Post by BloodyMonkeyZ on Jul 3, 2013 4:01:18 GMT -6
I have mixed feelings on this movie. As tends to be my habit in such times, my review will be a bit more spoiler filled than normal. But I shall warn prior to that moment.
The basis of this movie focuses on a scarab. There is a lot going on, but the scarab is the center of it all.At the start of the film we have a zombie wave attacking and they seem to be heading to a specific goal. That goal is a vampire lord by the name of Vellich. He is holding a scarab which the zombies appear to be in thrall to. The scarab suddenly dims and all the zombies fall down. We then leap ahead briefly and see two men who intend on destroying the scarab. Apparently the ancient artifact can only be destroyed in a small wooded area in Ohio. Vellich arrives and thwarts them destroying it but it is lost in the woods.
Until our cast of friends arrives. Two couples who are out in the woods with the intent of being mystical. They find the scarab and chaos ensues. Well not right away, but I love that expression. Gretchen is the young woman who ends up with the scarab. She had recently lost her brother and has been desperate to find a way to contact him. Her grief was boundless before finding the artifact, now with a powerful supernatural artifact in hand she believes she can do something about that.
That is a brief overview of the movie. Sets the stage well enough anyway. Overall the cast of characters do an admirable job in their roles. All too often in first time films the cast is populated with friends. They did that with extras, but the cast actually had some acting pedigree. Which was great. Andrew Divoff from Wishmaster played the vampire lord Vellich. And Tom Savini played another vampire lord by the name of Sebed. Savini was quite interesting in this movie. I really found myself wishing he had more screen time in this. Divoff had a peculiar role. He was very quiet and didn't do a tremendous amount. Especially for a villain.
Special features include a commentary track, several music videos, a gag reel, a short "Fun with Mark the Zombie" compilation and Maximum Dead Matter. In random order. . . "Fun With Mark the Zombie" was ok, but much of it was in the gag reel. The gag reel was ok, but didn't have any rolling on the floor moments. The music videos were well done and intriguing. Hate to say it, but they almost seemed better made than the movie. And the fan videos were awesome to see as well. The commentary track bothered me. I love commentary tracks. Not sure what it says about me, but I really look forward to listening to them after a movie. his one was a little lackluster though. In a commentary I am looking for insight and stories and details that I didn't get with watching the movie. There was quite a bit of quiet time. And time where they were watching the movie. At times the soundtrack was turned up so we could hear something, but at other times they would comment on something sound wise that we couldn't hear. But the masterpiece of the special features was Maximum Dead Matter. In this they put 4 screens up at once. One of them played the movie without sound. Another had a rotating cast of behind the scenes personnel discussing things. The other two were either other angles of the scene playing, a rehearsal of that scene or some backstage footage of something like a makeup application. I loved this feature. It is worth watching multiple times. Well you almost have to in order to see it all.
There are two bonus CD's which I feel would be better reviewed in the music section. But their inclusion here adds to the overall package.
This is a wonderful effort by a music group expanding their scope. It didn't win on all fronts with me, but I really look forward to seeing their next effort.
A few too many things were going on in this movie and it was all over the place. There were some things I really liked and some things I didn't like so much. Overall I give the movie itself 3 stars. Special features get 4.5 stars. Two bonus cds in the deluxe edition earn a bonus half star to the overall grade. Final score is 4.5 stars. Yeah, I rounded it up. But I don't have a 4.25 star option
SPOILER AREA
The scene with the woman in the mirror was cool. Not wholly original, but still well done and warranted mention here.
I was really disappointed by the death of Savini. Vellich had demonstrated his ability to turn to smoke prior to the moment he kills Savini. We don't know which of them is older and stronger, but Vellich is subservient to Savini. So it seems at the least they should be equals. And Savini should be capable of the smoke trick. So when Vellich turns to smoke and enters Savini, why didn't Savini simply pull the same trick? In my eyes this was a major flaw in the movie.
With the zombie houseguest, it was rather odd how accepting everyone was of him. Even having him in a bar. It would seem like there would be more issue with a noticeably dead person in the place.
The basis of this movie focuses on a scarab. There is a lot going on, but the scarab is the center of it all.At the start of the film we have a zombie wave attacking and they seem to be heading to a specific goal. That goal is a vampire lord by the name of Vellich. He is holding a scarab which the zombies appear to be in thrall to. The scarab suddenly dims and all the zombies fall down. We then leap ahead briefly and see two men who intend on destroying the scarab. Apparently the ancient artifact can only be destroyed in a small wooded area in Ohio. Vellich arrives and thwarts them destroying it but it is lost in the woods.
Until our cast of friends arrives. Two couples who are out in the woods with the intent of being mystical. They find the scarab and chaos ensues. Well not right away, but I love that expression. Gretchen is the young woman who ends up with the scarab. She had recently lost her brother and has been desperate to find a way to contact him. Her grief was boundless before finding the artifact, now with a powerful supernatural artifact in hand she believes she can do something about that.
That is a brief overview of the movie. Sets the stage well enough anyway. Overall the cast of characters do an admirable job in their roles. All too often in first time films the cast is populated with friends. They did that with extras, but the cast actually had some acting pedigree. Which was great. Andrew Divoff from Wishmaster played the vampire lord Vellich. And Tom Savini played another vampire lord by the name of Sebed. Savini was quite interesting in this movie. I really found myself wishing he had more screen time in this. Divoff had a peculiar role. He was very quiet and didn't do a tremendous amount. Especially for a villain.
Special features include a commentary track, several music videos, a gag reel, a short "Fun with Mark the Zombie" compilation and Maximum Dead Matter. In random order. . . "Fun With Mark the Zombie" was ok, but much of it was in the gag reel. The gag reel was ok, but didn't have any rolling on the floor moments. The music videos were well done and intriguing. Hate to say it, but they almost seemed better made than the movie. And the fan videos were awesome to see as well. The commentary track bothered me. I love commentary tracks. Not sure what it says about me, but I really look forward to listening to them after a movie. his one was a little lackluster though. In a commentary I am looking for insight and stories and details that I didn't get with watching the movie. There was quite a bit of quiet time. And time where they were watching the movie. At times the soundtrack was turned up so we could hear something, but at other times they would comment on something sound wise that we couldn't hear. But the masterpiece of the special features was Maximum Dead Matter. In this they put 4 screens up at once. One of them played the movie without sound. Another had a rotating cast of behind the scenes personnel discussing things. The other two were either other angles of the scene playing, a rehearsal of that scene or some backstage footage of something like a makeup application. I loved this feature. It is worth watching multiple times. Well you almost have to in order to see it all.
There are two bonus CD's which I feel would be better reviewed in the music section. But their inclusion here adds to the overall package.
This is a wonderful effort by a music group expanding their scope. It didn't win on all fronts with me, but I really look forward to seeing their next effort.
A few too many things were going on in this movie and it was all over the place. There were some things I really liked and some things I didn't like so much. Overall I give the movie itself 3 stars. Special features get 4.5 stars. Two bonus cds in the deluxe edition earn a bonus half star to the overall grade. Final score is 4.5 stars. Yeah, I rounded it up. But I don't have a 4.25 star option
SPOILER AREA
The scene with the woman in the mirror was cool. Not wholly original, but still well done and warranted mention here.
I was really disappointed by the death of Savini. Vellich had demonstrated his ability to turn to smoke prior to the moment he kills Savini. We don't know which of them is older and stronger, but Vellich is subservient to Savini. So it seems at the least they should be equals. And Savini should be capable of the smoke trick. So when Vellich turns to smoke and enters Savini, why didn't Savini simply pull the same trick? In my eyes this was a major flaw in the movie.
With the zombie houseguest, it was rather odd how accepting everyone was of him. Even having him in a bar. It would seem like there would be more issue with a noticeably dead person in the place.
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