Film Review: MIMESIS: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (2011)

Ever since a minor copyright incident caused Georgia A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead to be relegated to the public domain there have been tons of filmmakers trying to cash in on the popularity and name of that film with their own take on the material.  One of the latest is director Douglas Schutze’s Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead (2011).  A group of horror fans at a party awaken the next morning to find they are living as characters from the film Night of the Living Dead and carrying out events from that film in new and horrifying ways. 

This more modern take on the material finds our main characters believing that the dead have returned to the land of the living to kill them all.  It is a very self-aware film as the characters recognize the film they are forced to relive as well as the common tropes of all horror films as they realize they are trapped in a simple farmhouse in a siege scenario.   The film is actually very entertaining and brings new material and ideas to the zombie genre especially in its look at the home invasion film which takes a bigger emphasis in the final third of the film.

Mimesis has a lot of original ideas going for it wrapped in the disguise of a classic horror film and you can be forgiven for thinking that this film is just another uninspired knock-off of Romero’s classic like the 2006 film Night of the Living Dead 3D (and its 2012 sequel Re-Animation) as well as last year’s Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection.  This is one of the unofficial films that actually pay homage to the original while also presenting enough original ideas to make it worth even the most jaded Romero fan’s time.

Short Film Review: DOLLFACE (2011)

Originally produced for the Producers Guild Weekend Shorts Contest, writer/director Colin Campbell’s Dollface (2011) makes for an interesting short film despite its simplicity.  One of the great things about short films are that many times the more simple story can be more effective to the audience and at a mere 8 minutes this film does a good job.  The film follows a couple Emily and Nick (Jen Dede and Nick Holmes, respectfully) who are spending their Halloween Night playing chess and greeting the trick ‘r treaters  but on this night an unusual girl made up to look like a doll’s blank face (played by Shelley Wenk) shows up on their doorstep.  The seemingly mute girl disappears quickly but leaves behind a purse prompting Nick to return it to the owner since the items inside tell him that she lives a few blocks down the street.  When Emily goes to search for Nick, who has been gone for over four hours, she encounters Karen (Roma Maffia) at the address.  Emily soon discovers that Karen is hiding something and when she hears Nick’s screams she goes to search for him discovering all manner of other atrocities that will make this a Halloween Night one she will never forget. 

The faults of the film are many in terms of story as it is very predictable and makes little sense once the true nature of Karen and the doll faced girl is revealed but this is only a surface observation as Campbell and company have crafted a visually stunning short film with amazing cinematography from Fortunato Procopio and a great musical score from Jim Lang.  Despite the fact that you know what will happen next the film is very effective at creating mood and suspense and keeping you on the edge of your seat.  The production design and location are beautifully realized and effective for the style of story being told.

This is a creepy and effective little shocker that despite you wanting the story to actually make sense is actually pretty good in channeling that Dario Argento giallo vibe from Tenebre (1982) or Deep Red (1975).  This film may not win any awards for story (and nor did any of Argento’s films) but it is one of those short films that has enough great elements in it that gives it a “pass.”  Plus it does have Maffia in it that was extremely effective in the FX show Nip/Tuck (2003-2010) and does a good job in this film as well.  Campbell will be a filmmaker to look out for if he can translate his style from this film to feature length.

To view the film you can visit You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_672459&feature=iv&src_vid=xQq5Qa1f80g&v=BpFW3Xl6eFA

Indie Film Review: POACHED (2013)

Indie film companies Final Hour Films, Spectral Films, and Abject-Terror join forces for the short film Poached (2013) in which two gangsters (played by Richard Woollatt and Matt Lonsdale) meet out in the woods in the middle of nowhere to conduct some business with a third man who is yet to appear.  When they hear a gun shot off in the distance one of them goes to investigate discovering that there is something in the fog that’s more dangerous than they could ever be.

The film seems to borrow some ideas from Ryuhei Kitamura’s Verses (2000) with the set up but the film doesn’t have as much of a follow through.  Gangsters go into haunted forest and meet up with an unpleasant curse only Poached is less concerned with action as it follows the less interesting of the two gangsters.  Written by Lonsdale, Woollatt, and Ben Wilkinson the film suffers from being a vanity project of Lonsdale and Woollatt neither of which bring much credibility to their characters.  Much of the film is saved by the presence of Jed (Joe Meredith), the creature that lives within the fog, and special FX & make-up artist Lonsdale (again) and Chloe Cochrane who give Jed a few bloody good moments in the film.  Unfortunately, Jed only shows up towards the end of the film so you’ll have to wait till the end for the gooey parts.  

This being said the film is a short and despite its shortcomings director Matt Rowan Maw does a capable job with the material and delivers an entertaining twelve minutes that doesn’t drag in the slightest bit.  Thanks should also be given to director of photography Rob Nevitt and music composer Jason Rowan who do help the film along with their contributions.  With all their combined talents Poached becomes at least a suitable film and not one to completely ignore.  I do have to say that the opening montage is very effective in setting the mood but I wish there had been something more done with the premise as gangsters make for uninteresting characters in horror films.

If you would like to know more about Poached (2013) or see the film you can watch it on You Tube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg40I7sxtvI&feature=c4-overview&list=UUE6z7fCiX9uJOoIJMSgW4Ug

Indie Film Review: AMY’S TORCH (2008)

Good things can come in small packages as evidenced by the less than 3 minute run time of the short film Amy’s Torch (2008).  Written by Ben Wilkinson and produced & directed by Wilkinson and Gary Mellor this is a short film that takes a tired old story and revitalizes it in a new way.  The premise of the film is very simple as little girl Amy (Evie Charlesworth) believes that there is a monster that lives under her bed only her Mum (India Charlesworth) doesn’t believe her.  Amy’s only weapon against the monster is her torch (or flashlight) which she uses from under the protection of her covers at night.  The film forces the audience the ask the question of what happens when the batteries in the torch suddenly stop working (as is customary in a horror film). 

The film is made fresh by Mellor & Wilkinson’s fairy-tale atmosphere created not only through their choice of camera angles but by the fact that the entire film is told through a Narrator (voice of Ian Champion) who even dubs the voices of the main characters.  This adds to the allure of the entire film and engages the viewer more than if the actual characters spoke in their own voices.  I’m a sucker for the more adult fairy-tale like stories or at least those that don’t talk down to the audience.  I’d rather see The Dark Crystal (1982) or Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) or Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) any day and this one plays to those sensibilities.

I’ve talked with a lot of film makers who believe that it is difficult to conceive of a good short film but Amy’s Torch proves that it can be done as long as you have something to say and even though there is very little time to develop character in such a short amount of time there is no denying that audiences will sympathize with the character because as children we all had a seemingly irrational fear of something.  Only Amy’s fear may not be as irrational as we might think.  Mellor & Wilkinson have done a great job in distilling a basic childhood fear into an effective horror film nightmare.

You can view Amy’s Torch (2008) on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01AI0lAq_uY&feature=youtu.be

Book Review: SCI-FI MOVIE FREAK by Robert C. Ring

Every sci-fi movie fan should have a book that chronicles some of the best that the genre has to offer but sadly Robert C. Ring’s Sci-Fi Movie Freak is not one of them.  There is no doubt that Ring’s book chronicles a lot of sci-fi films and most notably a lot of classics which have indeed been overlooked over the years (and some even forgotten).  Ring’s book is broken up into 5 main chapters which include “Best of the Best,” “Vital Viewing,” “Further Essentials,” “Lesser-Known Gems,” and “The Failures.”  This amounts to chapters that more-or-less all sound the same except it’s a manner of opinion which would be in the “Best of the Best” verses “Vital Viewing” verses “Further Essentials” chapter.  A more definitive grouping could have been more helpful such as a sub genre designation.  Sci-fi is such a diversified genre that there could have been an infinitely better way of categorizing the films into chapters especially since it is a reference book. 

Ring does put the films in chronological order within each chapter, which is actually a good thing as the reader gets to watch the progression of the genre from one film to the next up until modern day.  He also touches upon a lot of genuine classics but I’m not exactly sure about his tone towards some of the films he’s decided to highlight.  His thoughts on It Came From Outer Space (1953), which is in the “Further Essentials” chapter are, “There are plenty of moments of cliché and simplicity, however like the sappiness contained in the opening…that mar the experience for the modern viewers.”  He also describes RoboCop (1987), “Though RoboCop has shortcomings as a story, it is a smartly made film.  It is packed with stock bad guys and pushes through key elements with a lack of logic…”  I sometimes wonder why he bothered to include these entries in the first place rather than pick other films in their place.

I also question some of his choices of inclusion as sci-fi films such as 28 Days Later (2002), 28 Weeks Later (2007), The Host (2006), or The Return of the Living Dead (1985), to name a few.  These films obviously don’t really fit into the sci-fi mode and Ring doesn’t really explain why he’s chosen to include these films.  This leaves the reader pondering what his criteria is for judging the films.

I do have to give credit to Ring for including a good sampling of animated sci-fi films which usually go absent in these types of books but he does highlight Iron Giant (1999), Akira (1988), Metropolis (2001), and Fantastic Planet (1973), to name a few.  For some odd reason Ring felt compelled to included TV specials in his analysis of the genre with Family Guy: Blue Harvest (2007) and The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) which seems more to populate the book with additional Star Wars reference films (he lights four out of the six films already plus the spoof Spaceballs).  

For me, there was more wrong with the book than right and with there being plenty of other books on the genre out there this is a book that can be passed by.