Film Review: CHICAGO ROT (2016)

Original Title of Article: “The Ghoul Unleashes Carnage in CHICAGO ROT!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

Getting vengeance has never been so fun (and gory) like in the film Chicago Rot (2016).  Wrongfully imprisoned  Les (Brant McCrea) has just got out of prison and there are a lot of people who want to see him dead among several gangsters and even the cops of which Detective Dave Simmons (Dave Cartwright) is but one who believes that Les killed his partner in front of his own eyes.  But there is more to Les than it seems as he is unable to die due to a pact, he has with a mysterious benefactor who wants to use Les for his own goals.  Les is an unstoppable killing force working his way up the underbelly of the underworld to Elion (Jonez Jones), whom also has his own secrets to shed.  The only thing keeping Les on the straight path is his girlfriend Alex (Shira Barber) whose been awaiting his release from prison for a very long time.  Now time is running short for Les as his enemies get closer even as the body count gets higher.

There’s an interesting mythology in the film involving Les who is know on the streets and the media as “The Ghoul” because he’s unable to die and he uses the flesh and blood of his victims to replace the damage done to his own body and there is a lot of it.  The one thing that may turn viewers off from the film is the way in which writers McCrea and Dorian Weinzimmer (who also directs) has mixed genres throughout the film leaving audiences uneasy throughout with some batshit crazy visuals and story elements.  To put the film in perspective, it feels like a typical knock-off of The Crow with Les’ The Ghoul seeking vengeance against those that have done him wrong and he does not necessarily control his own destiny.  The Ghoul dispatches his enemies with relish and carnage until getting to his ultimate challenge Elion (aka The Devil) and their battle is like a musical battle of the bands in LED technicolor.  This is not actually a bad thing as it gives the film a visually stunning and engaging pallet that was missing in the first half of the film.  The first Act may have been a paint by numbers revenge tale but by Act III you have been thrust into a whole other world which is also complimented with surreal dream sequences.  Those not willing to engage in the film’s more fantastic elements may be ultimately turned off but I found them more interesting and dynamic.

The one element of the film I least thought was successful was the overindulgence in violence as mostly committed by Les who is supposed to be the hero but comes off more like a sadistic thug.  Les does not really get the audiences empathy at any point in the story as he has committed such gory atrocities to be the villain himself.  It would be like watching The Punisher if he had no consequences for his actions and felt no sympathy through other characters so that audiences could empathize with his internal struggle.  None of that is present in Les and instead he comes off like a Snake Plissken if Plissken killed everyone that got in his way and indulged in seeing their pain as he did it. 

This being said, I loved the musical aspects of the film as Weinzimmer does a phenomenal job incorporating the musical performances of Rachel Morgan as Calamity Jane with that of the visual musical cues (such as the final battel between a reborn Les and The Devil that’s edited like a battle of the bands).  This gives the film a unique feel and atmosphere unlike other similar films.  Especially note worthy is the Opening Credit Sequence!

Overall, there are some elements that distract from the film, but it also contains so much more than what you would expect from your typical revenge thriller.

Film Review: WARM BODIES (2013)

Zombie films have become a dime a dozen and finding a diamond in the rough is like trying to find a Golden Ticket in a Wonka Bar.  All types of zombie films have been explored and re-explored, examined and exhumed leaving nothing new to impress the modern day film-goer.  Warm Bodies (2013) is the latest rom-com-zom that tries to explore a different kind of love story between a woman and a zombie.  This is nothing new mind you.  The same material was explored in Zombie Honeymoon (2004) and My Boyfriend’s Back (1993) but in this modern day age of self-referential zombie knowledge and YA novels everything has changed and Warm Bodies is a different kind of zombie.

R (Nicholas Hoult) doesn’t remember who he was before he became a zombie nor does he remember his own name.  All he knows is that the airport that he calls home is solace but when a group of humans invade his place of resident the only thing he can think of is – food, but when one of these humans - Julie (Teresa Farmer) causes an unexpected spark within he finds himself saving her from his brethren instead of making her a midnight snack.  He takes Julie back to his secret hideaway of an abandoned airplane where he has collected items of a past life he can’t remember.  As he shields her from the dangers outside the Julie begins to see R as something never seen before as he starts to regain some of his past humanity.  As R begins to regain his human qualities Julie must try to convince the other humans of an evolution in the zombie apocalypse before they see R as just another zombie that needs to be put down.

As written & directed by Jonathan Levine (based on the novel by Isaac Manon) most of the film is told through narration as R is unable to talk at first and the whole film is told from his perspective.  This can be a detriment to many films but here Hoult is able to bring humanity to his character both through the narration and his performance.  R is a character that audiences will come to sympathize with despite snacking on a few humans here and there.  This is one of the first things the film does right.  For the YA audience of which made the original book hugely popular they will be satisfied.  For the regular film-going audience the film also works as a zombie film with lots of kills (and great SFX and action) and as a comedy, as R’s progression to gaining his humanity makes for a very humorous undertaking without the film crossing over into self-parody territory.  It’s a very delicate balancing act to mix comedy with horror with the romantic film of which Shaun of the Dead (2004) set the bar high.  Warm Bodies may not reach those lofty heights but it comes pretty close and is only a good sign of where film-makers and zombie films will go next.