Shelf Life (2004)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Mark Tuit

Writer:

Mark Tuit (writer)

Release Date:

April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Death holds no dominion.

Plot:

Martin job is to hunt and destroy human like parasites who feast on mankind.

Plot Keywords:

Decapitation | Vampire

Awards:

1 win

Cast

William MacDonald	...	Martin
Bryce McLaughlin	...	Ben
Courtney Kramer	...	Julie
Earl Pastko	...	Old Man
Paralee Cook	...	Tanya
Clay St. Thomas	...	Frank
Craig March	...	Duncan
Chris Lawrence	...	Stick
Philip Granger	...	Wino
Peter Bryant	...	Bill
Gerald Varga	...	Bartender
Heather Keetbaas	...	Amy
Erika Conway	...	April
Grace Shen	...	Pharmacist
Barb Brebner	...	Woman at Car Accident

Also Known As:

Subhuman (Canada: English title) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence/gore, drug use and language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:18 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:18 (uncut) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Somnambulist Imagery Inc.

Subhuman: The Philosophical Vampire Hunter

I was expecting pretty much nothing from SHELF LIFE... and, surprisingly, I got a lot more out of it. For a shot-on-video shoe-string production I must say this one didn't waste my time. Why? Because the film-makers really made an effort on mostly all levels. It looks a bit cheap, sometimes, but the camera-moves are there (well, most of the time, at least). Director/producer/writer Mark Tuit even wrote a rather interesting story too (a different take on vampires). Decent enough camera-work throughout most of the movie (even though in some scenes Mark Tuit tends to make his shots a bit too long, if you ask me - a little faster cutting could have made the film benefit from it, especially in the conversation scenes). Now, you will have to get passed the below-par acting from the whole cast, although you can clearly see they really gave it their best shot. Always applaudable, and they're certainly not the worst actors ever. William MacDonald - as said before in other comments on here - did a pretty neat job portraying Martin, the vampire hunter (our should I say: parasite hunter...?) with a nasty drug habit. If you can dig the semi-philosophical utterings & quotes coming from him, you can certainly find an added value in this movie (which I kinda did - although he did do it a lot, making the movie suffer a bit from overly long talkative scenes). Bryce McLaughlin, on the other hand, couldn't convince at all, I'm sad to say. But like I said, you can tell he tried.

Then there's the gore & blood effects. The movie isn't really stuffed with them, but when they do come on, they don't skimp on it . You also won't see the best prosthetic cut-off heads ever or the best splatter-effects (because of budget-restrictions, I'm guessing, not lack of talent or creativity), but the way it was all executed, worked very well. So, in short: Interesting story, fun occasional gore-effects, below-par acting, decent camera-work & directing (some inventive shots even, mostly involving effects), the music is a hit & miss - I'm talking about all the songs coming from various bands here, not the orchestrated score - (and they just used too much of it throughout the movie, in my opinion), cheapie look & feel sometimes (but that's forgivable). Also worth a look are some of the features on the extra's menu. I quite enjoyed the alternative opening sequences and there's also a split-screen version of a scene already in the movie (including extra footage), giving more background info on the main character Martin. I would have loved seeing that 'split-scene' in the movie. It worked very well, and as far as 'experimental story-telling' goes, it would have fitted perfectly in a low-budget production like this.

I can imagine some people might find this little film pretty boring or something. So it's not for all tastes. But nevertheless, I actually could take it seriously. So... Tired of big budget blockbuster horror? Searching for something that's a little different? You might want to consider giving SHELF LIFE (aka SUBHUMAN) a try.