For a movie with so much story and set up, it’s shocking how well “Deep Rising” comes together. Stephen Sommers is really committed to delivering a squared jawed hero with a lot of his action movies, and “Deep Rising” gives us Treat Williams in rare form. Director Sommers’ B monster movie action flick is still a lot of fun, despite the aged special effects and slew of sub-plots, some of which are left unresolved. That said, “Deep Rising” has all the ingredients for a fun and raucous action horror film.
Tag Archives: D
The Digital Dead: Rise of the Zombies (2014)
I honestly have no idea what to make of “The Digital Dead,” other than it’s at least worth watching for experimental horror fans. It’s surreal, unusual, disjointed, and incredibly unfocused, and yet it seems like beneath the head scratching moments, director Wendell Cowart has ambition to create something interesting. With a bigger budget and more resources perhaps “The Digital Dead” may have been good, but as of now it looks incomplete, is woefully under developed, and really needs to trim twenty minutes to its run time. “The Digital Dead” is part slide show, part computer generated opening for a computer game of some kind, and part loose use of public domain.
Dead Within (2014)
It’s always nice when a director is bold enough to take the zombie genre and try to transform it in to something completely unique. While “Dead Within” doesn’t re-invent the wheel, it’s definitely a gripping view of the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. And I don’t speak particularly of the walking dead, so much as what happens when survivors have to live with one another and with the guilt and shock of the lengths they’ve gone through to survive. Is it worth surviving the end of the world if you aren’t really living? Can you really trust anyone once the world has resorted to the survival of the fittest? Can you justify murdering potential infected to your conscience? How do you outrun your fading sanity and crushing guilt when you’re stuck in a small room in dead silence?
Deadly Weekend (2013)
“Deadly Weekend” (AKA “Zellwood”) is one of those very poorly put together horror movies where every aspect of the production is shaky. So much so that you can sense the cast spend more time struggling not to acknowledge the camera than they do trying to get in to character. There’s even a very brief introduction in the beginning involving the owner of an airboat in the film and his daughters. The two tween actors spend their screen time so blatantly trying to stay in the scene without ruining the take, that it’s pretty embarrassing. Sadly, they play key roles in the narrative, mid-way.
“Deadly Weekend” is yet another back woods horror slasher about a group of friends having one last booze and fuck fest before they all move away from one another. Model and former playmate Sara Jean Underwood is pushed front and center for this eighty minute waste of time, for the simple fact that she’s not only the most notable name in the cast, but is pretty damn gorgeous. Director Sutton is wise to feature her in as many skimpy outfits as possible, including a tank top that barely clings to her for most of the movie. Not surprisingly Underwood is not much of an actress, and the movie itself just feels like cobbled together takes all edited to present the illusion of a seamless narrative.
If you’re investing time in “Deadly Weekend” for the sake of ogling Underwood, just look her pictures up online. You’ll save yourself some IQ points. Director Jason Sutton’s film amounts to literally nothing, watching like a lame student horror film where the script was a mere after thought. Instead there’s a ton of gore and torture effects, all of which have zero impact, because we never get to know or like the heroes, and we never get to really fear the villains. The latter of which are so utterly over the top and cartoonish, it’s tough to believe anyone could have a difficult time battling them, let alone four very fit thirty year olds.
The villains are utterly inexplicable and their introductions so random, I had a hard time forcing back laughter most of the time. Sutton fills the movie up with so much filler and padding that you could literally edit the movie to forty minutes and length and probably come out with something a little less embarrassing. From the overlong red herring opening scenes, to the endless rambling dialogue between the characters that bear no relevance to the movie’s resolution, “Deadly Weekend” mainly just seems to want to build up to the blood soaked finale. You can’t really root for four people that camp out near a muddy lake while their busty girlfriends work on their tan during an obviously cloudy afternoon. Production aside, “Deadly Weekend” is really just an empty, ridiculous horror entry that brings nothing to table. The acting is horrific, the script is paper thin, and the ultimate resolution is pitiful.
Dark Skies (2013)
Your attitude toward “Dark Skies” depends on whether or not you want to see a remake of “Signs.” In reality, the entire movie is one big reworking of the M. Night movie sans the religious overtones. There’s the disjointed family, the bonded siblings, the static laden communication devices, the doe eyed youngster who can sense the aliens, the barking family dog, and there’s even an awkward dinner where the dad begins sharing stories about his children. And yet, despite the obvious derivations from the aforementioned M. Night film, I really enjoyed “Dark Skies” through the very end.
Disaster L.A.: The Last Zombie Apocalypse Begins Here (2014) [Blu-Ray]
“Disaster L.A.” actually seems to be going for something in its prologue and set up. It props itself up as a disaster film with zombies thrown in for good measure, and for the most part the big doomsday event is grim and creepy. Then the writers completely switch to auto drive unfolding a movie that’s just a shameless regurgitation of “Cloverfield.” The hero of our tale is having a party before said big event, his ex-girlfriend shows up with her new boyfriend, they bicker, she leaves, big event, and now boyfriend pledges to go across the city to find her as the military threatens nuclear strikes. There’s even the tragic brother dynamic like the aforementioned film. It’s sad considering this is from the director of “State of Emergency” which I actually loved.
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
What’s most striking about director Jean-Marc Vallée’s “Dallas Buyer’s Club” is the way AIDS is depicted. From the moment Ron Woodroff is told he has terminal AIDS and thirty days left to wrap up his affairs, his life is literally running down on a timer, and he’s literally scrambling back and forth for a way to preserve it. And what begins as a means of self-preservation transforms in to a very eye opening exploration of the world and how AIDS is a very unbiased disease that isn’t restricted to the homosexual community that it’s been used to demonize for many years.