{"id":24343,"date":"2014-02-06T11:03:54","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T16:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=24343"},"modified":"2017-02-22T11:06:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T16:06:01","slug":"rudyard-kiplings-mark-of-the-beast-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/rudyard-kiplings-mark-of-the-beast-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Rudyard Kipling’s Mark of the Beast (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s a testament to the talents of directors Jon Gorman and Thomas Edward Seymour that they can transplant a Rudyard Kipling horror tale in to contemporary America, and still derive a creep or two. Though “Mark of the Beast” seems like another cabin in the woods horror tale on the surface, deep down it strives to break any conventions, and brings about a unique disgusting monster among a small group of friends.<\/p>\n

Tightly paced, and garnering a slew of sharp performances, Seymour and Gorman center on Debbie (as played by Debbie Rochon), who ventures out to a cabin by the lake with her friend Fleete (Phil Hall) for the weekend to celebrate New Years. Though the cabin is serene, the woods are mythical in their large hidden temples that worship its land. Directors Seymour and Gorman keep the film moving along without ever missing a beat in terms of build up or mounting tension. Though the woods are beautiful, the environment itself is spooky, and even inspires some of the characters to want to turn back and go home. That’s all brought to a halt when the partying rages on in to the night.<\/p>\n

During a drunken stupor, Fleete is lost in the woods and attacked by a monstrous leper that bites him in the arm and fails to kill him. What begins as a mere isolated incident quickly transforms in to a fight for survival, as Fleete becomes incredibly carnivorous and soon possessed by an entity that’s intent on murdering the group. The tide quickly divides, as friends argue on what can be considered humane treatment for their friend, all the while paranoia thickens in the closed quarters. Seymour and Gorman place much of the dramatic weight on star Debbie Rochon, and as usual she gives a marvelous performance. One thing I always love about Rochon is that she never seems to half ass any of her performances. No matter what kind of film, she approaches every character with intensity and commitment.<\/p>\n

As Debbie, she’s a protagonist focused on freeing the group of the demonic presence, all the while anxiously trying to figure out how to explain this horrific event to outsiders. What makes the journey in to madness ever more terrifying is the fantastic make up effects by Leigh Radziwon, who turns the grotesque leper in to an enigmatic zombie-like beast that seems to be rotting away every second. Though it seems threatening, Seymour eventually turns the table on the fight for survival, pondering on how far we’d go to save someone we love, and when we can eventually go too far. There are a slew of great supporting performances from folks like Phil Hall, Dick Boland, and Ellen Muth. I was sucked in to “Mark of the Beast” from the very beginning, and director Thomas Edward Seymour and Jon Gorman create a genuinely creepy indie horror entry, making the most out of a very small budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a testament to the talents of directors Jon Gorman and Thomas Edward Seymour that they can transplant a Rudyard Kipling horror tale in to contemporary America, and still derive a creep or two. Though “Mark of the Beast” seems like another cabin in the woods horror tale on the surface, deep down it strives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[64,477,501,703,793,1012,1087],"class_list":["post-24343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-indie","category-movie-reviews","tag-adaptation","tag-horror","tag-indie-film","tag-mystery","tag-possession","tag-survival","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24345,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24343\/revisions\/24345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}