Dead Mary

Yes, what the DVD cover depicts and the title of the movie are not very accurate as to what this movie is about. Still it did keep me guessing until the end where I just said to myself "what"? The movie has a reunion of a bunch of idiot waste of spacers, the people who in high school and college thought they were all that because they drank lots and lots of booze and cheat on their "loved" ones repeatedly. Ah yes, how I wanted them all dead right from the get go. This feeling of wanting them dead only increased as they talked and talked and talked, if Leatherface had shown up with his chainsaw I would have been pulling for him...the only character I liked was the younger girlfriend of one of the aforementioned losers who did not want to be there at the extremely boring yet tense reunion and I don't blame her a bit. Well the wild weekend turns really cool when they decide to play a game of Dead Mary, I am guessing because there was already a movie called bloody Mary. Well they play and from the rest of the movie on I am wondering if there was a point to the game dead Mary and if there was a reason to name the movie this. I don't know what happened after that as there was no rules established, no plot established and whatever was killing people was not established. Not that it was all bad, there was a lot of paranoia horror to go around and some good kills as well...along with that, however, there were also a lot of conjecture scenes and pointless plot points too (hey where is that Ted guy anyway?). So all in all this just was not to good of a movie, however not all bad either. At least it was well made and stuff, I have seen a couple of movies recently where you couldn't even say that. So watch out for Dead Mary!!! Though she isn't in this film much.

This is no classic, but it's a perfectly entertaining way to spend 103 minutes. It's definitely the best Canadian horror flick I've ever seen (actually, it might be the only one).

Seriously though, while the acting might not be Oscar caliber, it ranges from not offensively bad (Eve) to actually pretty good (Baker). And while a lot of movies in this sub-genre are full of characters you can't wait to see die (I'm looking at you, "The Breed"), I found myself rooting for the survival of a few in this one.

Sure, the premise of a group of young people stuck in a remote area battling evil has been done a million times, but that's because it's a fun horror sub-genre, and this is a decent entry. I really don't understand the confusion over the plot that many reviewers have mentioned--this is not a thinking man's movie and requires only a very basic level of consciousness to get it.

One last thing... I liked the ending! As I said before, if you're looking for a cinematic masterpiece, you'll be disappointed in "Dead Mary," but what are you doing in the horror section in the first place? If you're looking for a bit of mindless entertainment, "Dead Mary" will do the job.

DEAD MARY is a movie that is full of clichés, but at the same time tries to be something different.

The plot is about a group of teenagers that decide to spend a weekend in an isolated cabin in the woods. The weekend is to be for fun, but it ends being a terrible massacre… where did you see it before? It's really a cliché, right?! Though, this film mixes some different kind of horror types, from the supernatural (zombies, witches' stories, etc) to the slasher type, not being specifically any of those.

The plot ends in a very open way, what almost makes you think there's a DEAD MARY 2 coming right there! I use to appreciate open stories, but in this particular case I guess I would prefer a more closed ending, because I think it would fit better in the story.

As I said before DEAD MARY is not a zombie's movie, is not a slasher, is not a witching story… it's just a bit of everything and nothing special at the same time! However, the acting was not bad.

I'll score it 5/10.

Dead Mary is a decent film if you're looking for Drama/Horror, with a heavy emphasis on the drama. I believe where the movie fails, is in it's attempt to sell the audience a touching story about adult relationships, then trying to execute horror. The film begins well, and sets up what could be a creepy tale about messing with the dead, yet by the time they switch gears into scare tactics, it falls on it's face. It is not even remotely scary, in fact we see very little of what the (Monster) is supposed to be... On the bright side, it is very well acted by a group of no-name actors. The cinematography looks great, and could have easily made this an awesome horror film, but in the end, we are left empty and a bit confused. If you're on a date with someone who is grossed out by blood and gore, yet they want to watch a horror movie, this might work out for you. If you are a hardcore horror nut, keep away and go watch The Evil Dead again...

Kim (Dominique Swain) and her boyfriend Matt (Jefferson Brown) have just broken up, but they travel together to a cottage nearby a lake to spend the weekend with their friends Eve (Marie-Josée Colburn), Dash (Michael Majeski) and his wife Amber (Reagan Pasternak) and Baker (Steve McCarthy) and his new girlfriend Lily (Maggie Castle). The atmosphere becomes heavy with the situation between Kim and Matt, and one of them suggests them to play "Dead Mary". Matt, Eve and Dash summon the evil witch repeating her name three times in front of a mirror with a candle. Along the night, Matt hears weird noises, is killed and returns to life, while part of the group is possessed by the fiend. Without knowing who is possessed, the rest of the group fights to survive.

"Dead Mary" is a mediocre movie. The urban legend of Bloody Mary that was brilliantly explored in "Candyman" in the 90's, now is used in a rip-off of "Evil Dead". There are many movies with "a group of friends that goes to a cabin in the woods and faces evil", like for example "Cabin Fever", which works. But "Dead Mary" is awful, with a boring beginning, a messy story where "Dead Mary" never shows up, and a ridiculous conclusion. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Dead Mary – A Possessão" ("Dead Mary – The Possession")