Living Death (2006)

Truly Dreadful Film

Better Late Then Never

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie was somewhat slow and I agree with some other posters, that none of the characters were likable.... Though actually I liked Viktor more than the other main characters in this strange triangle.But thats not saying much.Its like saying one likes 8 inches of snow as opposed to a foot of snow. You get my point. The movie did avoid cliché material , which was a good thing. Probably could have used some more gore but it was gory enough. The sound effects when Viktor was doing something to his fingers was spectacular. I wont say anymore about that. The acting, overall was fair. I will point out I liked Kristy Swanson in that part , because it gave one a feeling of realism. She was a bit on the chunky side and it is refreshing to see that in an American movie. I know the Brits are good at having regular folk type people , in the looks department being in their movies. I say give the movie a shot and maybe do some house work with an eye and ear on the movie for the first half hour and buckle in for the last hour.

**SPOILERS** Another coming back from the dead horror flick involving this good for nothing playboy Victor Harris, Greg Bryk, who's both fascinated and obsessed with medieval torture devices. This is something that Victor picked up from his crazy and now deceased father who was a certified triple A nut case. It was Victor's dad who locked himself up in his personal dungeon and never saw the light of day for 17 years until he died of a massive heart attack at the age of 55.Having his good friend and personal lawyer Roman Arbogast, Joshua Peace, write up his last will and testament Victor is adamant that at the time of his death he's to be buried immediately without having been autopsied or embalmed. This wish on Victor's part fits right into the plans of both Roman and Victor's cheating and gold digging wife Elizaebth, Krisy Swanson. The two besides being secret lovers are also planning to do Victor in and, with Elizabeth inheriting all his money, shearing in all of Victor's goodies.Slipping a deadly Japanese blow fish poison into Victor's Chinese food both Roman & Elizabeth have him go into suspended animation where he's clinically dead but actually fully alive. Looking for all intents and purposes that Victor died of a sudden heart attack, like his father, all that's needed to seal the deal for the two lovers is to have Victor buried before he wakes up! As you would imagine in movies like this not everything goes according to plan. As things turn out these three klutzy med students at the morgue where Victor's body is being prepared for burial end up messing everything up; to the point where they become Victor's first victims in the film.Grossed out but not at all convincing the movie despite all its gory and disgusting splatter scenes is neither scary or makes any bit of sense at all. Victor does come back from the dead with his guts hanging out of his stomach, and minus two fingers, but he's so ridicules and off the wall, as well as unconvincing, that you wonder why he didn't stay dead in the first place!Both Roman and Elizabeth found out that Victor is alive and well, and also mad as hell at them, after he offed Malanine Person, Kelsey Matheson, and called them on her phone to brag about it. Malanine was a person whom Victor crippled and who, by spiting on him as he was laying in state, dissed him at his funeral.****SPOILERS*** The both outrageous and blood splattering ending of the movie showed just how totally divorced from reality both Roman and Elizabeth were by letting Victor have his way with, and fully knowing what he had in store for, them without as much as putting up a fight! That's until Roman lost his both arms legs as well as his life with Elizabeth, who it turned out was pregnant by Roman, finally getting up enough courage and put a final end to Victor's mad dreams of revenge!Besides the bunch mixed nuts in the film that included its top cast members, Victor Roman Elizabeth and the wacky med student's, we also had to sit and suffer through weirdo like Mr. Freed, Troy Yorke, the spaced out junkie. Mr. Freed supplied Roman with his junk, drugs, that he used to put Victor both in and out of his grave. There's also in the film the notorious but now behind bars Unabomber, Chris Cordell, who after being given a 24 hour pass from the prison authorities made a both cameo and guest appearance in the movie.

I almost gave up on this movie, it seemed like a drama going nowhere. After almost getting bored with the minimal acting some action kicked in with unexpected humour. Just when the laughs were rolling it turned into a gory horror movie. I gave it what for me is a pretty high rank just because it was able to switch so quickly and keep my attention. If you got an hour and half of hanging out with some friends who are OK with some gory scenes but are not big fans of movies devoted to gore-genre but want a taste of some gore with some humour thrown in then this is the movie for you . Don't watch for an emotionally enriching experience or to be challenged by the plot.

Living Death: 5 out of 10: If you ever wondered what Body Heat 2 would look like if remade this year and having Kathleen Turner reprising her original role this movie may clue one in? Kristy Swanson hasn't spent much time on the big screen since the mid-nineties and she looks like she has been eating a lot of her namesakes Hungry Man dinners. Don't get me wrong she is attractive as a full-figured woman it simply was a bit disconcerting after not seeing her for a dozen years or so. She certainly hasn't spent that time fine tuning her thespian craft however as she is defiantly the acting weak point in this little drama.The plot has Shannon Tweed/ Tim Matheson written all over it. Abusive do nothing playboy husband is killed by suffering wife and his best friend/lawyer who is now her lover. Only problem is that they choose a poison that if given in the wrong dose only causes the person to appear dead. D'oh.He comes back and gets revenge on everyone who wronged him. Sounds like your very standard erotic thriller except it isn't.There is no nudity and virtually no sex. The only bondage is the decidedly non-erotic leg breaking kind. This is a straight up horror movie and it puts the pedal to the metal.Main lead Greg Byrk captures our evil protagonist's hedonism perfectly. (The scene where he snorts coke while playing videogames is a classic.) The revenge isn't fair or just it is bloody and cruel.This creates a great vibe in the film as the only guy to root for is a remarkably unlikable rogue. In fact the film has virtually not one likable hero style character giving an almost Bad Santa feel to the proceedings.The film picks up the pace about halfway through and never lets go. Not a great film or a genre classic by any means but certainly an entertaining horror film.