Film Review: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: DARKEST DAWN (2014)

There is never any shortage of filmmakers mining the title of “Night of the Living Dead” due to the fact that it is in the public domain but it’s rare when someone attempts an animated film such as Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn (2014).  Now this isn’t the first attempt at an animated film based on this property as 2009’s Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated has that honor but this film does take the story you are familiar with and turns it on its head to craft something uniquely different for fans of the original film.

If you’ve seen the original ’68 and/or ’90 version of the George Romero film then you know the basic story.  Barbara (voiced by Danielle Harris) and her brother Johnny (Bill Moseley who played the same character in the ’90 version) go to a graveyard to visit their dead father’s grave when they are attacked by a zombie.  After Johnny dies, Barbara flees down the road finding herself at the farm house where she meets Ben (voiced by Tony Todd, also returning from the ’90 version) and the rest of the cast of characters.  It starts of nice and well just like the original film but then detours as the action soon leaves the house and takes to the city streets.

The detours in the plot that this film takes are interesting and refreshing from a film that’s been redone, remade, and re-imagined by more people than any other film in history and none of the proceeds going back to the original filmmakers.  Some of the more creative rip-offs includes NOTLD: Resurrection (2012), NOTLD 3D (2006) and its sequel 3D: Re-Animation (2012) and there is even a new one to be released soon called NOTLD: Genesis, in addition to all the ones previously mentioned.

Although this would seem to be an interesting film, the animation style is what pulls it down as it is basic and lacks refinement and cohesiveness.  This is surprising considering that the Reanimated film had a plethora of different styles from different creators and yet it all messed together.  Directed  by Zebediah De Soto and Krisztian Majdik the film is inspired but may not appeal to anyone other than hardcore NOTLD fans interested with a curiosity for something new.

Film Review: THE INFLICTED (2012)

Let me tell you what I liked about the film The Inflicted (2012).  It stars Bill Mosely, Sig Haig, and Doug Bradley.  That is all that is good about this film. David O’Hara (Matthan Harris who also wrote and directed the film) is a medical student who also happens to be a serial killer trying to make up for the mistakes of his murdering father (played by Mosely).  David has been plagued by the death of his sister when they were young by his father who drowned her.  Now he is trying to create his own perfect family by kidnapping Melissa Daniels (Lindsay Hightower) and impregnating her and forcing her to have his child. 

The only bad thing is that David isn’t all that good of a serial killer as despite the fact that he has killed many people before kidnapping Melissa.   The cops discover him very quickly and he becomes a simple killer on the run for most of the film.  Once Melissa escapes from David’s clutches she is haunted by his memory and the fact that she is carrying his unborn child.  She seeks help from her psychiatrist Dr. Gardner (Haig) but she can never forget her tragedy.  David has managed to stay on the run due to the help of his father but the local cops and special agents are after David who seems to be able to get out of every scrape with the law by killing a few people.  Oh, and Doug Bradley (Pinhead of the Hellraiser films) is Agent Wilson who is quickly killed by David in a thankless cameo.

The film is seriously hampered by a really bad directing and overall acting.  This is a small gripe as the writing is what really kills the film as it portrays David as a serial killer that can get out of any mess by killing a few people despite the fact that if he was as good a serial killer as written he would’ve never been caught in the first place.  This film truly is one of those films written and directed by an actor who wanted his own starring film and who wanted his own character to be better than all the rest despite the huge jumps in logic audiences would have to make to find any of it believable in the slightest.  This was a really badly done film whose only redeeming quality is Mosely who surprising gets more screen time than Bradley and Haig put together.  Even though his performance is all over the place (something I’m attributing to the bad direction of the film), Mosely does the best that he can with what he’s been given and I can commend him on that.

Film Review: THE TORTURED (2010)

The idea of a good torture porn flick went out the window when they decided to make six sequels to the infamously profitable Saw franchise (and to some extent the Hostel franchise as well) but film makers and studios continue to churn out derivative horror film to derivative horror film with complete disregard or lack of understanding of what it takes to actually make a decent much less good torture porn film.  I am sad to say that despite the heavy presence of decent star names above the title The Tortured (2010) is yet another easily forgettable film. 

The Tortured stars Erika Christensen and Jesse Metcalfe as loving couple Elise and Craig Landry whose son is kidnapped and then killed by psychopath John Kozlowski (played by the always entertaining Bill Mosely).  Kozlowski is subsequently captured and tried for the murder of which he is sentenced to prison where he may have the chance at parole one day.  Elise & Craig are torn asunder by this injustice and decide to take matters in their own hand.  When Kozlowski is being transferred to prison they hijack his transport.  Elise and Craig want to deliver as much pain and suffering to Kozlowski as he put their son prolonging his death until they are ready to let him die.

Now the set up for this film is actually not that bad because it depicts every parent’s greatest fear which is the loss of a child.  They seek justice for that loss but when politics get in the way they decide to deliver their own justice.  This is played very serious by Christensen and Metcalfe who do their best with the mediocre script, but when Mosely appears everything becomes very tongue in cheek.  For most of Mosely’s other films this would be fine but not for this film which takes itself seriously.  Then when the Landry’s start torturing Kozlowski the unintentional comedy jumps into high gear and the seriously established from the beginning is completely lost. 

There are a few things to offer which is that the performances, for the most part, are solid and Robert Lieberman’s direction is well paced and suitable but the biggest part is with the script which starts off real well but falls apart part way through because of the horror film aesthetics associated with the torture porn genre.  There are a lot of good points to be made through the film but its trapped in its own mode of torture from it cannot escape from.