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Posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 23:30:04 GMT by: quietearth
Posted under: post apocalyptic zombie movie review horror

Year: 2008
Director: Jason Horton & Blaine Cade
Writers: Jason Horton & Blaine Cade
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: quietearth
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

A cross between an Outer Limits episode and a soap opera mixed with some lsd, Edges of Darkness doesn't just delight, it throws in the kitchen sink. The film opens with a couple of quotes from Revelations, and one of the first scenes is an upward camera angle of a shambling zombie, giving a taste of the original Dawn of the Dead, and almost forcing a tear to my eye. However, this provides no clue about what's to come. This isn't some simple post-apocalyptic zombie film, it's much, much more.





Edges of Darkness is set in walled-in apartment complex, and even though it starts off really slow, you'll want to keep watching because you'll be rewarded in spades. It follows three seperate story lines from different apartments. The first story has a guy obsessed with his computer and writing, who neglects his wife. The second, two vampires. The third, a female warrior who saves a mother and her son at the beginning of the flick. Do the stories intersect? I'm not going to tell you, but I will say that they are anything but conventional.

Yes, the zombies are slow, in true homage fashion, but this wasn't the only link. There is at least one other overtly visible homage, and many more Jason tells me. How does this tie in? Well it really doesn't, in fact the whole film is so insane, so ridiculous, that it just works. It's like they stepped outside the bounds of genre filmmaking and figured out how to cram 20 different films into an hour and twenty minutes and made it work. Some of the absurdness which makes this movie so fantastic is this movie mashup, but it also has alot of "Rise and shine! It's another zombierific day!" At one point, one of our characters is drinking coffee in the morning and looks out his window at a zombie with a blade stuck through his mid-section to remark "that's a nice machete." At another, the writers neglected wife is talking to the zombie outside her barred windows and says "you're my best friend!"





Director Jason Horton is a big fan of zombie films as you can probably guess, and one of the things featured prominently is a strong black presence as any Romero-loving filmmaker should have. I really enjoyed this aspect of the film because there isn't just one token black person, they get major play, providing both unintended comic relief and an immediate sense of urgency not found with the other characters. The kid is also great too, but I can't tell you about him without spoiling it.

The photography is grainy, and while it has brief flashes of ingenuity, is nothing special but does remain personal throughout. The film is definitely character driven, the backdrops are minimalistic being a no budget flick, but these folks overcame all the obstacles (including some poor acting at points) and produced what I think has the potential to become a cult hit. Dare I say brilliant? I do love a hungry filmmaker, like a boxer coming up in the ranks, but only time will tell. In conclusion, I HIGHLY recommend Edges of Darkness.

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