|
|
From the director of 'Dog Soldiers' and 'The Descent' comes this OTT tale of a deadly virus and cannibals.
Remember as a kid growing up in the 80's when you'd look at all those cool videos in the horror section of the video store? And your parents wouldn't let you rent them because you weren't old enough yet? Remember all the lurid covers and equally lurid copy promoting vivid horror and chills? Then when you got old enough (or old enough looking) and you rented them out and all those promisingly lurid horror videos turned out to be a wee bit of a let down? Well 'Doomsday' is sort of like that.
In 2008, the deadly Reaper virus sweeps Scotland. The government acts decisively and seals off Scotland with a huge wall, places sea mines around the coast and declares the area a no-fly zone. Everyone inside sick or not is left to die. Then in 2035 the Reaper virus returns, this time in London. The Prime Minister (Alexander Siddig - 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine', 'Kingdom of Heaven') reveals that satellite images have shown there are surviours behind the wall. So a team lead by Eden Sinclair is sent in to find if there is a cure and to bring it back.
Sinclair was a child when the Reaper virus first broke out, her mother got her out as the wall was being sealed up by begging the last soldiers leaving to take her child with them. As a result Eden is totally cold and emotionless, her sole friend is her boss (Bob Hoskins). Anyway Eden and her team drive into Glasgow (Scotland is still a no-fly zone) looking for evidence of the cure. Within minutes they are ambushed by lunatic cannibal punks, soon several team members are dead and another (Sean Pertwee - 'Dog Soldiers') is cooked, carved up and eaten in such extreme loving close-up that I had to keep my eyes closed for the entire sequence.
Sinclair and a few stragglers escape and end up in a medieval castle where some more surviours live in medieval splendour. They are ruled over by Kane (Malcolm McDowell - 'Heroes', 'Star Trek: Generations'). Kane was the scientist originally looking for a cure and was left stranded behind the wall. Kane now rules as a crazed King Lear like figure. He gloatingly reveals that there is no cure, all the people Sinclair and co have met are immune to the Reaper virus.
This gives Sinclair an idea and cue a car chase as Sinclair (and her sole two surviving cohorts) try to flee from the medical times nutters and then from the cannibal punks. 'Two Tribes' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood plays over the wonderfully OTT car chase as the film roars toward an interesting ending.
So many ideas are crammed into this film. There are blatant steals from '28 Days Later', '28 Weeks Later', 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' and 'Escape From New York'. Some stuff works: the sealing of the wall, the nauseating effects of the Reaper virus, the wall reopening, the Glasgow wasteland and the final car chase with cannibal punks climbing in car windows, motorbikes with skeletons strapped to them and cars covered in skin. Some stuff doesn't work: why does the virus and the decline of civilization cause some to revert to being not only cannibals but punks as well? Where did Kane and co get all their medieval duds? Was the chick fight scene necessary? Where the close-ups of cannibal pole dancers and cannibal fat blokes in kilts doing the cancan necessary? Could the director not have eased up on the extreme close-ups of the gore?
Still it's a totally action packed flick. While the director's best work remains 'Dog Soldiers', this film while not as good as I hoped, is still enjoyable. Shown with this film was the trailer for 'Prom Night' (I'll be there for that entry in the Stupid Teenagers Must Die genre)
P-Con VI March 27th/28th/29th 2009
 |
 |
 |
bravenet.com