(2002)
7-24-03 |
Directed by: Tony Mandile Starring: Douglas Gibson, Pamela Karp, Marvin W. Schwartz |
Let me just start by saying this is the first review I've written in a long time. I, as well as the other reviewers here, have spent the last month or so breaking out of our usual cycle of renting B-movies, reviewing them, and renting more B-movies. X-Men, The Matrix, T3, 28 Days Later, even (shudder) Pirates of the Caribbean...we've seen it all now. I return to this low-budget film orgy that is the Blockbuster New Release shelf still reeling from all the explosions and shameless money-making schemes that are movies today (what a sentence). Even with the excitement I had in renting my first B-movie in a month, Midnight Mass still let me down. And it had such a cool cover and everything. It starts out with a very 28 Days Later-esque montage of news reports about the spreading epidemic. Very cool. Lots of shots of the empty streets. Also very cool. It's when they let us know that this chick we've been expecting to die any second is actually the heroine that both Gameslave and I let out a "What the hell?" Pamela Karp has a little problem of not being able to act...whatsoever. Plus, she always looks like she's either about to cry or belch. I can't tell which. The rest of the acting is ok...it's what you'd expect from this kind of movie. Half the time, though, the acting is covered by music is twice as loud as the dialogue. This is a shame because Midnight Mass does attempt to explain certain things pretty rationally. They address the issue of running out of food, explaining that the villains make only certain select few actual vampires. There are a couple little touches in the back story which actually make it somewhat interesting. We don't get to see that, though. This film instead centers around two people trying to save a church. Midnight Mass appears on the surface to be a vampire horror flick. By the end, though, I was sure I was watching an after-school church special on TBN. As the movie progresses, Father Joe mysteriously looks more and more like Jesus. And the vampires seem less like vampires and more like misguided atheists, eventually speaking only in questions about God. And then there's that whole light-of-God-emanating-from-the-altar-to-kill-vampires-while-simultaneously-making-all-nearby-atheists-Christians thing that happens in the last agonizing moments. You know, I have no problem with allegories, even Christian ones...but when we rent a vampire flick which ends showing the power of bad actors praying, well...No sir, I don't like it. If you're not renting this for a church youth group, do yourself a favor and leave this one on the shelf. |
Dracula: Prince of Peace |
