Director – Nathan Thomas Milliner (Volumes of Blood)
Starring – Chris Petty (Hatfields and McCoy’s Bad Blood), Adam Pepper (Girl Number Three), and Melissa Hoff-Decker (Girl Number Three)
Release Date – 2016
Rating – 2/5
Tagline – “Who really wants to live forever?”
The horror community is like any community. You have several people of different professions making their mark on the world and trying to make a living. Some turn to writing, others to directing, and then we have some who are artists. There is several amazing artists in the horror business right now that have been turning out some amazing pieces of work. We have Joel Robinson, Dick Starr, Graham Humphreys, The Dude, and last but not least, Nathan Thomas Milliner.
Milliner has been lucky enough to have his art featured on several iconic movies and for good reason. His work is amazing but I do have to make a confession. His version of Robert Beltran on the Night of the Comet release makes me laugh every time I see it. Anyway, after making a name for himself in the horror community for his art he decided to tackle film making where he has contributed by directing A Nightmare on Elm St. fan film, a segment in Volumes of Blood, and a full length feature A Wish for the Dead.
The film was recently released on bluray by the folks over at Legless Corpse. They were kind enough to hook me up with a review copy. Thanks Chad!
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a man who is losing his wife to an illness. The doctors don’t seem to care about her well being and often neglect her forcing him to become abusive to the facility faculty, doctor included. He meets a strange figure who offers him a trinket that can grant the owner one powerful wish but it comes at a price. The wish is literal. The man wishes that death ceases to exist and before long the dead is walking the streets killing the living and turning them into more dead freaks.**Spoiler Alert**
When I first heard of the film I got the impression it was a horror noir where the bandaged figure would play a bigger role considering he was on almost all of the film’s artwork. Sadly, I was very wrong and let down. This was not the film I was expecting.
The acting in this one is not that great. The cast goes through the motions but don’t show the conviction that was needed to make their roles believable. The cast was now showing the same dedication that I have seen other no-budget indie films. I don’t know if they were cast at the last minute or rushed through their scenes due to a tight filming schedule but I just don’t see the devotion.
The story for this one is, at it’s heart, a zombie film. It breaks away from the all too familiar zombie outbreak mold that we see too often. The magic angle added a new look at it and almost made it feel like it was possibly tied to the voodoo zombie instead of the Romero created zombies. This would have worked but the film is way too slow and the story has a hard time taking hold. The first portion of the film really tries the viewer’s patience before giving us something slightly entertaining. The story and editing needed to be tightened up greatly.
Finally, the film has several on screen kills and effects for the undead. The undead looks good especially when compared to other indie zombie movies. The kills were not that impressive nor were they that gory but the undead was surprising. Overall, A Wish for the Dead was a bit of a let down. The story was somewhat unique but the delivery was off. The film starts out as a departure from the current zombie trend but finds itself going right back to what they tried to stay away from. This is not one I would recommend. Instead, check out Volumes of Blood.
