The October Zombie-Thon 2009 - Day 28: Edges of Darkness
Posted by Trevor Snyder on 10.28.2009
It's a crappy day when you have to deal with zombies. It's a REAL crappy day when you have to deal with zombies, vampires, evil computers, and Satan.
EDGES OF DARKNESS (2009)
Written & Directed by: Blaine Cade & Jason Horton
Country: USA
I get it. You're a young filmmaker (or two, in this case) looking to make an independent zombie movie, but you want to do something a little different in order to separate your film from the numerous other independent zombie movies that have been flooding the market lately. Yeah, I get it. And I can even support your decision to try and keep things fresh by mixing the zombie sub-genre with some other types of horror movies. There's nothing wrong with that, on principle.
But, man, once you've got a computer sprouting living tentacles in order to feed on its owner, you might have gone a little too far.
Now, believe me, I realize there are far worse things to be than overly ambitious. But, at the same time, when you decide to really reach for something, you need to first figure out if what you're reaching for is even worth it. So although I have no problem with the writing/directing duo of Blaine Cade and Jason Horton trying to liven up their zombie film by throwing in a few unexpected extra elements, I wish they had put some thought into whether some of those elements weren't too under-developed (or just plain stupid) to be included.
Ostensibly a sort of anthology film, Edges of Darkness follows the tales of three different groups of survivors during a zombie apocalypse, all of whom are hiding out in different apartments (I think it's the same apartment building, at least…the stories never really converge together like I kept waiting for them to, so it's a little hard to tell). The first group consists of zombie-slaying hottie Heather (Michelle Rose) and a young boy and his mother that she recently saved. Heather and the two don't really get along, but Heather's protective instinct kicks in when she discovers that some priests are after the child for reasons I won't spoil here. Nah, actually, I will – he might be the anti-Christ. Crazy, huh?
Meanwhile, in another apartment, vampires Stan (Alonzo F. Jones) and Stellie (Shamika Ann Franklin) are understandably concerned that the dwindling human population resulting from the zombie plague means an eventual end to their food source. To counter the problem, Stan ventures out and kidnaps a young woman named Natalie (Annemarie Pazmino), with the intention of keeping her as their new permanent living blood-bank. Natalie is able to turn the tables on her captors, however, after it is revealed that she is a not a regular human, and her blood is actually poisonous to vampires. Why is this? Well, either the movie never explained, or I was just so disinterested that I didn't even notice when it did. Neither option really seems to say much for the movie.
Finally, we come to what is undoubtedly the worst of the three tales, involving married couple Dean (Jay Costelo) and Dana (Alisha Gaddis). Not surprisingly, Dana is a little perturbed by the whole apocalypse thing, and would really like some comfort from her husband. But Dan is too busy slavishly writing on his computer to even notice his wife, let alone talk to her. You see, Dean loves his computer…so much so that he's even bought it a special brand new processor that, once installed, seemingly brings the computer to life. And once alive, it has to feed, right? And what else is there for a living computer to eat than the two humans living in the apartment, right? RIGHT?
OK, let's just all agree that the living computer story sucks right off the bat, shall we? And if you don't agree, one viewing of the movie will change that. Ignoring that, though, we have two ideas that are might have had some potential if given the proper time and treatment. The vampire story, in particular, is a neat idea – I wouldn't mind seeing a feature-length exploration of how bloodsuckers would deal with an increasingly dwindling human population. And while the boy anti-Christ story is a little more clichéd, at least it features a hot hero in Michelle Rose and a somewhat clever twist at the end.
The problem is, even those ideas that could have worked in a different movie are short-changed here, suffocated by the film's low production value, weak script, and awful acting – not to mention the inter-cutting editing style which never allows any of the three stories to achieve the proper momentum. Granted, since none of the stories are all that compelling as presented here, you're sometimes grateful to not have to spend so much time stuck in one. But that's small consolation when you're just promptly plopped right into one of the other two crappy tales.
I think the biggest problem with this film is just how boring it is. And I realize that's a fairly generic complaint, but just look at my description of the film. This is a movie that features zombies, vampires, evil computers, murderous priests, and the son of Satan himself. Doesn't the very fact that I could even consider all this boring tell you something? For a movie with so much going on, it's just so flat and lifeless. This might be a by-product of it having originated as a stage-play (according to the credits), which helps explain why there is so little actual action – particularly when it comes to the zombies, who are often little more than an afterthought here. Every once and awhile a character looks outside the window and watches the zombies shuffling around outside, but there are very few occasions where they are presented as a threat to our protagonists. And, OK, maybe that's the point – to use the zombie apocalypse just as a backdrop for these other tales. But these stories aren't presented with any kind of visual flair or emotional weight, either. This movie is just bursting with ideas…but they're all really just kinda slowly seeping out, dripping onto the floor…where hopefully they won't end up tripping over the computer tentacles (I'm sorry, but that story is really bad – I just can't help but keep ripping on it).
I give Cade and Horton credit for what they were trying to do here – it's certainly not the worst idea in the world to mix things up and introduce some other horror sub-genres into a zombie movie. But this is another one of those unfortunate cases of ambition being outweighed by the reality of talent. Cade and Horton are obvious horror buffs whose hearts were in the right place, but their final product leaves a lot to be desired.
