Mulberry Street
Review by Noel
Finally…a good After Dark Horrorfest film. Just thought I’d let you know that lest you thought it’d be another one of those ‘there’s a reason these films aren’t picked up by real distributors’ review.
Not that for the most part, they aren’t deserved.
I mean, I LOVE the idea of the Horrorfest film festival as much as the next horror fan…but as last year’s 8 films to snore through showed, with their ubiquitous tagline being something like ‘films too intense for theaters’ but ending up to being films too embarrassingly bad to be considered for theaters (you know, that you have to actually PAY for).
Reviewing the majority of these films is kind of like beating up on the elderly. It’s kind of fun at first…and then it just sucks reviewing them because you become sorry at how pitiful they are. And, you can only come up with soooo many synonyms for ‘suck’.
And so ’07 rolls around with a new ‘8 Films to Die For‘ (please, hold your laughter)…and for the most part the previous four films I’ve seen have pretty much held serve on the suckage factor. Because I’m not reviewing them, I won’t bother mentioning them…and let them disappear into the abyss of obscurity with other ‘8 Films’ like Wicked Little Things (Scout Taylor-Compton WISHES the Halloween remake could erase this from her filmography) or Unrest (or…get a lot of rest because of boredom).
Until…Mulberry St.
Truthfully, I wasn’t going to see another one of the ‘8 Films’ because I spent 8 hours of my life and $35 of my dollars on the first day. I WAS going to see P2…but for whatever reason I changed my mind and decided to give Mulberry St. a shot, because I knew nothing about it…and was right in time for the screening.
Glad I did.
In a soon-to-be-demolished tenement building in the Big Apple, we meet a former boxer Clutch (co-writer Nick Damici) waiting for his daughter Casey (Kim Blair) returning from the war, his drag-queen neighbor Coco (Ron Brice), a Polish barkeep neighbor Kay (Bo Corre) who may have eyes for Clutch.
It’s just another ordinary New York day on Mulberry St. until-
Rats begin biting people. And there are adverse effects…that no one expected. Rat Zombies, there I said it.
Now, I could try to explain more, but to do so would ruin the relative surprise of the movie. A part of me hopes that you’ll read the words ‘Rat Zombie’ and scoff and how stupid it sounds. By all means, laugh all you want…it’ll make the frights all the more effective…
What works about Mulberry St.:
1.) The first act doesn’t seem like a horror movie, more like an Edward Burns movie about people walking around in New York. It’s so well set up like one that when the horror comes…it comes as a shock. You should see it coming, and you might see it coming…but not soon enough.
2.) You IMAGINE more gore, than you actually see.
3.) Big fucking rats.
4.) Because of the low budget of the movie, you don’t really get a full shot of the Rat Zombies for more than a blink, but when you do…ewww.
5.) Debbie Rochon…’nuff said.
6.) This isn’t a character piece, it’s a horror movie. But damn if by the end of the movie I didn’t end up caring for the characters. You know just enough to care about what happens to them. You CARE about who lives, dies, and gets turned.
7.) For those of you who creamed your fucking jeans over last month’s 30 Days of Night…this is a better siege movie. Better acted, more realistic and oh yeah, it’s SCARIER. No, it doesn’t have a little girl vampire (damn!!), but it also doesn’t have Josh Hartnett (YEAH!!!!).
8.) Like father, like daughter kicking zombie ass.
9.) Director and Co-writer Jim Mickle has actually made a movie that compares positively with 28 Days/Weeks Later. Yes, I’m as surprised as anybody to be writing that…much less meaning it. Especially considering it’s…one of the 8 Films to Die For…
10.) New York, New York- the scenes of mass mayhem in NY can’t seem to help but trigger imprinted memories of 9/11…which adds another level of horror, because the movie’s so ‘realistically’ shot. Like the original Texas Chain saw Massacre you have to remind yourself… ‘It’s only a movie’.
11.) I like how not a lot is explained as to why…this happened.
What doesn’t work:
1.) I had to sit through 12 previous ‘8 Films’ movies and spend over $100 to see a movie this good. Yes, I mean good, not ‘relative good compared to the other movies’ good, but actually good. Lucky 13 I guess…
2.) Like I mentioned, it takes its time setting up the characters (cinematic ADD sufferers may be bored), so…be patient. ‘Cause when the horror comes…it never looks back.
3.) Could we have a horror movie where being an old person doesn’t necessarily mean being one of the first dead?
4.) The coincidence of characters showing up near the end of the movie. How did they know?
The After Dark Horrorfest ends on Sunday, so for those of you who forked your money for Saw IV a couple of weeks ago, you HAVE to see this to get THAT taste out of your mouth…
And, Mulberry St. gives me hope…for next year.
Popularity: 10% [?]
[ ‹‹ The Hellraiser Project: Hellraiser: Inferno The Return ›› ]