Day 241: Dust Devil

Dust Devil

Dust buster

When you think of horror-producing parts of the world, Africa usually doesn't top the list. Most people think of the United States and Japan, with a sprinkling of European nations, Canada, and Australia. You would think more horror would be based in Africa with it's unique landscapes and regional legends. With movies being made via smartphones and the ease of distributing entertainment on the internet, perhaps Africa will be the next hotbed for horror in the near future.

Dust Devil a 1993 horror movie set in the African nation of Namibia and stars Robert John Burke (Thinner, Good Night and Good Luck) as the title character. Dust Devil is a “naghtloeper” or shapeshifter that possesses human beings. He is trapped in this world and must kill in order to free himself. He focuses on those without any hope and with nothing to lose. Dust Devil walks down an empty road and receives a ride from a woman named Saarke. In the act of making love, he snaps her neck and mutilates her body, using her blood to draw symbols around her house before burning it down. At the same time, a woman named Wendy Robinson (Chelsea Field, Masters Of The Universe, Flipper) leaves her abusive husband Mark and sets out in her car for the coast. Sgt. Ben Mukurob (Zakes Mokae, The Serpent And The Rainbow, Vampire In Brooklyn) heads the investigation into Saarke's death. Ben enlists the help of Joe Niemand (John Matshikiza), a Sangoma, or healer, who informs Ben that the symbols were part of a strange witchcraft ritual. On the road, Wendy picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be Dust Devil. During the ride, Dust Devil disappears from the car, much to Wendy's shock. That night, Wendy almost kills herself with a razor, but decides against it. The next morning, she goes to her car and finds Dust Devil sitting inside. Despite being initially scared, Wendy agrees to drive with him. Meanwhile, Mark has set out after Wendy. Ben's investigation continues, revealing that there have been a string of similar murders dating back almost 100 years. Speaking to Joe, Ben learns about Dust Devil and his black magic, but refuses to believe. Wendy and Dust Devil have sex and he tries to kill her afterward. She knocks him out with a lamp and escapes, but gets into a car accident. Dust Devil pursues her into the desert of Namibia. Will Ben be able to stop Dust Devil before he kills Wendy?

Grrrrrrr....

Interesting is probably the best word to describe Dust Devil. The movie mixes philosophy and abstract ideas and tries to make a coherent story out of it. Unfortunately, it is an intellectual overload that focuses too much on expanding our minds and not on entertainment. A horror movie can be existential, but there has to be a ceiling to keep things from getting too weird. Using a narrator is hit or miss for movies, but it worked for Dust Devil because we would have had no idea what was going on if not for narration. Perhaps there is something lost in the cultural translation, but I had a difficult time understanding just why Dust Devil kills people. There's something about being trapped and killing people out of necessity to free himself. If that's the case, he should have been a more sympathetic character, perhaps showing remorse or regret for having to kill people. There is some good violence and gore, but not nearly enough to keep my interest.

Despite my lack of interest, the movie is incredibly well made. Director Richard Stanley (Hardware, The Island of Dr. Moreau) gets the most of his locations with sweeping aerial shots that capture Namibia's unique landscape. While the intellectuality of the movie didn't entertain me, it did allow for some pretty cool scenes. Robert John Burke is good as Dust Devil, combining charm with viciousness, though we never see the full extent of this evil spirit. Chelsea Field is fine in her role, though the writing for her character should have been much stronger. We never see her in full despair leading up to her almost-suicide which is a shame because it would have drawn more sympathy to the character. John Matshikiza was very good as Joe and the narrator, his voice carrying weight and meaning to all of the existential thoughts and ideas.

Good times!

Dust Devil is an ambitions, thoughtful horror movie that gets mired in it's own thoughts. There is not enough action and very little horror to speak of. Not once was I afraid and entertainment is scarce. There should have been far more character development. The mixture of occult and western is interesting, but not exciting. I don't particularly like voodoo-based horror movies and Dust Devil was very similar to that genre. The movie looks very good and the Namibian setting was certainly unique in the world of horror. It's not that Dust Devil is a bad movie, because it's not. Something just gets lost in translation along the way and never really recovers. I would suggest that if you are interested in seeing Dust Devil, see it for yourself. Maybe you'll enjoy it more than me.

5/10

Day 47: The Quick And The Undead

The Quick And The Undead

More like the Long and the Painful to watch

Westerns and zombies. That sounds fun right? Plenty of possibilities in two genres rich with good movies. Maybe a mixture of Shane and Night of the Living Dead? Or how about 3:10 to Yuma and 28 Days Later? Those ideas would involve some creativity and thought. Both are absent from The Quick and the Undead. I put more effort into this opening paragraph then they did for this movie.

The Quick and the Undead follows the story of zombie bounty hunter, Ryn (no, I didn't misspell that) Baskin. Apparently, 80 years ago, there was some sort of zombie plague that decimated the western United States and the government is paying bounties in exchange for killing the undead. Ryn is double-crossed by his helper Hans and is shot by a rival bounty hunters. He somehow survives a bullet, getting his pinkie cut off, and being bitten by a zombie, catches up to Hans and finds out that the bounty hunters are headed towards Union City. Ryn eventually (thankfully) kills Hans and heads into Union City, which is zombie central. Will Ryn gain revenge on those that crossed him or will the zombies get him first?

Can I have the next dance?

I'm not going to sugar-coat it; this movie sucks. IT SUCKS! IT BLOWS! IT SANTORUMS! There are so many things wrong with it I almost don't know where to begin. Ryn may be the worst zombie hunter in the history of zombie movies. He lures zombies out with bits of bloody meat and stands about 10 feet away while he shoots them with a slow reloading rifle. He misses plenty of close range shots and doesn't bother hiding. He has some sort of immunity towards he zombie bite, but instead of getting his life-saving blood to the government, he just dicks around ghost towns in clothes more suited for a Ministry concert. He gets shot twice in the movie and gets his pinkie cut off, but still manages to get around just fine. There is barely a story and what little story exists is completely terrible. Why bother risking your life killing zombies when you can just go to a cemetery, dig up some bodies and take their pinkies. It would be safer and easier, don't you think?

Judging by the locations, I'd say this movie cost about $100 to make. It's mostly shot outdoors and the one big scene in “Union City” looks like the theater department of your local community college. The acting ranges from passable to insultingly bad. I want to smash Hans in the face every time he spoke, and I suppose that's the point, but it was to the point where I wanted to turn the movie off. Ryn is supposed to be a Clint Eastwood-type, but his character is so inept, it's an insult to Clint Eastwood. It's even an insult to Clint Eastwood's stunt double. The makeup for the zombies is decent and there is some blood, so I guess I should be thankful for that. I'm pretty sure there's one scene where a bounty hunter gets eaten and shouts “Choke on 'em” ala Captain Rhodes from Day of the Dead. I really hope I just imagined that because I wouldn't want to associate a good zombie movie with this.

Jump. For the love of God, please jump!

I still think mixing westerns and zombie movies could be a good idea, but The Quick and the Undead made me question it's potential. They managed to do just about everything wrong in this movie. Bad story, bad dialogue, bad acting, and the absence of logic made this a painful and unpleasant watch. At least there were actual flesh-eating zombies in this movie. Plain and simple, unless you want to torture yourself, don't waste your time on The Quick and the Undead.

1.5/10

Day 28: Priest

Priest

I'm Batman...no wait...

When a movie is adapted from a well-known book or comic, there are certain scenes that we all expect to appear. Peter Parker getting bitten by a radioactive spider, Bruce Wayne seeing his parents killed, and an infant Kal-El being shot into space. These are all iconic characters with iconic stories. When a movie is made from a lesser-known comic book or graphic novel, its hard to know what to expect or even know if the movie is being true to the source material.

Priest is based off a Korean graphic novel of the same name. Starring Paul Bettany (Legion, The Da Vinci Code) as the title character, the world is thrown into a battle between humans and vampires. The vampires are close to winning a war that has devastated the planet, until the arrival of the Priests, humans blessed by God capable of killing vampires. With the vampires defeated, the world becomes a theocracy, ruled by the Church. The vampires eventually return, kidnapping the niece of Priest who gives chase along with her boyfriend Hicks (Cam Gigandet, Twilight, Burlesque). They scour the landscape fighting vampires and are eventually joined by Priestess. They realize that they have been set up and must race back to their city before a train full of vampires devour everyone. Who came up with this diabolical plan, why did they kidnap a relative of Priest, and what does it have to do with his past?

SUBTLETY!!!!!

Part horror, part western, part sc-fi, and part steampunk, Priest feels like wants to be a bunch of other movies. It feels like a mish-mash of Mad Max, Underworld, Shane, Batman and Aliens. The movie is full of your typical horror/sci-fi cliches, but it's main focus is talking of religion and authority. Priest is all about the heavy Christian (and anti-Church) overtones and imagery. The falling crucifixes, people dying in a Jesus pose, and crucifixions. It's laid on so thick that you feel like Jesus is about to smack you with a cross. I mean, if this movie was any less subtle, it would just be called "Religion!" Subtlety works best in these situations, but there is nothing subtle about this movie.

The action scenes are over the top, which is fine because the movie is based on a comic book. It's sleek and stylish, but lacking in a lot of substance. The vampires themselves have a unique style and look very good. The story is fine, but the dialogue and acting are painful at times. It feels like lines were written with the intention of being “cool” but you just end up rolling your eyes. The execution of the action, though, just comes off poorly. Each action scene goes into slo-mo, practically saying “We're slowing everything down so you can see how awesome we are!” A lot of the movie involves the characters speeding through the desert on futuristic motorcycles. Why bother killing vampires with knives and blades when you clearly have advanced technology?

Have you heard the good news? He has risen... and wants your blood!

I've never read the Priest comic book, so maybe I missed a lot of subtle things only fans of the book would understand. That still shouldn't stop me from enjoying the movie, though. A cliched story, painful dialogue with mediocre acting and over the top religious commentary makes Priest a difficult watch. Some fun action sequences and a great opening animated scene keep you interested in the hopes that something great will happen. It is up to you to decide if that occurs, but for me, Priest was almost as painful and boring as being in Sunday school.

4/10

Day 7: The Burrowers

The Burrowers

Not a re-imagining of The Borrowers

Horror and Westerns rarely team up, and when they do the results are usually painful to watch. The Burrowers break the trend with a movie that is both visually striking and mentally stimulating. The movie picks up right away when a family is assaulted and kidnapped by unseen attackers that they believe are Indians. Irish immigrant Coffey, who was in love with one of the kidnapped joins a posse with old-timer Clay, Parcher, and Dobie who is the teenage son of the woman Parcher is trying to court. The posse teams up with the cavalry, including their black cook Walnut to trail the Indians, but it becomes apparent that Indians are not the culprits. Mysterious holes, freakish chittering, and a girl buried alive all point to something far more sinister; The Burrowers. The posse must not only stop The Burrowers, but survive.

You're right. I don't know my ass from this.

The Burrowers start off with action right away before getting into the story, which I am always thankful for. Too often, horror movies plod along and struggle to tell a story before realizing that the movie is almost over and we need to get to the action quickly. Every actor does a very good job with their role, aided by a good story and a smart script. Whoever did the location scouting and cinematography for this movie deserve awards because the scenery is absolutely beautiful and the each shot feels like you are transported back to the 1800s.

The movie uses its surrounding well to hide the monsters. Rustling grass in the darkness creates fear without giving away what exactly is terrorizing the characters. There are plenty of “jump out and startle you” moments, but they work because the movie does such a good job of building suspense and atmosphere. The Burrowers themselves are CGI, but don't look too fake or cartoony. However there are a few scenes though that involve digital blood that look a bit too computerized for my taste. 

 Avon calling

The movie does a good job of social commentary in regards to over-hunting, the treatment of Indians and Blacks at the time and the brutality of the cavalry without being too preachy. There are good action scenes that keep the story moving along without getting bogged down in violence and the story moves fluidly with acting that keeps you invested in the characters. The Burrowers is a good movie for fans of Westerns and Horror, something that not many movies can accomplish, I highly recommend it. Yeehaw!

9/10