Ah, SyFy, you never lets me down. Whenever I need a new horror film for review, I can always count on the network to provide me with new material. I had never heard of Dead Still before Monday, but I was intrigued enough to catch the premiere while channel surfing. This is my review.
Dead Still is written and directed by Philip Adrian Booth, who I most remember for creating Death Tunnel in 2005. Cast members include Ray Wise (Jeepers Creepers 2, “How I Met Your Mother”), Ben Browder (“Party of 5,” “Farscape”), Gavin Casalegno (Noah, Hear Me Whisper), Elle LaMont (Machete Kills, Varsity Blood), Carrie Lazar, Corey Mendell Parker, and Evelyn Boyle.
“Upon the death of his great grandfather, Brandon Davis – a wedding photographer – inherits an antique camera famous for taking Victorian death photography. After photographing his subjects they start to die from horrible, bizarre deaths.”
I could have rated this title a lot higher had it stuck to the basics. I love the idea of an antique camera that kills people, or an antique camera possessed by a demon that kills people. It kind of has an Oculus vibe to it, except that characters are killed in gruesome ways after having their picture taken. This was a really fun concept, but then Philip Adrian Booth turned it into Oculus meets Pulse meets Poltergeist II and it all just fell to pieces. Once that happened…it just lost me. I can applaud the writer/director for trying to make a movie that was interesting, but it was just too much at once. Had he went in a clear direction and stuck with it, again, I could have rated this title a lot higher.
Luckily, what saves the film is the gore effects and the acting. The first 45 minutes of Dead Still are basically gore porn. Someone dies about every five minutes and most of them are extremely graphic. I’m talking about skin falling off, blood coming out of orifices, and lots of other cool death scenes. Even if the plot was a little confusing, all of us can at least enjoy a good kill shot. The acting was great here, too, and I do have to say I enjoyed Elle LaMont much more this time than in Varsity Blood. Ray Wise and Ben Browder show they still got “it” after all these years. Gavin Casalegno has a bright future ahead of him based off of what I saw here.
Also, I need to mention that Dead Still is a lot better production-wise than Death Tunnel! It’s always good to recognize improvement.
Overall, Dead Still was a good early week premiere for SyFy and it was an entry in their 31 Days of Horror. Will it be the best they show? I hope not, but it was still decent and attempt at mediums not always used in horror films lately. But, geez, if the plot lines weren’t so blurry and convoluted… I’m going to rate it a 6.5 out of 10.
