MOVIE REVIEW
Title: Dance Of The Dead (TV Movie)
Director: Tobe Hooper
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Guest Reviewer Exclusive
Rating: 6 / 10
Main Cast:
Jessica Lowndes (Peggy)
Jonathan Tucker (Jak)
Marilyn Norry (Kate)
Ryan McDonald (Boxx)
Lucie Guest (Celia)
Robert Englund (The M.C.)
Brief Plot Outline (NO spoilers!):
In the not distant future, terrorism retaliation attacks from war enemies have almost completely destroyed American civilization. People in less devastated areas are desperate to go on living as if nearby free-for-all towns don't exist. Peggy and her Mother run a diner in a nicer town, but one day the teenage criminals from the danger zone Muskeet show up and one of them, Jak, takes a liking to kind, sweet Peggy, who has never seen the sights of the darker spots due to her Mother's sheltering. Peggy likes Jak but her Mother is quick to throw him and his friends out of the diner. He indicates she might see him later and she does. He offers to take her to Muskeet for the night because he has to go, to close a deal selling blood to a nasty night club owner, but doesn't want to leave without ever seeing her again.
Review:
Masters of Horror is a series created for American television superstar network Showtime, by TV-horror king Mick Garris, for the genre's greatest living directors to participate in, if they choose to. The series was created for the purpose of allowing set-in-their-ways directors to finally be able to make whatever kind of movie they want to, the way they want to... But in the provision that it must be shot within 10 days, shot in Canada to save money and avoid union hassles, the budget is 1 million-9 hundred-thousand max, and the movie's length must be cut to under 59 minutes to fit on Showtime.
Some directors weren't able to make it for various reasons (Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Roger Corman) and some have moved on from the horror genre with no intent to go back (David Cronenberg, Peter Jackson). But overall, the series still was able to attract a large amount of the genre's most important, ground-breaking film directors: John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog), Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red), Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling), Tom Holland (Child's Play, Fright Night), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), Larry Cohen (It's Alive), Don Coscarelli (Phantasm), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Takashi Miike (Audition), John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), Peter Medak (The Changeling), and Tobe Hooper.
The incredible body of work of these directors got a lot of people interested in the series, but horror fans were somewhat skeptical. Horror as a genre had been limping around for many years / being greatly damaged by dozens of remakes, boring PG-13 ghost films used as vehicles for Hollywood starlets, and almost completely drained of its' potency by franchise-driven studio ventures such as the torture films, prequels, and schlocky novelty projects made by special celebrity directors.
Masters of Horror was an attempt to turn the making of horror films back to talented directors with a vision. The 10-day schedule was a handicap to some of the directors, but amazingly enough, others were still able to turn in something amazing. In fact, even the weakest Masters of Horror film/episode from the first season managed to contain something greater than the mainstream studio output (by Lions Gate, New Line, Universal, etc.) of many years prior. So clearly, this experiment was a success the first time around.
In terms of what it gave to Tobe Hooper, a director whose career since the 80's has been in terrible shape (his greatest credits since then have been a wretched Stephen King adaptation and a remake of a 70's exploitation film) due to being typecast and forced into directing films that went nowhere fast - Dance of the Dead is his best film in a long time. Unfortunately, it isn't without its flaws. But all things considered, they don't seem to hold Tobe back. The plusses outweigh the minuses here.
Details Acting: The cast is excellent. Indie film star Jonathan Tucker does not slack off, but who would ever expect him to(?). He lends the film the much needed heart to believe that something of value has been corrupted in this world. Jessica Lowndes is new to film acting, and it shows. But she plays the part better than probably anyone could and is very likeable onscreen. Ryan McDonald plays the obnoxious, psychotic roughian well. But most notably, if he ever becomes annoying, it's not his fault. For a horror movie with no true "jump" / "boo" scares, he has an intensity than goes beyond his Jack Black-ish appearence. He actually provides a huge jump in your seat moment by just standing and talking (with help from the film editor).
There are no other real main characters, but worth mentioning is Lucie Guest who plays the "bad girl" Celia... I can't quite describe her performance, but if she was taking notes on Courtney Love's greatest film performances (Love, regardless of her outrageous rock and rehab antics, is one of the most powerful actresses of her time), she may have the talent to far surpass her at a fraction of her age.
Unfortunately, there are 2 weak-links in the cast. Robert Englund, who became famous as Freddy Krueger and has worked with Hooper at least twice before now, has worn out any darkness he had in Nightmare on Elm Street. He plays his part as flamboyantly comic and over the top, which is where he becomes annoying (at least, without his trademark Freddy makeup). And, Marilyn Norry, as Peggy's Mother. Her acting resume goes back into the 1980's, but she doesn't seem to have much talent. Maybe she didn't like the role or know how to play it. Her character is not very complex and she has little to nothing to do. So I could see where she'd be a challenge for Hooper to direct. But she manages to be the most annoying and skin-crawling thing in the movie.
Technical Effects:
This is where Dance of the Dead really stands out, and shines.
Visual Design / Camerawork - the quality of Dance of the Dead's production is broad and very impressive. The team behind all the visual elements onscreen are obviously skilled and trained professionals who go above the call of duty to make the film look and feel cutting edge. The movie is so stylish and sharp- it could cut you. Some scenes play quietly to emphasize the feeling of desolate city street corners and neon lights (an entire World of Night exists side by side with the movie's gritty daytime) where you are more apt to be lonely, this is the only way a romantic link can be established between the lead characters.
But this is just a set-up. Because the director then takes us on an extended road-ride with Jak's wild friends. What begins as a fast drive is visually sped up and wound until you can feel your own head buzzing. And though Jak's friends are sadistic skin-burners and blood-pukers, the ride is a lot of fun to sit through. The whole movie has a style of showing how the excess of the characters is part of the contaminated world of the future. And the characters in the movie are so into excess, the camera does this trick where the focus of the shots in all the crazy scenes begins to become unglued / unfastened and frames within a shot rotate to the point where you begin to think there's something wrong with your TV.
Music - Everything visual in the movie is enhanced by the film's music. I had a hard time believing this, but Billy Corgan (of The Smashing Pumpkins band) is credited as the music composer here. The reason it's so hard to believe is that nobody mentions working with him anywhere on the various DVD's for Masters of Horror. And because he's a very busy musician who's never (to my knowledge) done television (or film) composing. But I could easily be wrong. The music for Dance of the Dead, however, is simply magnificent.
Cliched dramatic TV pieces (here, one piece at the end is reminiscent of Air's "Venus") are mostly on the backburner and a lot of various metal, techno, and ambient cinematic score compositions come to throw scenes into orbit. The club scenes have a great "club" atmosphere feeling to them and the quality of the music sounds live, but the power of the guitar and drums are very thrusting and big. The scene where Jak and Peggy meet up at the diner at night is beautifully scored to an internally lovely ethereal piece of music. The car driving scenes are fast-paced and cinematically rebellious (calling to attention some of Gregg Araki's finest work), with music that makes you feel like you're there. There is spoken dialogue in this scene, but it goes at such a fast-pace, you feel it. This scene is unmatched throughout the rest of the movie.
Special / Make-Up - Dance of the Dead is a movie about deterioration. It's not a slasher film. And though it features zombies, it's not that kind of a zombie film. There are no brutal slashings or big, gory spectacles. It's meant to be more of a piercing, acidic, irritating film. There is blood, it looks great. The special make-up effects team on the entire Masters of Horror series is world-renowned studio KNB who have an illustrious history in horror films and have won an Academy Award for their work. Most of the instantaneous death from the movie comes in the form of action-movie type violence. A person is struck and they bleed. But in addition to that, we see several people cough-up blood, women set on fire, and a group of people have their skin melted. This effect is achieved with CGI, and I did not notice it when I watched the movie. I later discovered this on the DVD. The special effects in Dance of the Dead are top-notch.
After-Dark Content: The only nudity in the film is that of re-animated corpses, which are not shown to be at all sexually enticing. This film will rather likely attract people who appreciate good-looking actors. Of which, Jonathan Tucker will certainly walk away with the most fans here. It's pretty rare that a male actor with so much talent for being so forwardly, emotionally sensitive has as well-toned and muscular a body as he does. But Tucker has had many years of experience playing sensitive (one of his first major noteworthy roles was a molestation victim in 1996's Sleepers). He recently decided he wants to show off his body, and he has quite a body to show off. No shirtless scenes here though except by dead people.
Movie Flaws (if any) Dance of the Dead works on the basis that the story takes place in a corrupt, diseased, on-its-last-leg world. Characters act very extremely because their circumstances are radically different than those in our reality. The ending of the film is a great let-down. But it's still in line with the way the story intends it to be. It's hard to follow the character motivations since the ending features a bit of a twist. Movie twists can be frustrating, especially now that they've become a cliche in horror with 1999's The Sixth Sense. But the twist here, as much as it disappoints, is still in service to the point of the movie.
Conclusions Dance of the Dead is not intense in its horror. But it doesn't need to be. It still delivers a potent message about the world we live in and a believable vision of the darkest times that may very well lie ahead for America if we keep making war with everyone who crosses our path. It turns out, war impacts on all aspects of society.