Film Review: 12/12/12 (2012)

The birth of the Anti-Christ is the name of the game in the doomsday film 12/12/12 (2012) which is about as interesting as it sounds.  This film is directed by Jared Cohn (who also writes and stars in) and has nothing to do with director Darren Lynn Bousman’s 11/11/11 (2011) but Cohn did also star in 13/13/13 (2013) but as a different character.  The film stars Sara Malakul Lane as new mother Veronica whose baby Sebastian was born on 12/12/12 and whose birth left a doctor and nurse dead on the operating room floor and her with no recollection of what happened. 

It’s not long before Veronica starts to experience strange things when it comes to Sebastian who gets around on his own and does whatever he wants to when he wants to.  After her husband is killed in their house Veronica realizes that there is a mysterious man trying to get to her and get to her baby.  She then decides to hide away at her sister house as the police search for the mysterious man who has ties to a doomsday cult and who may already have killed someone all in the name of getting to Sebastian.  Now Veronica must protect Sebastian at all costs despite the fact that people keep dying around her and the killer points to Sebastian.

Cohn’s screenplay hits all the marks as a competent horror film but unfortunately the execution is lacking and the film drags because there’s nothing original that hasn’t been done better in films like Rosemary’s Baby (196), It’s Alive (1974) or The Unborn (2009).  Placing the film in the context of the 2012 Doomsday Prophesy made it topical but that’s about it and since it’s no longer 2012 the film is no longer compelling (if it ever was).

The performances are okay at best as the screenplay gives nothing for Lane to play with other than being the yelling and screaming mother and Steve Hanks as Detective Barnes is as caricature at best as he’s always seen with a lollipop in his mouth.  Just another indie horror film that’s not worth remembering.

Film Review: SERVANTS OF TWILIGHT (1991)

The novels of Dean R. Koontz have amassed as big a cult following as Stephen King and like King many of his novels have been adapted to film with varying degrees of success.  Servants of Twilight (1991) is adapted from Koontz’ novel “Twilight” and stars Bruce Greenwood as Charlie Harrison, a private detective who is hired by Christine Scavello (Belinda Bauer) to protect her son Joey (Jarrett Lennon) from a fanatical cult that believes that he is the Anti-Christ reborn. 

As bodies keep piling up around Charlie he must decide how far he is willing to protect Christine and her son when everywhere they turn they are hounded and hunted down by the cult and their leader Grace Spivey (Grace Zabriskie) who knows there every turn.  As tension mounts, Charlie finds himself getting closer to Christine and he finds it harder to keep his perspective as Spivey and her followers will stop at nothing to kill Joey and anyone that gets in their way.

There is no real mystery to the film although the road trip chase film scenario works really well keeping the film following at a brisk pace and the tense and suspense high.  It there is any real problem with the film it is that the Twilight cult that Spivey runs comes off as fanatics and cartoonish but Zabriskie knows how t o play this up having come from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.  This film has actually aged better than some of the other Koontz adapted films and movies about the Anti-Christ (i.e. The Omen franchise and Rosemary’s Baby) usually age better than expected.