Horror films have always had the 'notch above adult films' stigma, usually used due to an overabundance of splattery special effects and weak(er) acting, usually sacrificed in the service of the former. There's no reason a horror film cannot tick all the boxes of what we've come to expect in the genre, still frighten and disturb us, and not have something to say AND have fleshed-out characters populating it.
Dave Gebroe was smart and jumped on this deficit in the horror genre..aside from Larry Fessenden and maybe Brad Anderson and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, horror films and 'emotional' rarely end up in the same sentence. Dave takes a more dramatic approach to a scary movie. If John Cassavetes was hired to do a zombie film it might be something like this, although the director pours the energy of youth into this film and his leads.
Using an intentionally lurid yet appropriate title to lure us in, the film covers the once vibrant and now deteriorating marriage of Danny and Denise, two psychobilly-crazed, frenetic and all-out happy lovers who are rushing from the altar, newly wed. This euphoric approach, followed by a hilarious scene where they get to their new house, drop everything and start planning to live abroad, sweep us up in the giddy rush of starting a new life with the one who makes your heart sing.
Naturally, because he remembers it's a horror film, things go wrong ten minutes later.
A decaying surfer stumbles out of the ocean and 'infects' Danny who seemingly dies on the operation table an hour later. But a few minutes after that, he's up and feeling OK, if a bit pale. And hungry...
While we do get all the standard trappings we'd hope for (flesheating carnage), the real and welcome focus is on how Denise copes with her husband's deterioration into something else. An amped-up similarity to THE FLY aside, it's all about devotion to one's significant other. This one's worth checking out. Who knew horror movies knew how to be heartbreaking as well?
Dave Gebroe was smart and jumped on this deficit in the horror genre..aside from Larry Fessenden and maybe Brad Anderson and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, horror films and 'emotional' rarely end up in the same sentence. Dave takes a more dramatic approach to a scary movie. If John Cassavetes was hired to do a zombie film it might be something like this, although the director pours the energy of youth into this film and his leads.
Using an intentionally lurid yet appropriate title to lure us in, the film covers the once vibrant and now deteriorating marriage of Danny and Denise, two psychobilly-crazed, frenetic and all-out happy lovers who are rushing from the altar, newly wed. This euphoric approach, followed by a hilarious scene where they get to their new house, drop everything and start planning to live abroad, sweep us up in the giddy rush of starting a new life with the one who makes your heart sing.
Naturally, because he remembers it's a horror film, things go wrong ten minutes later.
A decaying surfer stumbles out of the ocean and 'infects' Danny who seemingly dies on the operation table an hour later. But a few minutes after that, he's up and feeling OK, if a bit pale. And hungry...
While we do get all the standard trappings we'd hope for (flesheating carnage), the real and welcome focus is on how Denise copes with her husband's deterioration into something else. An amped-up similarity to THE FLY aside, it's all about devotion to one's significant other. This one's worth checking out. Who knew horror movies knew how to be heartbreaking as well?