This is one of those films where the box cover can be a tad misleading, but it's not a complete lie.
Yes, this is the story about an author that finds that the things she writes are coming into being. If you'll
forgive the pseudo-spoiler, then I think a more honest description would be that she finds herself inside the world she
is crafting. Sort of.
To say that this is a trippy tale would not quite do this film justice. Think of the creepiest place that
Neil Gaiman has ever created, cross it with a painting by Salvador Dali, and you'll come pretty close to the visual aesthetic
of this movie. Personally, I thought it was fascinating visually... if not horribly creepy at times. There was one
particular part of the fantasy realm that is explored that I could have done without, but it is such a pivotal point in the
flick that I can't really tell you what it is. So, I'll just taunt your imagination and say that it was the biological
part of the realm that I disliked the most. That aside, the visuals in
this film are fantastic, which made it just a tad
disconcerting to have to take my eyes off the candy long enough to read
the dialogue at times. (This is not an English language film.)
The creative concept that went into this film is actually kind of simple, but the cgi and execution were very
well done. The acting is convincing (even the children), and the story is compelling. I think of this movie as a much
darker alternate version of The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland, except Dorothy/Alice spend much of the time
running away from the beasties rather than trying to befriend them as she looks for the way home.
Besides having to read the movie (which isn't the movie's fault), and the "biological" scene I mentioned
above, the only thing I didn't like about this movie is that the first of the last two final twists was probably telegraphed
just a little too early. But that's probably just me. Overall the movie was compelling to watch, and the visuals were
great. I can see why this is labeled as a "horror" movie, but I think the more appropriate title would be "thriller." But,
then again, I suppose you don't generally see too many zombies in a thriller... Like I said, the natives in Oz/Wonderland are
just a tad more... ravenous than the storybook versions. A good film. Recommended.
Movie to Skip: Slaughter
This is one of those odd situations where you'll probably guess how things are going to end before
you actually get there, but it really won't make any sense as to why the story is leading you there. Sure, crazy
people do some pretty crazy stuff... and in the movies that crazy stuff tends to be complex homicide. But the
motivation behind the killer's actions doesn't quite seem to add up here. There is such a logical jump between the
final dots that it is kind of hard to make the logical leap; it's just a little too convenient, and a little too
far fetched.
Of course, this IS a b-movie slasher film, so I suppose reality isn't why people watch these things,
right? I prefer a tale with a better plot line, but at least this one was passable. If you're not interested
in plot line, then you're probably in it for the gore or the action... but you won't find too terribly much of that
in this movie either. It has its moments, but it is a little slow to get started, to be perfectly honest. It
wasn't so much of a 'slow boil' as there just wasn't anything interesting going on for a significant portion of the film.
Now, once the ball finally got rolling, it wasn't so bad. But the movie could have been shorted by about 30 minutes or so
with better results, methinks.
If you generally like the After Dark Horrorfest films, then you'll probably be ok with this one. But if
you just want to see a good slasher, then you'll probably just want to skip it altogether.
