Originally I was going to give this film (1) star for being pointless and boring, but I'm now considering bumping it up to 2 or 3 stars. Why? Well, it's still pointless and boring, but I actually had what appear to be slight, yet tepid empathetic feelings for a couple of the characters namely those portrayed by Louis Graham and Lola Forsberg.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not giving them Oscar nods, it's just that I could on some level empathize with Dr. Schreklich's character and the longing to bring back people that you lost. It reminded me of the dark, relentless obsession reflected by the father in Pet Sematary (the book, not the movie). Lola Forsberg did a decent job of portraying the voracious undead daughter that her father was still trying to love, despite her obvious "hunger for the living" issues.
Aside from bumping up the likability level a notch or two, the movie was like I said before.... boring. Here's the plot synopsis as written by the director / writer / producer, etc.:
"Pregnant and frightened,Anais is not allowed to leave the specialized hospital where her husband, Peter has a medical internship with his uncle, Dr. Gabriel Schreklich, a man with a serum that can resurrect the dead. But things go terribly wrong and the Ghouls take over the hospital. Now, the only way for Anais to save her unborn baby is to get one of the Ghouls to help her to escape."
Why Anais is being kept at the clinic isn't made clear until the end of the film and then it's rather cheesy. There are obvious blunders throughout the film, namely why some of the fully ambulatory characters couldn't outrun a slow-moving ghoul. The most hilarious though is at the end of the movie where after escaping the exploding clinic, they cut to a scene of Anais (she's pregnant) sitting with a blanket on her. A paramedic listens to her swollen belly and says "Sorry, but it appears your baby didn't make it." He then walks off like it's no big deal, leaving a pregnant woman with a dead fetus (turns out it's an undead fetus) in her womb sitting on the curb so he can take a coffee break. My other favorite scene (also at the end of the movie) is when the only other survivor, Dr. Schreklich's undead daughter, Lola shows up amazingly well-kept after the explosion and walks over to Anais. A fireman says "Is this your daughter?" to which Anais hesitates and says "Uh, why yes she is." Thankfully that's all the proof the fireman needs for a complete stranger to take custody of a young, lost child. I assume he also heads off to have a coffee break with the paramedic from the earlier interaction.
This production is not better than any version of "Re-animator", even the 'made-for-video' releases. The box art is extremely deceptive to give the appearance of a "Re-animator-esque" film, although both movies are about reanimating the dead, Re-animator is leaps and bounds in every aspect: production, acting, effects, etc. While I don't doubt that Mr. Forsberg has talent, every now and then you get a dud along the way.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not giving them Oscar nods, it's just that I could on some level empathize with Dr. Schreklich's character and the longing to bring back people that you lost. It reminded me of the dark, relentless obsession reflected by the father in Pet Sematary (the book, not the movie). Lola Forsberg did a decent job of portraying the voracious undead daughter that her father was still trying to love, despite her obvious "hunger for the living" issues.
Aside from bumping up the likability level a notch or two, the movie was like I said before.... boring. Here's the plot synopsis as written by the director / writer / producer, etc.:
"Pregnant and frightened,Anais is not allowed to leave the specialized hospital where her husband, Peter has a medical internship with his uncle, Dr. Gabriel Schreklich, a man with a serum that can resurrect the dead. But things go terribly wrong and the Ghouls take over the hospital. Now, the only way for Anais to save her unborn baby is to get one of the Ghouls to help her to escape."
Why Anais is being kept at the clinic isn't made clear until the end of the film and then it's rather cheesy. There are obvious blunders throughout the film, namely why some of the fully ambulatory characters couldn't outrun a slow-moving ghoul. The most hilarious though is at the end of the movie where after escaping the exploding clinic, they cut to a scene of Anais (she's pregnant) sitting with a blanket on her. A paramedic listens to her swollen belly and says "Sorry, but it appears your baby didn't make it." He then walks off like it's no big deal, leaving a pregnant woman with a dead fetus (turns out it's an undead fetus) in her womb sitting on the curb so he can take a coffee break. My other favorite scene (also at the end of the movie) is when the only other survivor, Dr. Schreklich's undead daughter, Lola shows up amazingly well-kept after the explosion and walks over to Anais. A fireman says "Is this your daughter?" to which Anais hesitates and says "Uh, why yes she is." Thankfully that's all the proof the fireman needs for a complete stranger to take custody of a young, lost child. I assume he also heads off to have a coffee break with the paramedic from the earlier interaction.
This production is not better than any version of "Re-animator", even the 'made-for-video' releases. The box art is extremely deceptive to give the appearance of a "Re-animator-esque" film, although both movies are about reanimating the dead, Re-animator is leaps and bounds in every aspect: production, acting, effects, etc. While I don't doubt that Mr. Forsberg has talent, every now and then you get a dud along the way.