes
sense as the backdrop is a symbol of the desolation of emotions felt by the
main characters, including Elena’s odd acquaintance, Benny (Andy Faulkner), who
looks as windswept as the environment.
Going to get some gas in
town, Elena runs into an old California high school mate, Jessica (Ashley
Denise Robinson), on the run from a stalker, Kevin (Will Madden), an classmate
in college, who keeps tracking her down; it is obvious to see where this is
going, but as it is the main focus of the plot and its selling point, I do not
believe I am giving anything away here.
At some point, the film
takes an unexpected supernatural element that I will not discuss, but it is
both disturbing, and yet, amusing (this is a very bleak and dark comedy…when it
wants to be that).
The cast and directors are
given co-writing credits, indicating that this was mostly ad-libbed around a
pre-conceived storyline. Sometimes that does not really work, but in this case,
it enhances the experience of tying the story and the language used in a lovers’
knot.
Though there is humor and
the supernatural involved, the main word I would use for this is minimalism.
The film is shot very serenely, considering the action, and there is a lot of
decent dialogue (kudos, especially if I am correct about the ad-libbing). The
landscape, which is a character unto itself, is reflective of the pace of the
story, wide and vacant, yet poignant.
Will Madden
The same could be said for
the excellent cinematography and editing by the director, lovingly showing the
beauty of the plains. I moved from the city to the prairies, and its starkness
and the quiet nature of the scenery is almost startling.
Equally haunting and understated
is the soundtrack by John Bowers, which is subtle throughout the story, lulling
and wrapping itself around the action, rather than startling with loud dissonant
notes, as in most supernatural films.
What I especially liked
was the way the story twists and turns, in ways that are completely unexpected.
There were bits I figured out, but it definitely went in a direction that was happily
unanticipated. This is also helped by the excellent acting all the way around,
especially by the ironically named (to the story) Madden.
There is no blood and
gore, little violence, a jump scare or two, and plenty of dialogue, as I said. However, this film is
story-based, and it is incredibly enjoyable. The only thing that confuses me is
the title; although it makes it easier to look up on search engines.
Considering the small
cast, it has a “filmed during Covid” feel, but that could just be my projection.
I have stated this before, that my theory is that Covid has made filmmakers
more creative by forcing them to use limited interactions and spaces.
Amazing for a release that
only cost $10,000. And stick around after the credits.
Available on AppleTV,
Amazon, Sky Store, Virgin Media, Google Play and RakutenTV.
Versus (aka Down to Hell 2) Directed by Ryûhei
Kitamura Arrow Video;
WEVCO Produce Company; napalm FILMS; KSS; Suplex; MVD Entertainment 120 minutes, 2000
version 131 minutes,
2004 Ultimate edition www.arrowfilms.com www.facebook.com/ArrowVideo/ www.mvdb2b.com
To be clear, there are
actually three editions of this film on these discs, rather than two. The first
is the original 2000 cut at 120 minutes, then the Ultimate Versus, which
is the 130 minutes director’s cut from 2004, and last is VersusFF, which
is a 20 minute version, which I am assuming is for film festivals, given the
“FF” appendage. It does not, however, contain the 45-minute Down to Hell
(1997) which can be interpreted as the demo version of this film before the
real thing, though it is available on YouTube HERE. Still, this is gonna take a while to get
through this sumptuous package.
I am not gonna lie; I
watched the Ultimate cut from Disc 2 first, then for the shorter 2-hour
one, while I did see it, I paid more attention to the commentaries.
As the opening scrawl
tells us, there are 666 (of course) portals between our world and the “other
side,” and the 444th one is the “Forest of Resurrection” (shades of Pet Sematary)
in Japan, where the film takes place. I’m not sure what it is about Japan and
wooded areas, but there are at least two other stories about the mysterious arboreal
surroundings there, including The Sea of Trees and The Forest (both
released in 2016). This story is similar to Down to Hell, but it is quite
expanded and bloodier. The plot(s) also has a lot more depth to it.
Two escaped prisoners,
the star, Prisoner KSC2-303 (Tak Sakaguchi, who resembles a young Johnny Depp) and
the – er – non-star (Motonari Komiya) meet up with a car full of five yakuza
hitmen and a cute, kidnapped woman (Chieko Misaka) whose presence, naturally,
is more than it seems; her white dress never gets dirty, no matter how much
blood is sprayed or how often she is on the forest floor. No names for the characters
are given. Through a couple of double crossings and some killings, KSC2-303 (for
lack of a better name) and the woman escape into the spooky woods where the hit
men have buried dozens of their victims. Problem is, they are now zombies out
for revenge. Heck, they even have guns (though are terrible shots; the undead
need some practice).
The hit men are quite
colorful and give a nice flavor to the story rather than the typical Vincent
and Jules types, or any of a dozen hulking masses from mafia films. Here, they range
a bit on the hysterical side or are extremely stoic, giving a nice balance. Their
leader (Kenji Matsuda) is nuts and seems to act mostly with his eyes and mouth,
but he is so much fun to watch, strutting and subtly dressing like the Joker in
a green shirt and red tie; whether done on purpose or not, it works. The one I
liked the best is the most impassive (Kazuhito Ohba). Then there is the scared
and mentally unstable one (Minoru Matsumoto) and the bare-armed fighter (Yuichiro
Arai). Lest I forget, there is the one who is too quick on the draw (Ryosuke
Watabe).
Joining the mix are
two coppers from whom the prisoner escaped, the leader (Yukihito Tanikado,
doing his best “Twin Peaks” Dale Cooper) and the other with one hand (Shôichirô
Masumoto), thanks to the result of being handcuffed to KSC2-303. One of my
favorite lines is said by the cop leader who proudly brags that “I grew up at
Yellowstone National Park in Canada.” I am assuming this was an unintentional mistranslation
in the captions, but it amused me to no end.
There is a lot – and I
mean a lot – of action here, including fisticuffs, guns a-blazing and
samurai swords a-swishing. As much as the zombies are there for payback to the
hitmen, they will attack anyone. As a result of the fighting and violence, the
make-up special effects by Susumu Nakatani look great, in a Dead Alive (1992)
cartoony-way; it is easy to tell that this Peter Jackson’s film was an
influence as we get to look through holes in people, total dismemberments, and
there is blood sprayed everywhere (except, of course, on white-clad Misaka).
That the director studied film in Australia indicates that, as well.
Through it all, three
more assassins are added to the action (redhaired Takehiro Katayama, Hoshimi
Asai, and attractive gun-totin’ Ayumi Yoshihara), and to include at least two
more competent women to the cast. And this is all before the halfway point when
the film goes into a completely different and unexpected direction that is both
a WTF moment and a Hell yeah!” one, as we meet “the boss” of all the
hitmen (Hideo Sakaki), who you know from the start will lead to a final
showdown with the prisoner.
The film is insane –
in a good way – on so many different levels. While I would not dub this a
comedy, there are a lot of funny moments, often in a twisted way. Also, there
is a traditional fighting cinematic style that is occasionally used, but director
Kitamura also uses some wild editing, especially
near the end, that plays with the viewers’ expectations on the fights. With all
the wild angles, zooms, close-ups and zombies left and right, the action is
practically non-stop, and even at this length, went by pretty quickly. Even if
you don’t like captions, as this is obviously in Japanese, it won’t matter: the
actions speak louder than the words.
As always, Arrow Video
aims to please, so this Blu-ray is abounding with bonus materials. These appear
across the two discs.
The first extra I watched
on the second disc (there are only two here, most of the rest on the first
disc) was the audio commentary by Kitamura, and members of the cast and crew.
This is different that the one on the first disc, but I must say, watch it at
your own willingness to spend the time. There is about 20 minutes worth of
interesting info disbursed throughout, but most of it is utter nonsense about
their kids, kidding insults to each other, and is just plain blather. I watched
it in double time and read it faster that way (it is in Japanese, with
captions). For most of it I have no idea who said what as there was a large
group and they are not identified in the captions. The most interesting stuff
is comments on the new material. Speaking of which, the second 18-minute featurette,
“Sakigate! Otoko versus Juku,” about the new material shot four years later
than the original, with all the same actors regrouping. It’s a fun Making Of,
though it does not follow any narrative lines, but rather jumps around quite a
bit, which is fine. The action between Sakaguchi (who was the fight coordinator
for the reshoot) and Sakaki, which takes a large portion, is the most
interesting.
Back to the first
disc, I started with an audio commentary by Kitamura and producer Keishiro Shinei,
which is happily in English. While there is still a bit of whatever in
the conversation, this is focused on the film production, and is a lot more interesting.
In the yet-another commentary, this third one is the director, the lead actor,
and four of the crew (including, again, Shinei). Unlike for the Ultimate,
this one, which is in Japanese with captions, is quite a bit more informative
and my assumption is that they said most of what they needed to say, so by the
time the Ultimate one came around 4 years later, they had said their
piece. This one is also worth the listen, though it does get disjointed at
times; it’s like a film of the one for Versus Ultimate in that it is
about 80 percent decent and 20 percent fluff.
With “Body Slamming, Body Horror: Jasper Sharp on Ryûhei Kitamura” (16
min), the British expert of Japanese films frames the director in historical
context at the beginning of a new wave of Asian Extreme Cinema, such as those
by Takashi Miike. It’s a nice overview of Kitamura’s career. “First Contact: Versus Evolution” (10
min), a featurette exploring the film’s origins, is a bombastic telling with no
dialogue but Japanese title cards (and English subtitles) that just flashes images
in MTV editing style with no piece being more than 5 seconds over thunderous
music and language heavy in adjectives like “unprecedented.” Personally, I
found it a bit annoying. “Tak Sakaguchi’s One-Man Journey” (14 min), a mostly
self-shot featurette on the actor’s visit to the 2001 Japan Film Festival in
Hamburg. The first 10 minutes is just him leaving for the flight, his hotel room,
meeting his interpreter, food, and expressions of lonely feelings. When he
finally arrives at the fest, he signs autographs, looks cool in his Neo leather
jacket from the film, and destroys a screen. It was an okay watch, but I don’t
feel a need to see again.
“Team Versus” (1 min)
is a humorous look inside the napalm FILMS basement office; short and sweet. “Deep
in the Woods” (25 min) is a thoughtful featurette of interviews with Kitamura,
cast and crew, including Sakaguchi, Matsumoto, and Sakaki. “The Encounter” (13
min) is an interview with well-respected editor Shûichi Kakesu by Versus
producer Keishiro Shinei. While he discusses this film, he also talks about
different ways to approach editing, and the differences between action and
animation (he did 1995’s Ghost in the Shell).
Next up is a fun Deleted
Scenes (21 min) with audio commentary by Kitamura, cast and crew obviously done
when the main one was completed as it is the same group. As discussed above,
there is the Versus FF Version, a condensed, 20-minute recut of the film.
While the narrative is obviously in disarray, it’s pretty much a collection of
action scenes, mostly with Sakaguchi., and very little dialogue.
“Behind Versus,”
a two-part behind-the-scenes documentary exploring the film’s production, the first being “Birth
of a Dark Hero” (27 min) and the second “Versus the Legend” (46 min). Both
are very well made, one featuring a mix of interesting interviews, especially Sakaguchi
again, and filming some of the action; the other is more about the non-fighting
parts, like rehearsals, make-up, set-ups, steadi-cams, and the like, but
remains fascinating. These are well put-together Making Ofs.
There are two clips
from film festival screenings, one being the XXI Fantafestival in Genoa (2 min)
and the second is from various other fests where the film won awards (3 min).
Again, there is no dialogue, and each edit is less than 5 seconds, over blaring
music. This is more ego stroking than anything else, but considering the rightful
fanfare it got, who would be surprised. For “side stories,” which are
mini-movies featuring characters from Versus, there are “Nervous” (6.5
min) and “Nervous 2” (16 min), along with a featurette on the making of “Nervous
2” (1 min). The first one deals with the two police detectives and their
dislike of being called “officer” (is this a Japanese thing?). It’s confusing
because one detective has both hands while the other has the cuts on his face
from Versus. Either way, the image is a bit over-exposed, but I am
assuming that’s on purpose. For the second, directed by Yudai Yamaguchi, four
of the characters are in an asylum post-Versus, and can’t remember what
happened before, until… It’s quite humorous. The Making Of is a waste, don’t
bother.
There are five trailers,
each one quite different. I love coming attractions, but want to warn anyone
with epilepsy to avoid due to the flashing lights. Seriously. Also included are
5 different image galleries, including stills (both publicity and screen shots)
and posters. On the tactile side, there is a reversible sleeve for the box
featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon, and a glossy,
beautifully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film
and a reprinted interview with Kitamura by Tom Mes, with notes on the making of
the film by Kitamura (this appears only in the first pressing of the Blu-ray).
Note that it took me three days to get through all the films and features. That's a nice package.
Kitamura would go on
to make 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, and most notably what has become an
underground classic, The Midnight Meat Train in 2008.
Just
to get it outta da way, an Enchiridion (the original name of the film) is the
Latin term for a primer, or handbook. Personally, changing the title to its
present name was a wise choice. “Bloodsucker” is bound to come up in a genre keyword
search more than that. Hell, I have a Master’s and had to look it up.
Cory W. Ahre
The
story, which takes place at the end of the 1960s, is essentially broken up into
two segments. At the first, it’s almost like a joke: “A guy walks into a bar…”
Here we are introduced to the main protagonist, a campus minister (priest)
named Father Gregory (Cory W. Ahre, who looks a lot like Kyle Mooney from “Saturday
Night Live”). He’s a bit slovenly, wearing an oversized gray suit jacket over
his collar and black shirt, and his hair is shoulder length and a bit scraggly.
He also smokes and drinks, so you know he’s going to be conflicted about whatever
is coming his way; after all, this is a genre film. Did you see The Exorcist? But I digress…
A
mysterious Federal government agent enlists him to talk to a prisoner, the titular
bloodsucker named simply Condu (Jeremy Herrera) – perhaps meaning “conduction,”
for the passing along of an evil current? He has apparently been writing the “handbook”
of the history of vampires in Latin (why not Romanian?), starting of course
with good ol’ Vlad the Impaler (aka Vlad Dracul). There is a question of
whether or not Condu actual is Vlad. Gregory
is also asked to translate the book.
As a
sorta sidebar, Vampire teeth seem to fall into two categories: there are the
classic large incisors a la Dracula,
and then the Nosferatu-ish extended and sharp two front teeth. This film plays
with both. While Condu’s lean towards the Nosferatu (though all uppers seem to
be big and sharp), other children of the night have the more Dracula-like
choppers. Mixing it up seems like a smart way to handle that.
As
for the other vampire tropes, well the story wants to keep with the legend, but
bends the rules just a bit. For example, crosses, sunlight, holy water, dirt
from graves, and blood-drinking of course, all are employed. However, what they
leave off is that vampires are shape-shifters, and can turn into animals such
as wolves or bats, or even mist. Of course, that would not work with this story
as Condu is chained up in some dark room, so that’s conveniently (and
rightfully) left out.
Gregory
and Condu seem to hit it off, as we see them in cat-and-mouse dialogues that
actually are quite interesting and decently written. While the acting is
questionable at times (more on that later), the story manages to hold the film
together, along with the other… stuff.
Jeremy Hererra
This
interaction leads to the second half of the film where Condu is out has escaped,
and the hunter-hunted takes the storyline beyond the verbal into the physical,
as Condu tries to get his book back and Gregory searches for the mysterious Edie
(Jessica Bell). She is seemingly an ex-girlfriend, though the Father seems to
have conflicting issues between religion and lust.
As polar
opposite stories like to point out, well as conflict we also see that both
Gregory and Condu have some similar issues, mainly with drinking, as one sucks
at hard alcohol, the other the sticky red liquid of life. Both have a strong
desire towards their fluids, but they also have a kind of detachment to it, as
well – even though Condu is probably more self-honest about the need.
What
I meant earlier by stuff is the
framework of the film. Mark Beal makes some interesting artistic choices that
take it to another level. For example, the second half is almost a noir
mystery, with a wild jazz score and a private eye named Valentine. And here is only
part of why I said stuff: Valentine
is a stop-motion dog puppet (literally) in a jacket. He is a “loyal” – err –
puppet (figuratively) of the Gregory side. On the Condu end, there is a
stop-motion puppet baboon (both nicely created by Richard Svennson).
Animals
play a big part in the film. For example, many of the bars that are visited
either are named for them (especially birds), but also have them inside the establishments,
such as a flamingo. Then there is the whole subplot about toad licking (which
we get to witness), reminding me of a Mason Williams poem. This is all part of a surrealism that crops up regularly.
Now,
most of the time surrealism is used, it is so
symbolic that its meaning can get lost. For this film, well, sure you could ask
why a dog or baboon, but generally speaking the surrealism doesn’t get so far
out there that it become opaque, for which I’m grateful. Other examples include
using stop-motion dolls to play out Vlad’s history, or the use of angles and
jump cuts to make it just a bit jarring at times. The use of lighting is really
interesting and stands out in a good way. Yes, it’s a bit distracting, but it
also raises the film to a higher plane. It’s this feature, as well as the
story, that rises above the acting issues I was discussing earlier. But even
that over-the-top-ness seems to work for this because of the sporadic surreal nature. That being said, even with
all the issues, Ahre comes across as likeable, and Herrera makes a compelling
foil, nicely working with the large teeth rather than tripping over them (impressive
for a first film, I might add).
Extras
include about 8 minutes of some meh bloopers
and a feature-length commentary track. Normally I would whine if there are many
speakers on a single one, and here there are the director, four key players and
a crew member. But everyone seems to be respectful of others so there is no taking
over and showboating, and even better is that not only are there interesting anecdotes
about the filming, we get to hear what the actors thought was happening. Better
still, we get to hear the director/writer discuss his own ideas. In a film like
this, that can be crucial in helping to fill in story blanks (I had a couple
that were satisfied).
Filmed
in Bryan-College Station, Texas (about 90 miles north of Houston), we see both
the sunny and darker sides (alleys, etc.) of the area, representing both
Gregory and Condu, relatively speaking. While this is an obviously micro-budget
film, and it certainly has its issues, I do have to say it kept my interest
throughout. A pleasant surprise, I really enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the
interplay between its two lead characters. Worth checking out on a rainy
weekend.
I
have absolutely no doubt that this film, originally titled Aztec Blood a few short years ago, is being rereleased under its
new title because of the re-tick of The
Mummy series with the diminutive Tom Cruise. If he find out, will he dance
in his undies to “We take those old films off the shelf / Rename them to
promote ourselves…”?
Tezcalipoca mask
Honestly,
I have no problem with any indie, low-budget film doing that (though it may be
irksome if a major did it). The possible problem I do see with this, though, is
part of me is wondering if it smacks of appropriation. This is supposed to be
about finding a remanence of an Aztec culture, a civilization pretty much wiped
out through European intrusion in the 16th century (I suggest reading James Michener’s
excellent and massive centuries-spanning 1992 tome, Mexico). In this case it’s regarding a god named Tezcalipoca and of… well, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be the
mummy of Tezzy himself or one of his priests The latter would actually make
more sense considering Tezzy was one of the four creators of the world; it’s
nice they made a film about him rather than the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl,
another of the four who gets way more coverage.
Suzeiy Block
Anyway,
this film should be noted as one of the few I’ve seen to have two prologues that set up the story,
which is, essentially that an archeological class from Monroe College (thank
goodness they didn’t use the overdone Miskatonic name) is out in the desert
somewhere on a excavation, which I’m assuming a Southwestern state considering
the film’s title [The director, Charles Pinion, wisely pointed out post-publication that: "Regarding 'American,' I'd like to flip that to the presumption of 'American' only including the United States. Mexico is in fact on the American continent. United States' imperialism (the name Monroe College alludes to the Monroe Doctrine) is central to the under-arching theme, if you will. They find something, they claim it, and they plant a flag there."], after a couple of students come across said mummy. The dig
is led by the totally inept Professor Jensen (Suzeiy Block), so it’s a good
thing she’s cute; had a boss like that once, but I digress…
Of
course, there’s that one student – in films like this anyway – that has an ulterior
motive: Carmen (Esther Cantana) is trying to raise the mummy using an ancient
Aztec book of the dead. At this point
it may be worth noting that there are a bunch of themes used from other films,
such as the cabin in the woods/camping in deserted areas tropes, of course the
mummy series, and mostly the Evil Dead (1981). Another to add on could be the
viral zombie mini-apocalypse, or even Bava’s Demons (1985) and [*Rec]
(2007). One could argue for The Thing (1982), but I would disagree
due to lack of shape-shifting.
Erin Condry
I
will applaud that they do try to build up some context through exposition of the characters, rather than them
being merely fodder. Yet it’s still tough
to feel deep sympathy, never mind empathy, for most of the characters, though I
did for at least one named Connie (Erin Condry, who I’m pretty sure I’ve seen
elsewhere in a genre pic that’s not listed on IMDB).
That’s
not to say there isn’t a certainly level of accuracy about the characters. I
mean, I’ve been to a few academic conferences, and there is a lot of hooking up and abuse of
substances that goes on in that world, never mind in the middle of nowhere. In
films like this, I’m happy to say that leads to a lot of nudity, though most of
the sex is implied. They even manage to have a shower scene in the middle of a
desert. For that alone, they get some extra points. Thankfully, it’s an
attractive cast.
As
Dylan said, “The line it is drawn / The curse it is cast,” and you know that
one-by-one the demon fever (or whatever it is) will spread through the group
via blood and green tongues. The effects are pretty nice, with lots of blood
and even some unbelievable bits look pretty good. It seems most of the SFX are
appliances rather than computer generated, and that’s another check mark in the
plus column.
Esther Cantana and her green tongue
The
acting isn’t necessarily stellar throughout, but there are some fine moments
and decent characterizations, though some are a bit over the top; an example is
the seemingly unnecessarily thickly-accented Dr. Lobachevsky (Greg Salman, who
is also a producer on the film). I could never find a reason why he was Russian
in the story, or what his true purpose was to the story as a Russian, as opposed to a scientist of any other nationality.
One aspect
I find interesting is the actual lack of motion of the titular character, other
than some limb wiggling. As a side note, I think calling it an “American” mummy
when the mummy-proper dates back before the Europeans even came to the New
World is presumptuous and a bit settler colonialization (or, as I up it at the
beginning, appropriation; this is the same mentality that uses the term
American Indian, rather than First Nations, as do the Canadians). Getting back
to the point, it does sort of leave it open to the interpretation of the viewer
whether it’s some kind of genre viral infection (such as was true(r) with the
Tomb of King Tut’s “curse”), or the actual mummy having some mystical power
raised by the fanatical student and her sycophant.
There
are definitely a few holes in the story, the biggest perhaps is why Carmen was so determined to raise
the mummy – or his curse, anyway. In other films, such as various Universal
Monsters’ version of the Mummy, at least we were told that the person
performing the rite was part of a cult following of the person/god/mummy. Well,
even from early on, it’s obvious she’s eager to find the thingy, so that’s
something.
There
are a bunch of extras that come along with this Blu-ray, such as both a 2-D and
3-D version, some minor and quick outtakes and behind the scenes that don’t
really add up to much, and a couple of different generations of the trailer. Being
a Wild Eye Releasing – err – release, there are also a bunch of other trailers.
This
film isn’t brilliant, but it’s certainly enjoyable, and the second half certainly is bloody and has a decent body count. Plus, there is a lot of
decent research on Tezcalipoca and Aztec sacrificial procedurals that make it
even more interesting. It did keep me pretty entertained all the way through.
Is this one of the best names of a film recently, or what? You really do know exactly what you’re getting, and this certainly won’t disappoint. After a summer of blockbuster films costing in the hundreds of millions of dollar to make, my interest was keenly kept with a central cast of three or four, and a $3,000 budget. Shot on a single Cannon 60D DSLR and made to look like film with wear marks and all, there’s no wimpy vampires, shirtless werewolves or annoyingly monotone women. No, we get a fashionable, mobster-natty zombie.
As is clearly and succinctly explained in the film, there are four kinds of zombie. The last one is the least used, which is an undead – or infected – person possessed by a demon. Hey, it’s posited in the opening scene, so I don’t believe I’m giving much away here; this cause for zombism has been mostly used in foreign films such as the Night of the Demons cycle (1988-1997), the original [*Rec] film franchise (2007-20012), though in the States there is the Evil Dead series (1981-1992). So there aren’t multitudes of flesh eaters crawling through the woods or cities ready to eat your brains. Rather, a serial killer who dies, comes back as said a-hole demon, and goes around killing identical twin women. The undead Pollux is himself a twin, the latter of whom, Castor, is searching for his brother to end the reign of terror.
And why twins? Two reasons (pun not intended). First, in this story, the demon can gain power to unlock the gates of you-know-where if he absorbs the energy from the twins he kills due to their higher psychic abilities to communicate with each other (yeah, I know, it’s kind of weak, but original). But the real reason is explained by Mills himself in the hilarious commentary: half the number of actors and twice the number of kills, as he gets to do in each one twice. Brilliant, in its own way.
One of the seemingly unwritten rules of this film is that the murdered twins are all women, each pair lives together, and one has to be murdered while the other is taking a bath or shower so the audience gets to see some nudity; Roger Corman would certainly be proud. As Dustin also points out, there are many different body shapes here, not just the standard thin with big boobs. Though a large amount of the female cast is apparently multiply tattooed.
Let’s get down to the gritty. First there’s Frank Fulchi (nice nod to the Italian goremeister), played with country-aplomb and religious fervor by Josh Eal. This religiousness is shown when he get angry when women cuss, but doesn’t seem to mind when men do it. Yep, that sounds about right. As we head into the election where the Tea Party rhetoric sounds just as hypocritical, the timing is ideal for this subtle (less than subtle if intended) dig against that mentality (and I use that word loosely), though I don’t believe that was necessarily where Mills was going. Played with a cowboy hat, square jaw, and lots of macho enthusiasm, Eal does a fine job of presenting a type that is familiar to horror films (e.g., Woody Harrelson in Zombieland [2009]). This is Eal’s only listed credit. His acting is kind of one note, but honestly, that is what the character dictates, so good on him for staying the course.
The female lead is Mercy (Jessica Daniels), who, during her first meeting with the title zombie, loses her twin sister Mary, as well as an eye, which we see yanked out very slowly (but not slo-mo), the optic nerve streeeeetching… Mercy doesn’t take crap from anyone, not even Pollux, and even though she loses the peeper (giving her that cool, Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) look, she is ready for battle the next time they meet. Daniels is believable because I know she can certainly kick my ass. Of course, to show she’s tough, the film has her smoking stogies like Clint “Empty Chair” Eastwood. The anger she feels is more palpable than the others, but her character is sort of secondary for most of the story, which is a shame. Daniels has one other credit, as the voice of Gwen in Dustin Mills’ first film, the also wonderfully titled The Puppet Monster Massacre (2011) [my review HERE].
As Castor, Brandon Salkil plays him with a mixture of lantern-jaw nerd who is able to read the - I mean, an - ancient book of the Necromicon, and an unsure monster hunter who looks like he’s about to pee his pants some of the time; or at least burst into tears. Salkil has two other film credits, including the character Wilson in the aforementioned The Puppet Monster Massacre.
In a dual role (as I said, twins), Salkil also portrays the title monster like he stepped out of Sin City (2005), full of noir machismo and a good use of body language since his face is a mask and cannot move face muscles much. With the élan of a dancer, Pollux is the exact opposite of Castor, and Salkil does well to separate the two completely in body and spirit. While sometimes his performance feels the most forced, at other times, it seems the most natural.
Essentially, this is a road trip buddy film, with Frank and Castor driving in a car and getting to know one another. The story mostly jumps back and forth between them and Pollux doing is de-twinning. Note that there is plenty of action and gore.
Speaking of blood and guts, lets get to the gristle and talk about (well, I will anyway; not expecting much of a spontaneous dialog, y'know) the SFX. Some of it looks pretty good, though you really can notice the digitization. For example, when someone’s head gets pushed on a spike, you can see the layers, especially if you’re like me and you slo-mo the action. But with an $8,000 budget, what do you expect, Titanic? Some of the effects, honestly, are laughable, and this is part of the enjoyment. For example, when zombie Pollux spews out some The Fly-type sputum to melt flesh, it’s obviously Silly-String. And pulled flesh is pieces of ropey, rubbery goo, apparently called nerdies in the business. The a-hole also has retractable intestines, apparently, that can grab like tentacles (in fact, the subject of Mills’ next film is tentacle related), but looks like ropes (i.e., too stiff and not membraney enough). Then again, there are some moments that are great, such as when the zombie reaches up through a bed and the hand goes through a (twin’s) body, holding up the heart. This looked superb. Similarly, with a very brief moment where a face is ripped in half off the skull. But don’t make me go into the whole Energy Beam Welder thingy.
Now, you may be asking yourself, “This is the director of The Puppet Monster Massacre, are there any puppets? Well, class, to answer that, let me state that by far, the silliest moment is when Pollux pees (red, so I’m assuming blood) in the woods, and a slew of skeletal creatures come out. In actuality, this are a Halloween skeleton you can buy to put on your lawn. Mills fixed it up with pop-out white eyes and a couple of other thingies, and then just replicated it digitally to make it into multitudes. It looks bad and fakey, though Mills rightfully states in the commentary, “You can’t pretend it’s Schindler’s List.”
That being said, the other puppet is some kind of chained wizened creature in a small box that turns on with a skeleton key (side-note: in an early scene, Frank drops the key, but has it moments later without bending down… I’m guessing there is a small part deleted there?), that is one of the more imaginative and interesting ideas in the film (and there are some good ones here). Named Selwyn, after the baby in the classic Dead Alive (1992), it is superbly voiced by Eugene Flynn.
There are only two extras on the disk, one being the trailer, and the other is a noteworthy commentary by director Dustin Mills and the title character actor, Brandon Salkil. Goofy at times, there is also a lot of information about both the production and the plot that makes it worthwhile.
What happens in the story? Well, suffice it to say the film proves Carol Clover’s seminal book, Men, Women and Chainsaws (1992) to be correct. Let’s leave it at that, other than there is supposedly a sequel down the road that I’m looking forward to watching.
Meanwhile, there is an interesting interview with director Dustin Mills on another site HERE.
May I start by saying that when I saw the title of this film, I thought that it is redundant.
I would have the same comment about something called Undead Vampires. But then I started to think about it a bit…
Generally speaking, there are three major turning points in the modern zombie film: the first is the Night of the Living Dead (1968), where zombies went from Haitian victims to flesh-eating undead. Then there was 28 Days (2000), where the maddened were not really dead, but rather rabid-like, yet it is still considered in the zombie genre (perhaps we need a plague subgenre?). This also started the ongoing and occasionally heated “fast vs. slow zombie” debate. The last was the addition of a comedy / absurd element with Shaun of the Dead (2004).Sure there was some overlap (e.g., Return of the Living Dead [1985] had some comedy elements) and even some borrowing (e.g., it could be argued that 28 Days was more The Crazies [1973] than NotLD, both directed by George A. Romero), but basically they revolutionized how we looked at the creatures.
Of the three, it could be noted that the latter two were British, who have been leading in innovation in the zombie field (though I would arguably say that some American low-budgeters deserve some more focused attention, such as Aaah! Zombies!! [aka Wasting Away, 2007; my evaluation HERE] and the recent Zombie A-Hole [2012, HERE] ). Zombie Undead is also from the British Isles.
This film, directed by Rhys Davies and written by Kris Tearse, both first-timers, borrows liberally from predecessors, including others not mentioned above, such as Dawn of the Dead (1979; e.g., mostly it takes place in a single building, and there are many debowelings).
What sets it all off – and I won’t give away much, I promise – is a biological terrorist’s bomb in a hub train station. From there, of course, things deteriorate as people who were killed by the blast rise up, and slowly and inevitably, of course, chomp.
We meet the heroine, Sarah (Ruth King), who has brought her father into a hospital after he is injured and bloodied. She passes out at the stress at some point, and wakes up alone in a corridor of the hospital (shades of The Day of the Triffids [1962]). She is quickly rescued by the hulking Jay (played by writer Tearse), with machete in hand, and they are joined by the sympathetic-yet-cowardly cab driver who took Sarah and pop to hospital, Steve (Barry Thomas). From there, they work their way to the top of the building to search for relatives – and to have an excuse to hang around the single structure set – where they meet others who have survived (for now), passed on, and who have returned to join the search for – er – food.
Considering that none of the core actors in the film have any previous experience listed on the IMDB, they do a truly splendid job. Yes, there is the occasional wooden reading (I’m assuming that it is supposed to be them being in shock more than anything else), but each one holds their own both in solo pieces and in a group. I’m hoping if Davies continues, he will have the opportunity to use the cast again, as indie filmmakers tend to use a cadre of talent repeatedly. There is usually a large range of emotion that is needed when these kinds of films go serious, as does this one, so with a novice film crew, it’s ever more impressive, even on a repeated viewing (hey, I hadda show it to my zombie-lovin’ hombres).
As with most British core cities, the one used here, Leicester (a 100-mile drive north-northwest from London), looks like a series of rundown row-houses and brick buildings with some parks (mostly golf courses, according to the maps I’ve seen). Actually, a perfect setting if one wants to do the geographical / cultural analysis of what the zombies mean (you know, how critics talk about Dawn of the Dead being about consumerism, etc.), but I like to take these stories for what they are, rather than find the commies-in-the-pea-pods, if you get my drift.
While I commented before about how there are borrowed elements here and there, it should be strongly noted that there are some really fine touches, as well, such as a tragic case of mistaken identity, which is all I will divulgehere, because the film is worth checking out. Yes, there are the occasional holes, but it could easily have been far, far worse. Just know that while this is a compelling film, it is a relentlessly grim story with no respite from beginning to end. It may not always be action-packed (thought it often is), but it will still keep your attention righthere.
Lastly, there is the gore element. The effects are mostly prosthetic, from what I can tell (kudos!), such as said intestines and other assorted body parts, and the blood is among the best in viscosity I’ve seen in a while: not too thick, not too thin, not too light or dark. Really good, considering the sheer abundance of it. And, do I really need to go into the question of a body count considering the subject matter and the aforementioned tone? Didn’t think so.
There are no extras on this DVD, be it commentary, bloopers, deleted scenes or even a coming attraction for this film, never mind others on the brand. Zip. Zero. Zilch. But I won’t disappoint you. Here is the trailer:
