Dead Before Dawn (2012)

PLOT

A bunch of college kids accidentally unleash an evil curse that causes people to kill themselves and turn into zombie demons aka Zemons

What do you do when a group of college kids accidentally unleash an truly evil curse that makes people kill themselves and turn them into demon zombies or zemons for short.

Dead Before Dawn takes a very interesting approach to the zombie genre as it brings something fairly new and fresh with the whole demon zombie curse, at first seemed silly but as the film went on it made more sense and actually worked.

I thought it was funny how when the group brought the curse forward they made a mockery of these types of curses in films because the zemon killed you by giving you hickeys and one way to stop them was to french kiss them.

The cast are relatively unknowns with the exceptions of Christoper Lloyd, Mullen used him again in her action thriller 88, here Lloyd is very much playing a version of Doc Brown from Back to The Future and even makes a few references to that film which is fine but he doesn’t get alot of screen time, but looks good as a zemon.

Martha MacIsaac who is best known for her role in Superbad here is very good and likeable, It’s kind of hard not to like her she just has that girl next door likability It factor.

Devon Bostick as the lead I had a few issues with through out the film, seemed to take awhile to get behind his character even though he’s the one as a viewer should be supporting from the word go, but overall he does a good job especially near the end of the film.

The supporting actors all play their roles perfectly and get what the film is all about, most notables being Brandon Jay McLaren who brings the funny one more then a few points and steals the show a few times, April Mullen and Tim Doiron are very good as well, doesn’t hurt that Mullen also directs and Doiron wrote the screenplay.

The team of Mullen and Doiron work very good together and after seeing 88 and now Dead Before Dawn to very different films but both with both films they show that they are good at what they are doing and have fun with it, hopefully bigger things are to come with future projects.

All in all I was very entertained with Dead Before Dawn which reminded me of a few classic horror comedies like The Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead and Shaun of The Dead to name a few, if you are someone who likes over the top horror comedies then this is a most watch for you.

MY RATING 6/10

Cast

Devon Bostick-Casper Galloway

Martha MacIsaac-Charlotte Baker

Christoper Lloyd-Horus Galloway

Brandon Jay McLaren- Dazzle Darlington

Brittany Allen- Lucy Winthrop

Kyle Schmid-Patrick Bishop

Tim Doiron- Seth Munday

April Mullen-Becky Fords

Kevin McDonald- Professor Duffy

Ellen Dubin- Beverly Galloway  

88 (2014)

"There are two sides to every story"


PLOT

A young woman comes to in a road side diner with no idea where she is or how she got there. Split between two timelines, she gets taken on a violent journey as she seeks out the person responsible for her lovers death.

MY THOUGHTS

 When a young woman (Katherine Isabelle) finds herself sitting in a diner with no memory of how she got there, things quickly get out of hand as she struggles to remember who she is and just what exactly is going on.

I hadn’t heard to much about 88 until I saw a few pictures online about it so I decided to check it out, along with Isabelle, Christopher Lloyd co stars in this high energy, high octane, action thriller.

88 does a interesting job of telling two stories about the same person from both point of views of the main character before and after her losing her memory.

Katherine Isabelle is probably one of the most versatile actresses today and her turn as Gwen here proves that there are good leading roles for women, Isabelle is vulnerable, sexy, and ruthless all at the same time through out the film.

Christopher Lloyd gives a a really good against type performance as Cyrus, the leader of a gang who is in love with Gwen and seems to be the root of all of her problems.

Tim Doiron adds some comic relief as Ty aka Gwen’s sidekick with his fast talking and seemingly eagerness to kill people makes for some good dark humor.

I thought Michael Ironside was underused as the Sheriff because its Michael Ironside, he does make the best with what he is given to do.

Director April Mullen does a fine job here with the style and look of the film which helps add to the appeal, Mullen was an unknown to me as a filmmaker but after this one she’s on my radar as an up and coming filmmaker. She always makes an appearance in the film as a interesting but memorable character.

I won’t say to much about the plot because the less that is know is the better because I can’t really say to much without giving a lot away, It is very Memento-ish as we go on this twisted journey to get answers with her certain state of mind.

My biggest problem with the film is that one very important part of the plot is never explained which would leave viewers wondering about this long after the movie is over since its basically the whole point of the story, but if you can get past that and just enjoy it for what the movie is then it shouldn’t take away from it to too much.

So if you enjoy fast pace, action thrillers, with a sexy leading lady then i recommend 88 to you, which is currently streaming on Netflix.

MY RATING 6/10

CAST

Katherine Isabelle- Gwen

Christopher Lloyd- Cyrus

Tim Doiron- Ty

Michael Ironside- Sheriff Knowles 

Kyle Schmid- Aster

Jesse McCartney-Winks

April Mullen-Lemmy

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)

"It's been a long time"

PLOT

65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so called moonlight begin again. is it a copycat or something even more sinister? a lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him




MY THOUGHTS

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a remake(Sort of) to the original film of the same name which was made in 1976 which was based on the true story of the mask killer known only as the phantom that terrorized Texarkana back in 1946.

This film begins with a recap of the real life events that took place in 1946 and then references the 1976 film, then comes to current day where Jami (Addison Timlin) and her boyfriend Corey (Spencer Treat Clark) are at the drive in watching the original film which has become something of a yearly thing for the people of Texarkana who somewhat have embraced the tragic events from years ago.

Jami not being really into horror films wants to leave which Corey has no problem in doing, as they are leaving Reverend Cartwright(Edward Herrmann) is warning everyone about the movie they are watching, he’s something of the prophet of doom.

Jami and Corey ends up at lover’s lane the original phantom’s hunting grounds and while their after 66 years The Phantom appears and forces them out of the car, he tells Corey to get on the ground and for Jami to turn around and not look as he gets down on top of Corey and stabs him repeatedly.

Jami manages to escape and ends up in the hospital and when the rest of the town hears about what happened it causes the town to go into a frenzy and opens up once long forgotten feelings about The Phantom killer.

One thing I enjoyed about this movie was how the filmmakers made homages to the original film a few of the death scenes are play out exactly like a few of the ones in the original, most of note being the trombone scene.

The cast was a little interesting with a few known actors (Anthony Anderson, Gary Cole, Veronica Cartwright, Denis O’Hare,Ed Lauter and Edward Herrmann) showing up threw out, It would’ve been nice to have seen the police play a more important role in this film but they took a backseat this time too the main character.

Anthony Anderson character is based off of the Texas Ranger from the original film played by Ben Johnson and even dressed like him but isn’t given much to do, same with Gary Cole but he does have one of the more memorable scenes in the film.

Denis O’Hare does very well with the limited screen time he gets here as Charles B. Pierce, Jr. the son of the original filmmaker. It would’ve been good to see more of him here since he seemed to be the most committed to his role and what the film was all about.

The lead Addison Timlin as Jami does a decent job as the only survivor of The Phantom attacks and we’re given much of her own backstory but even with all of that there did seem to be something missing, maybe like I mentioned before if the police played more of a role in this film then it would’ve made her seem like a better character some how.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown does a good job of bridging the original with this new film and I was entertained through out, but if there is one big problem that I had with the film would be with the finale, I will not spoil it but the ending felt rushed and weak for the most part and some what slasher film cliched which this film wasn’t for two-thirds of it.

All in all if you are a fan of the original film or even if you are not The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a good watch and more violent then the original, the story is well pace and played out except for the ending but that shouldn’t ruin the overall viewing, it’s one of the better horror films from 2014 and seemed to fly under the radar for a lot of people.

So check it out since it’s streaming currently on netflix as is the original so you could have a double feature and make a night of it.


MY RATING
7/10

CAST
Addison Timlin-Jami
Veronica Cartwright- Lillian
Anthony Anderson-Lone Wolf Morales
Gary Cole- Chief Deputy Tillman
Travis Tope- Nick
Edward Herrmann-Reverend Cartwright
Ed Lauter- Sheriff Underwood
Denis O'Hare- Charles B. Pierce, Jr
Spencer Treat Clark- Corey
Morganna May- Kendra
Joshua Leonard- Deputy Foster