Bed of the Dead (DIR. Jeff Maher) It’d be easy to call Bed of the Dead wooden, but that would only be a cheap dig. It is, however, hollow and unbelievably convoluted for a film that should be simple. It’s a killer bed, for crying out loud.
Earlier this year, audiences witnessed Bruce Willis being a lazy actor in Precious Cargo – he talked on a cell phone and barely moved out of his seat. In Marauders, the action star is at least doing more with his role (hey, walking counts), but the film itself receives the same faint praise I halfheartedly awarded Precious Cargo in April.
Reviewing films from the Legless Corpse collection is becoming a thankless task. How else do you describe these titles that are oh-so obviously made for the close-knit amateurs that make these low-budget indies?
The premise of Criminal involves an ex-con being used as a vessel to contribute to an ongoing investigation by the CIA. Information and memories are transferred via a scientific procedure from a recently murdered agent to the agency’s newly hired hand. This set-up is bonkers, but the cast sells it as best as they can.
Making a mythology for a horror film is a complex concept. Filmmakers have to take into account narrative, visual and paratextual elements in order to create an iconic creature that can stand the test of time. The filmmaker may not realize this, but they are inherently forced into this routine when they make a film which involves the creation of an urban legend.
Jeremy Saulnier, the director of the unusually and undeservedly lauded Blue Ruin, concocts a second feature where hot punk rock meets cold blooded murder.
