Lately, every time we see something like “…Of The Dead” on the title of a film, we get the urge to skip it, mostly due the huge amount of bad films that just put zombies (or another undead creature) in their plot in order to pull suckers for horror (Me included) and don’t even try to actually deliver an entertaining film. This film called “Bed Of The Dead”, however, actually tries (successfully in my opinion) to bring something different to the horror and suspense genres without falling into cliches or turning into another lazy pretentious flick. Those who are attending to Fantasia 2016 (Currently running at Montreal, Canada to August 3rd) had the chance to see it, and here our brief review without spoilers:
In “Bed Of The Dead” me meet a group of friends that are celebrating a birthday on a known Sex club, renting the room Number 18, that is said to have a peculiar “Emperor size” bed. After some drinks and unexpected discussions, the young people discover that the bed contained a sinister secret and that if they dare to leave or even climb down from it, they will meet a terrible gruesome death.
At he same time we meet Virgil, a detective with a troubled past that tries to make sense of the events that occurred in the Sex club and the room mentioned before, tracing any similar past incidents with the same fatal consequences. This will put him in a bizarre race against time to save those who still are alive (or not) in room 18.
«Bed Of The Dead» is not another run-of-the-mill horror flick. This film delivers a very solid story that also manages to include a couple of social messages that reflect the tragedies that we can see on our daily lives, making apparently uni-dimensional characters someone we can actually relate to, and making us wonder if they really deserve the fate that awaits them on Room 18.
The plot has some interesting turns, and from the get-go closes options that the audience might expect for the characters to use in order to escape. The pacing of the film is fast, steady and yet manages to generate a tense, maddening atmosphere. While I’ll try to not fall into the spoiler territory, I will say that I liked how the audience get some idea of the origins of the bed while not been spoon feeded with all the details, leaving some room for interpretation and theories as how this apparent inanimate object that serves as jury, judge and executioner works, or what its moral values could be in order to choose its victims.
While is true that some characters can pull us from the movie because they seem too unreal or plain, and also due some acting that fall short, the movie is very enjoyable and woks very well. There were some characters that could be used more o can even be used on future films, namely, the club owner character, besides being one of the actors that I enjoyed the most, his character gave me the impression that this event was not his first supernatural encounter, and yet, he does not gives any answer or clue….
The film has several very good special effects and sequences that seemed to be made with Stop Motion (I have to confess that I could not decided if they were practical or cgi) There are also several scenes with blood and gore that will satisfy my fellow gore hounds without going for cheap shocks.
The film was directed by Jeff Maher, who was in charge of the cinematography in both «Antisocial» and its sequel, and «Bite», the script was co-written with Cody Calahan, who directed and wrote both «Antisocial» films. In the cast we see Colin Price (Late Nigth Double Feature), Alysa King (Rachel Ingram in the TV show “Slasher”), Gwenlyn Cumyn, George Krissa and Dennis Andres (Lady Psycho Killer).
Fantasia Film Festival is on its 20th edition, and has always been know for showing some of the best films in the Fantasy, Horror and Sci-Fi genres, currently running thru August 3rd. You can visit their official website to see more of the great material they are showing this year, and follow them in social media.