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HORROR 101: THE A-LIST OF HORROR FILMS AND MONSTER MOVIES  VOL 1

(2007)
Directed by Robert Kurtzman
Starring Andrew Divoff, Erin Brown, Reggie Bannister, Ryan Hooks, Rachel Scheer, Sean Serino, Anthony Clark, Alan Tuskes

I remember having a table across from Robert Kurtzman at a convention a couple of years ago.  Throughout the weekend, they were showing the trailer for The Rage.  I’ve been a fan of Andrew Divoff since Wishmaster, also directed by Kurtzman.  This film looked like it had all the right ingredients for a good old fashion 80’s horror flick.  Lots of monsters, filled with blood and gore.  But for some reason, the film never seemed to get released.  But then, after years of waiting, it finally hit DVD.  I rented it the day it came out, and watched it that same night.

Now, I’d thought about writing two different reviews of this movie, each giving a different side of my thoughts on it.  Almost like a point / counter-point sort of thing.  At certain moments, this film soars high, bringing back the 80’s gore films just like I thought.  But then right after that, it bottoms out like a Pinto station wagon over some bad railroad tracks.  But I guess I’ll just kind of mix in the good and the bad together, just like the movie itself.

The basic plot is about a scientist who had successfully created a cure for cancer, only to be put away by the government and burying his cure, since it would make the medical field lose millions of dollars.  So once he escapes, he decides to design a killer plague that will wipe out humanity.  And he calls it Rage.  But like all good evil scientists, his plans kind of get out of control.  And at this same time, a group of happy-go-lucky youngsters are on their way back from an all-night concert party and happen upon some of the infected creatures.

So first off, let’s just say that the makeup effects are top notch.  Kurtzman was the “K” in KNB Effects after all.  The man knows what he’s doing when it comes to that.  There’s lot of good old fashion gooey effects here to make any fan of 80’s horror smile and snicker.  We have some brain surgery, we have some killer vultures, and lots of slimy creatures running around ripping people apart.

Andrew Divoff plays the scientist, Russian I think, with a thick accent that he is so good at.  Divoff seems to just revel with this kind of role.  Even when his characters starts to transform and he is under some heavy makeup, he still just shines.  So many kudos to that man, for taking this role in a low budget film and making the most of it.

We also have genre favorite Reggie Bannister is a small role as a kind old uncle taking his niece and nephew out for some fishing.  But as luck would have it, they run into some of the infected creatures, which makes the day take a turn for the worse.  There’s even a nice joke in there about a “Phantasm” game.  Nice.

But unfortunately, Divoff and Bannister are the only acting highlights in this film.  The rest go from bad to worse.  And I think the worse offender here is Erin Brown (formally known as Misty Mundae).  I’m not sure if it was just her voice, or her delivery of the lame dialog she had to give, but it was about as convincing as a priest in a cancer ward.  Even more surprising since she's probably been in more films than anybody else on the set.  There were a couple of times where it actually looked like she was laughing during one of the more dramatic times.  For me, the acting really started to bring the film down.  But when the CGI effects started, it got even worse.

Now I’m not opposed to CGI effects by any means.  When done well, they can really enhance a nice effect to the film.  But when done poorly, for me personally, it makes the film sink to a much lower caliber of production.  I am amazed that some of these effects in this movie where left in there.  I am amazed that the director, producer, or anybody involved with this movie, could watch some of the cartoons in there and say, “yeah…looks good”.  Now maybe was it a budget thing, where they couldn’t do it without the CGI.  Then my suggestion would have been to do it some other way.  But to have these cartoon effects in there make it just plain laughable.  Unless of course, that was their intention.  But somehow I don’t think that was the case.

I guess I had just expected more out of Robert Kurtzman.  I give him a lot of credit for leaving KNB, leaving the whole Hollywood / LA thing and moving back to Ohio.  The man knows a lot of about film production.  I also give him a lot of credit for making his own little film production studio in Ohio.  It’s giving a chance for a lot of people to learn the craft of filmmaking, without having to go to the coast.  So I guess my expectations of his product is a little higher than I would have expect from just some other guy making films in Ohio.

So after all this wait to see this movie, I am disappointed.  But I do have to say that the film isn’t a total waste.  This would make a very enjoyable entry into anybody Turkey-Day marathon, or any viewing that would include many cinematic enhancers (aka alcohol).  The film does have some good qualities in there.  You just have to try and ignore the rest of the film.