Tommy-5

Army of Frankensteins is a nice B horror film, shot in Oklahoma and recently released on DVD. Running time is 108 minutes, MAYBE a bit long but not really, as most films today, I've noticed, approach the two hour mark in length.

If you are a fan of Back to The Future, Night of the Living Dead, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, or maybe even another B offering from a few years ago, Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula, I am reasonably certain you will like this one. The story line is simple and far-fetched enough to be great fun: a young man and an even younger boy are thrown back into time 150 years, right into the thick of the American Civil War. To stretch credibility even further, an "army" of Frankenstein clones are produced to combat the "bad" monsters, all created by a greenish serum brought from the future. The goals of our heroes are to 1. Assist in helping the North win the Civil War 2. Make it safely home to the 21st century, and 3. Meet their ancestors. Do not assume any of this is necessarily in that order.

You do not a need a detailed critique of this film for several reasons, the main one being, this is a low budget B film and should be judged as such. It is grossly unfair to compare such a film to higher budget, Hollywood productions and I hate to see that when it happens, which is, sadly, pretty often. Also, I do not wish for you to know too much more about plot and story. As they say in show business, "Leave 'em wanting more," and so I shall. Instead, I offer comments and my impressions of what is a fun film to watch.

The young boy who played Igor, Christian Bellgardt, stole the show. I am certain his father, writer/director Ryan Bellgardt, did not plan for that, but what a nice surprise for both of them. Young Bellgardt has a future in acting, and I hope he stays interested enough to pursue it.

Oklahoma horror legend John "Count Gregore" Ferguson has a fairly small but important role as the mad scientist, Dr. Tanner Finski. Many years ago, Mr. Ferguson's career path took a turn towards Oklahoma, and here we see what might have been . . . if. John Ferguson could easily have been John Carradine, and it was good to him in a substantial screen role, one he handled very well.

The special effects were pretty good. I liked the occasional use of filtered lens for a rose tint look in spots, and Solomon's (portrayed by Rett Terrell) arm cannon was very enjoyable. The story was meaningful and poignant at times, campy and fun at other times. The beard on the villainous Confederate officer resembles a large piece of steel wool and the scene where the soldier caught a cannonball and threw it back the other way reminded me of an old Republic serial I viewed many years ago. Dialogue was embellished and over the top in a fun way in places, but the underlying theme of the entire story was the young boy Igor's loss of innocence for many reasons not of his own doing.

The story creators toyed around with what I will call, for lack of a better term, a combination alternate/revisionist history of facts pertaining to that era. You will have to view the film to see what I mean. All in all, they stayed true to history, within context of a fiction story.

I am hoping Mr. Bellgardt will add a director's commentary audio to future releases of the DVD.

You may learn more about this film on Facebook. Look for the Army of Frankensteins page.

****THIS IS A DETAILED REVIEW CONTAINING MANY SPOILERS!*****

This is an amusing and enjoyable little film, the sort of film I admire and add to my video library whenever I have the opportunity. Control Alt Destroy runs 64 minutes and is surprisingly well made.

The story is set on the 4th of July in the offices of Frederickson and Frederickson. (John Ferguson has a small but interesting role as Mr. Frederickson. More about that later). Frederickson's foppish son Kingsley assists his father in running the company but we are never exactly certain what the company does. The film starts out humorously, the performances from all in the cast are pretty much over-the-top and reminds the viewer of the cult classic from a few years ago, Office Space. There is tension in the office and we quickly find that the Fredericksons and employees do not like each other. Indeed, nobody seems to like anybody and we quickly see there is more than a little bit of dysfunction in all of the main characters.

Old man Frederickson announces he is leaving on business, leaving Kingsley in charge. His constant berating proves too much for several of the workers so they leave the office to spend the day eating a fast food lunch and horsing around a local playground. (Why is the playground devoid of anyone else on a sunny 4th of July?). It is during this time the guys imbibe beer and marijuana and relate their father's experiences during the Vietnam War.

Returning to the office, looking through the front door they notice armed terrorists inside. The Frederickson employees are very noisy in determining what to do and one is left to wonder why they were not noticed by the bad guys. But, they weren't and we learn that the geeky Dennis is a former Marine who just happens to have a cache of weapons hidden throughout the office!

Dennis and his pals storm the office and regain control, becoming heroes in doing so.

So, that is the basic story and it is a good one.

Now, I offer a few observations and random comments.

Director Nick Sanford has done an excellent job in combining genres. This film mixes suspense and comedy and displays elements of campy parody. There is a wonderful scene of Mike Gasper, portraying Kingsley, non-puffing on an oversize pipe while purposefully laying it on too thick as the big boss. In the space of 64 minutes, we are treated to fright and laughter, patriotism and cynicism. There is enough undeveloped characterization to lengthen the film, but I'm certain budget constraints prevented this.

The producers did a wise thing. The great John Ferguson was used in a near cameo role. I say near cameo because he was in for two very amusing scenes plus a quick shot towards the film's end. Like all good show people would, Steve Patchin and Nick Sanford left the audience wanting more of him. I have included dialogue from John's scenes:

Carl, (one of the browbeaten employees, upon hearing he has received a promotion), speaking to Mr. Frederickson in his office: "I don't know what to say. Thank you sir! This is amazing – I will not let you down! I will put this job before everything else. Before my novel, before my dog – everything!"

Frederickson, (laughing): "I'm just screwing with you! Get the hell back to work!"

A few minutes later, Frederickson speaking to Kingsley: "I'm leaving you in charge of everything while I am gone…That's what important leaders like me learn to do. When we have something important to do, we leave the least equipped person in charge. That's what we learned from the Republicans!"

Kingsley: "Thank you Daddy!"

Nick did a wonderful job of mixing the genres and mood, but I felt at times the film didn't really know which way it wanted to go. That it worked as well as it did is, again, a credit to Nick.

I felt the dialogue in spots was a bit earthier than it needed to be but that is a subjective opinion. If it added to the realism then it is a good thing.

All of the camera-work and other production values for such a low budget film were excellent.

Rachael Barry as Michelle caught my eye. She has a nice screen presence which I hope she will cultivate. She had a nice comic relief scene towards the film's end after the terrorists have been defeated:

Carl: "Dennis is a former Marine. He orchestrated this entire rescue!"

Michelle, who had earlier rebuffed Carl's advances: "I think I'm not a lesbian anymore!"

I like the Halloween masks and dark appearance of the terrorists. They were almost too good, given the levity of the story.

Twist Jackson, the terrorist leader wonderfully portrayed by Jason Gwynn, was the only terrorist to not wear a mask. This enabled us to see his exaggerated facial expressions.

Al, portrayed by Eric Kuritz, made the moral decision not to execute a captured terrorist, thus claiming the moral high road over his Vietnam scarred father.

We learn that the terrorists risked everything to steal $75.00 from the office safe, although Twist places a high degree of importance in hacking into the company's encrypted accounts, ultimately to gain nothing.

I got the impression the story was padded out a bit to get it to run an hour. Nothing wrong with that but it is noticeable.

For his next effort I would like to see Nick Sanford do a horror or grim film noir feature.

It is not surprising this film had an Anne Rice type feel to it as it was shot in Louisiana. What is surprising to me is how, as one friend described it, such a ludicrous storyline could capture my fancy as it has. I suppose my fondness for horror films with catchy names has something to do with it. However, this one is more professionally done than such films as Jesse James vs. Frankenstein's Daughter or Billy the Kid vs. Dracula. (I'm not forgetting Buffy the Vampire Slayer!).

If you have read the book, well written by author Seth Grahame-Greene, you are familiar with the story. I believe he did very well in taking a giant of American history, placing him in such a preposterous situation, and pulling it off with dignity and taste.

The storyline, in case you are not aware, is straightforward and simple. As a child, young Abe Lincoln, (very well portrayed by Benjamin Walker), witnesses his mother being attacked by a vampire. After her death, he vows revenge. As it happens, a few years later the mysterious Henry Sturgess, (Dominic Cooper), injects himself into the life of Abe, now a young man. Sturgess trains Abe on how to be a vampire slayer. They create for Abe a specially made ax with the blade lined with silver. Older viewers will be reminded of the old Wild, Wild West television program. You will love the martial arts style ax work of Abraham Lincoln as he fights vampires to the death!

We are deep into suspension of disbelief territory now, but that is the fun of films like this. Sturgess assigns Abe the vampires to be slain and Abe follows his directions to the letter. Eventually we are introduced to head vampire/plantation owner Adam, played by Rufus Sewell, who was my favorite character in the movie. His "enforcer,' the beautiful Erin Wasson as Vadoma, adds spice to an already colorful story.

Time passes and Abraham Lincoln is introduced to politics by meeting Stephen A. Douglas, (Alan Tudyk in an uncredited role) and eventually becomes the President of the United States. Abe has long since given up active pursuit of vampires, but learns the hard way that vampires and their hidden agenda are behind the secession of the southern states and the true cause of the Civil War.

There will be no spoilers here. View the film to see how Honest Abe Lincoln ultimately saves the Union.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter runs 105 minutes, just about right for a film such as this. The special effects are nicely done and, for a film about vampires and blood, the gore is not excessive. Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, perhaps without intending to, injected a slight feel of a European view of the American Civil War into the story.

This film will not be for everybody. Some will be offended at the use of Abraham Lincoln's name and reputation being used in this way. But, as stated earlier, it is done with dignity and Abraham Lincoln is every much the noble hero in the movie as we view him in real life. Something just as offensive, if not more so, is the use of the Confederacy as a mask for vampire domination. President Jefferson Davis is seen making a devil's deal with the despicable Adam and, for those of us with southern ancestry, this is disturbing. But, we need to remember this is a work of fiction, certainly not believable fiction in any way and I am certain there was no intention on the part of the writer to be disrespectful to anything or anybody.

I would recommend this film if you like modern day horror film making. It is not a great film. It is a good film and highly entertaining, which is all a film such as this needs to be.