Dead Mary

First of all I must say that depending on which version (or region) of the movie you get, then the cover may or may not actually be properly depicting the contents of the movie. The DVD I got have a shot of the cabin with a hand sticking out of the ground on the cover, now that was proper to the movie. However, the cover that is used here on IMDb is the one that sort of sets up the movie for something more than it actually is.

Regardless, then "Dead Mary" was actually a rather alright horror movie, sort of think a mixture between "Evil Dead", "The Exorcist" and any of the number teenage horror movies out there, then you have a basic idea of what you are in for in "Dead Mary".

The story is about a group of young people coming together in the woods, in an old cabin, for the weekend. A weekend that is supposed to be about reunion, fun and partying. But fun and partying turns to dread and fear when the people start on playing the 'dead Mary' game, where they have to go alone into the bathroom, call out 'dead Mary' three times (can anyone say "Candyman" here?) and then apparently the spirit of a witch will appear. Something do shows up and the lives of the group are now in danger. One by one people start dying under strange circumstances, and people are not whom they used to be or appear to be. Who can they trust? But more importantly, will they survive the weekend?

I found the story to actually be alright, despite it borrowing heavily from other horror movies. Still, the movie turned out to be interesting enough and provide good entertainment. The mood and setting of the movie was really good, and you had a sense of isolation and dread in the movie, which was nice, because it helped build up the tension.

Personally, I found "Dead Mary" to be a step up from the usual teenage horror/slasher movies that have been flooding the horror scene for quite some years already. It was nice to see something aside from someone wronged coming back to wreck havoc and vengeance on the late teenagers who wronged him.

"Dead Mary" has a couple of great scare moments, but nothing that will make you jump out of the chair. What this movie is running on is the suspense and the way that it keeps you wondering whom is possessed and who isn't, who is telling the truth and who is lying. For that aspect, then the director, Robert Wilson, really did a great job.

There was actually a decent amount of blood in the movie, which I found great. But this wasn't really a slasher or gore movie, so it was just an added bonus.

The people they had on the cast list were great actors and actresses, and the people did great jobs with their characters. However, the ones that were carrying the movie were Jefferson Brown (playing Matt), Dominique Swain (playing Kim) and Steven McCarthy (playing Baker). They really put on great performances and made the movie come to life.

"Dead Mary" is a good horror movie that stays true to the old-school horror movies of the late 80's and early 90's, just with a pinch of "Evil Dead" thrown into the formula. If you enjoy horror movies and like to be kept in suspense where you are not fully sure about what is going on around you, then you should definitely check out "Dead Mary". Just remember to leave the lights on in your bathroom...

A group of old mates from school spend the weekend at a cabin in the woods (original huh?!), and kills time by yapping on and on about relationships and who's screwing who. After a few drinks one of them remembers an old game - Dead Mary - and the suspense begins.

This could have been a rather entertaining horror flick, but leaves you disappointed. The characters were okay and the story line had potential, but: no blood to talk about, no really scary scenes, no sitting on the edge of your seat and especially no Dead Mary! Trying hard to stay awake for an ending that could possibly have saved the movie from sucking totally turned out to have been in vain, 'cause the ending was the biggest disappointment of them all. Not only are you clueless of what it means, but also frustrated to bits 'cause you've wasted almost one and a half hours on this crap! Considering myself to be quite a genre knower I believe this is one of the worst, or should I say BORING, horror flicks I've seen. It didn't even make me laugh...

Let me start by saying that I understand the premise of the movie, and where they where trying to go with it. But they did a horrible job with it. There was so much wrong with the movie, it over shadows any good that there was, making it slim pickings. The story idea, was a rehash of the same old 'bunch of young adults at a camp ground for the weekend'. But they did put in some originality with the whole dead Mary thing. Yeah, it's the same as bloody Mary, and has been done, but still. And doing in the form of a dark psychological thriller rather than the normal monster or gore hound flick was a great idea. But that is the end of it.

The acting was OK at best, but none of the characters had any sort of personality that actually stood out, or made you remember them. They where all the same with different names.

And there are just so many questions, and inconsistencies that it completely ruined the movie, forcing you into a totally confused viewer. We went from a very long and drawn out beginning, that was more like a show of General Hospital than a movie, to people chanting Dead Mary in the mirror, to zombies, then possession (I think?). And they kept babbling about being infected when they where alone...?? Huh? The biggest pet peeve I had was the filming. Like I said, I understand what they where trying to do, with a dark psychological thriller, but the film lighting was absolutely horrible. It looks like somebody took their hand held camcorder outside in the woods, with nothing but moonlight, and filmed the movie. 85% of the time your pausing the movie trying to figure out what character is on the screen. Finally you just give up, hoping that they will do or say something so you know what is going on. I even turned all the lights off in the house wondering if maybe that would help, and I still could barely tell what was going on. And the only way you could really tell the characters apart was what they looked like, considering the lack of personality. So needless to say, who's talking, who's tied up, and who's running around in the rain is totally lost.

So, what or who is Dead Mary? What is the deal with the drops of blood in the bathroom? Or the guy sleeping on the couch who is the first killed. Why are the killed characters coming back as Zombies, and why does that other guy beat the crap out of, and hack up the zombie looking for answers. Answers to what? And why is it, after he beats the crap out of the zombie, and tears it's face apart, it is totally healed and back to normal moments later when it's wife comes to see it. I assume she died in the fire? Where did the bearded guy and the two ladies go off into the woods, leaving the other two at the house? Where did they go? What is up with the ending, and what happened to the girl, who was apparently possessed by dead Mary? Oh yeah, and where is everybody else in the town to begin with? And who the hell is Ted, and where is he? Uggg, it was just way to rushed. If they took the time to actually lay down the story, and filmed it better, maybe the questions above could actually be answered. You can always assume the answers though, and fill in the blanks yourself if that helps. Otherwise it all adds up to one huge and very boring movie.

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...