The Tomb (2009)

Sleepy actors in atmospheric settings

This is an old fashioned horror romance loosely adapted by an unknown director and John "The Crow" Shirley from an Edgar Allan Poe short story. It also combines primitive science and magic involving a deceitful woman who wants to defeat death at whatever the cost and against whoever gets in her way that's living.

A literature professor named Jonathan, despite being engaged to an attentive blonde named Rowena, gets seduced by an exotic dark-haired eastern European woman called Ligeia Romanova who sits in during his lectures due to a supposed fascination with his work. She's conducting a darker kind of research on her own at the university to cure an ailment called Black Death that's causing her to become progressively weaker and that much closer to dying. Through witchcraft she beckons him to her apartment with indulgences of lust and absinthe, all the while with a grieving fiancee at home and a past lover for Ligeia who was assisting her with fresh corpses beforehand. They marry and Jonathan dips into his deep pockets to purchase back the Romanova Manor in Ukraine that was once in Ligeia's family's name. There Ligeia tries to perfect her diabolical experiments but is getting weaker, which leads to her hold becoming less strong on Jonathan. Suspicions arise from both their caretaker Vaslov, his teenage daughter Loreli and Jonathan himself. He starts to see clearer and brings Rowena back into his life, though Ligeia has one last attempt up her sleeve that might put everyone's life in danger.

The main aspect concentrated on here is the love triangle with everything else coming second or being brought up and not developed at all. There's no strong hero or even a steady character to crutch yourself on as a viewer with the exception of the fiancee Rowena for relating points, though who's not always on screen. The direction, dialogue and performances are hit and miss. The script feel underdeveloped by only giving limited range to the characters and making them seem more like plot devices moved from one place to the next. Jonathan doesn't pose much of a struggle or create a challenge by incorporating a fight between both sides of being entranced and shaking it off. Even the unsurety of Ligeia if she loves him or not--since she keeps him around while killing off everyone else on whim--isn't always given enough subtleties to make you second guess if she's true or not. There's little mystery past a certain point and the pacing is up and down, with the beginning transitions being rushed and not giving enough room to authentically develop the characters. The middle section drags with some filler material that doesn't carry any tension or captivation but more or less padding to the simplistic story. Not to mention there are flashbacks that return to a scene that happened earlier as if they didn't have a life beforehand. This picks up the flow for its wrap up, though its impact was somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic.

Sofya Skya, as Ligeia, no doubt brings a certain enchanting beauty but her portrayal is somewhat neutral in that she doesn't always bring more to herself that would be intriguing past a certain point. Her voice is often flat and her degrees of facial expressions limited, as if she's not affected by anything around her than indifferent. Wes Bentley is in a trance half of the time, giving a stupid and confused grin while walking around like a love sick zombie. Both Michael Madsen and Eric Roberts play unexceptional, one-dimensional parts with Madsen the drunk, layabout father of Rowena and Roberts the humble caretaker of the Romanova Manor.

As a horror film, this isn't scary or frightening but there's still a certain atmosphere at points to where the settings are periodically shot in between scenes. The R rating was most likely for cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption than anything else along the lines of gore or nudity. This was supposed to be more of a character driven tale with the technical science and supernatural aspects grazed over for more of a tone and to concentrate on human tragedy. Except the strength of the film ended up being the set designs, cinematography and music than the performances and dialogue. It's as if they don't always switch out of a lower gear, causing their performances to only break even across the board instead of doing something that expresses dramatic emotion or to remember them by as a specific personality instead of merely an actor reading lines.

Rating: 3/10

Director: Michael Staininger
Stars: Wes Bentley, Kaitlin Doubleday, Sofya Skya, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Michael Madsen, Eric Roberts, Mackenzie Rosman
Link: IMDB

Outrage (2009)

A total genre mixup

"Outrage" includes backwoods yokels, city slickers, spirits, healers and who could forget crazed military ex-cons. The location of Georgia is about the only aspect that stays still. The subgenres change over from a death in the family, vacation, potential love, hostage, spiritual, thriller and survivalist with some tongue-in-cheek humor if that wasn't enough regarding other films--yep, these guys have ADHD or they're assuming you do with all your various electronic gizmos and gadgets to distract... Instead of the experience being refreshing, it feels like an Easter egg hunt where people show up that weren't invited, you're to scour for unguessable items without a map and rules are added and subtracted on sheer whim.


An oafish looking hunter named Billy gets struck by lightning and gains a new perspective on hunting animals for sport. Next a woman and man are being hunted in another stretch of woods by far more dangerous rednecks called the Loomis brothers, only to run off and get killed by a sniper. Oblivious, a woman named Christine and her pal Trey (director Ace "Friend Zone" Cruz) are headed out for the remote area to sell her late dad's cabin that Billy was a caretaker for. Two of their friends--a wild husband and wife--show up for a mini vacation that gets cut short for all when the Loomis brothers and mysterious leader Farragut--who were former inmates from the local military prison--tie them up and terrorize them. In the ordeal, Billy dies but his spirit comes out of his body to watch the events unfold. The remaining escape but have to fight for their lives in the nearby woods.


Billy's character frequently narrates overtop like a "Sling Blade" meets "Forrest Gump" with life's little lessons in between. "Sometimes life's like a seesaw. One minute everything is happy and fun. The next minute, it ain't." His pal, same exact actor from "Deliverance," doesn't speak but lets his banjo do the talking with a sixth sense for picking up pitches of people's emotions. There's a fine line between acting slow and coming across as accidentally comical in all the wrong places or just plain retarded if the performer doesn't create staying power or charm. Billy's character goes over the mark, which makes it a challenge to take it with any shred of merit. Especially since they made him such a typical hillbilly caricature with overalls and fake chompers to boot. It's possible they only wanted to be light hearted but he ended up being cartoonish at times.

Michael Madsen plays a condescending military man with nothing to lose. It's all sadistic fun and games as he torments and terrorizes his captives with little end goal in mind to make him more of a mad man--except like all diabolical villains he might have a surprise up his sleeve. Michael Berryman plays a faith healer of little words named Obeah who gives Christine a healing rock and advice about losing her fear or else she won't win the fight. Christine was kidnapped when she was younger and has a rage regarding it. Her father taught her how to survive and protect herself, which isn't always capitalized on here as she runs more than fights.


This can make one's head spin as it's both a conflicting story as to what to feel or where it's headed next but then at other points it's treated so simplistically as to hold the audience's hand with a quick and lazy narration overtop about who, when or why. This tries to do a different type of thriller/survival film, though a share of the characters don't feel real to life but just thrown together for contrast's sake. Not to mention the sequences of events are told in such an awkward way as to lose the viewer in subtext over and over again without giving a break for breathing room. It has heart and loads of ambition but the lack of resources and power to pull everything off. It threw together far too many clashing tones without measuring them out or giving time for a steady focal point; the various musical cues--from old-fashioned to modern--didn't exactly help bring it together either. Its attempts at trying to make this serious and tongue-in-cheek at the same time falls flat. The experience makes one feel detached without a stable mood to latch onto.

There are some messages that deal with violence and how hate can destroy a person by following them around if they don't let go. Despite not working entirely, the story does come full circle for all those involved, so there's some meaning for the viewing experience instead of just going with a throw away film with superficial action moves and violence; it's a good thing as the action choreography usually consists of them running from place to place--sometimes tripping--without always giving a challenging cat and mouse chase.

The verdict: the film never manages to slow its ambitious heels to make the overall experience move at the same time as the audience instead of getting too overexcited and running ahead.

Rating: 2.5/10

Director: Ace Cruz (Fate, Desert of Death)
Stars: Paulyd, Katie Fountain, Ace Cruz, Natasha Lyonne, Michael Madsen, Michael Madsen, Michael Berryman
Link: IMDB

The Bleeding (2009)

Title refers to viewer's eyes

A big, bald, bad-accented man named Shawn Black escapes from a hospital with revenge on his mind. In his Shelby Cobra--blatant advertising of the car commercial kind--he searches for clues as to what happened to his brother who was a solider that went M.I.A. He takes out a gang of thugs only to find a man named Tagg who tells him about vampires. He explains that a king is born every 100-200 years from the soul of an esteemed warrior who died in combat. This select person will lead a troupe to devour and decimate humankind. The current king is Cain who was also last seen in Afghanistan where Black's brother was. Another chosen person known as a slayer--who happens to be Black--is destined to fight the king in an epic battle of good vs evil. Black meets a Father Roy who breaks every other rule in the good book. They partner up along with his side kick Crash to stop Cain and his neck-bitting cronies who've overtaken a town. A woman named Lena and her friend Jenny cross Black's path at Club Mortem: the place Cain uses to recruit other vampires and where a big showdown is going to ensue.

If you thought "Blade" was a little too modernized, fashionable or just exaggerated, then "The Bleeding" is going to be your worst enemy. This also shuffles around vampire mythology where blood suckers can walk by the day, get killed by silver bullets and are also taken out when you destroy their coffin. The movie tries to slap together too many styles at once without giving a chance to concentrate on a single one. At some points it gives this a quick pacing but makes it hard to take it seriously and at times comes across as unintentionally humorous. This is more action than horror, so there's going to a share of shoot outs and hand to hand combat rather than scares. This makes shows like "V.I.P." and "Walker, Texas Ranger" look polished. The lead actor Michael Matthias seems to be all look and no pay out. His lines come off as so neutral and passionless as to think he's in the wrong film if it weren't for his muscles.

The script and on top of that the direction and editing are terrible--there's no sense getting witty about it. The character motivations are all over the place. At times the dialogue doesn't even seem to check what it's saying, "A couple of years ago, back in 1982." So, 27 years ago is a couple of years ago? The actors go from over doing emotions to under doing another at the next moment. The storyline goes from being in-your-face obvious to vague and nonsensical. The lazy narration over top by the main character makes him sound like he's explaining it to someone who is slow on the upkeep, including what sounds like himself. There are flashbacks to remind you of a prior scene as if you weren't paying attention. It feels like an adult movie told to an adolescent, which robs the film of rewards for the audience. How can you possibly think this flick is cool when its mentality dumbs itself down? Random characters appear out of nowhere with no explanation as to how they got there. It makes them seem penciled in at the last moment without care or refinement. The transitions are incredibly jumpy at times, as if you can clearly see they filmed it at different points, not to mention some scenes are over emphasized for no significant reason, as if you think they're building up to something but to no avail. What's surprising is some of the people involved have been in the business a while, including the director, not to mention actors Armand Assante--who plays a bit part as a cop in the beginning--and Michael Madsen as the rule-breaking priest.

"The Bleeding" attempts to be purposely campy and like something of a live action comic book but has trouble at times from tripping over its own feet in the process to make the joke instead turn around on them. It has a share of cliches and pokes fun at a few while at it. But, man, I can take some purposely trashy pictures, such as some Troma and Herschell Gordon Lewis films, for instance, but there's a point where the audience seems to come second here. Either they're having too much fun to check back or don't care to even take the viewers seriously--I'm leaning towards the latter. Who are they hoping to sell this to? Or should I say sucker into this. This does have some amusing scenarios come and go but unfortunately with entertainment in all the wrong places.

Rating: 1/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "From Dusk Till Dawn": This is part action film/vampire flick that is able to balance campiness, keep a steady measurement and be simultaneously entertaining while at it.

Director: Charlie Picerni
Stars: Michael Matthias, Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Katherine von Drachenberg, Rachelle Leah, Armand Assante, DMX
Link: IMDB

The Killing Jar (2010)

Bullet hole with your coffee, sir?

"The Killing Jar": the "jar" being a small town diner and the "killing" being people trapped inside with their fate up to a gunman. This begins by familiarizing the audience with these simple town folk just out for a late night bite at their favorite greasy eatery with jukebox, stifling heat and cheap prices. After hearing a radio broadcast about four murders of a husband, wife and their two children, the patrons--couple, waitress, deputy, cook, truck driver and passer through--speak their disgust but go about their business and shoot the breeze.

You get the hardened boss/cook (Danny Trejo), who's overshot vocal tone and miscued body language indicate he quickly filmed some scenes at different times than who he's interacting with. The young couple aimlessly use a video camera and talk about idle dreams. The most natural and credible performance is by the passer through (Harold Perrineau), who is a salesman that just wants to get back home but he'll need a strong cup of brew. The truck driver and deputy keep it familiar as if this is the same routine. A Rockabilly type (Michael Madsen) eventually enters. He's demanding and acts suspicious, which upsets the waitress and causes the deputy to get into a threatening confrontation, which sends Madsen's character over the edge. He can go from spaced-out, henchmen-confident to sympathetic and unsure but not always clenching the transition in between to make it all credible. The moment he storms back in with a shotgun, you lean forward in your seat for hopefully the real start of the adventure.

The rest tries to maintain an intrigue and build up to a twist ending, though apart from a few abrupt and bloody deaths it feels like one giant tedious string along without a major purpose or relatable reward, with the exception of the simple but capable waitress being offered the opportunity and courage to get out of the rut she's at in the restaurant and in her life. However, with everything padded and piled around her to equally get coverage of everybody else, she's not consistently at the focal point of attention to realize this till the latter portion. The gunman kills for no apparent reason other than being provoked. All of a sudden he gains some kind of higher righteousness and uses a skill-set from a past profession to interrogate the patrons and a revelation comes out about the news report involving the murdered family.

On paper this reads like a good idea to produce a low budget movie concentrated on story and characters than one-liners, extravagant sets and location changes. But since the film is so claustrophobic, the flow, character interaction and direction tried to continually throw off the cinemaphile who studies all the details and tries to figure out the puzzle beforehand, though it did the opposite as it didn't fluidly come together to put the audience in the direct moment or believably rationalize with their motivations enough to wholly care that this could actually happen where innocents are being killed in this far away place. It shows how much some filmmakers are willing to go to guard their secret twist, even at the expense of the rest of the picture. It also didn't help that they tried to clash quirkiness and sarcasm amongst sentimental moments, such as Jake Busey's character looking laughably tacky with a weaselly grin mixed with pseudo introspective shots that pan around the diner possibly to throw the scent off. "The Killing Jar" had the right ideas going in, just some of the wrong execution as the flow came in and out in waves.

Rating: 4/10

From Black to Red recommends instead: "Hostage" from 2005, which had an ensemble cast, gravitating performances, mysteriousness and a number of thrills.

Director: Mark Young (Tooth & Nail)
Stars: Michael Madsen, Harold Perrineau, Amber Bensen, Jake Busey
Link: IMDB