Mimesis, Night of the Living Dead

After getting drugged at a horror convention's after-party, a group of friends awake to find themselves forced to play a live-action role-playing-game based on a famous horror movie and must utilize their knowledge to get away alive.

This turned out to be far better than it really should've been. Perhaps the film's greatest virtue amongst itself is the clever and highly original storyline present as the film does boast a pretty unique gimmick of trapping horror fans in a retelling of a classic horror film and forcing them to recreate the events of the film for their own amusement, and it does a fairly close job of recreating it throughout. The clothes, the setting, the general look and feel of the whole effort as well as the use of piping in the actual movie on a closed-circuit TV to rattle them even more makes for a rather unique and clever style here that really helps this one develop into more than just a loving homage and a chance to re-work some of the original bits and gags from the movie. This turns it into a rather fun and original way to do the homage in a different way and is certainly a very new concept that's employed here. That this allows the film to really up the gore and action content that was missing from the originally-aped film makes this even more fun with tons of splatter and gore that was missing from the original as well as bringing about some rather tense confrontations that arise here from the different encounters here. While the film does dip somewhat once we learn the truth about what's going on within as the twist about the intent behind the drugging does seem quite far-fetched there's still a couple fine chases in the later half to make for a rather fine mix of chills, blood-splatter and cheese. There's one rather glaring problem here, beyond the fact that this just seems like an excuse to remake the original for their own purpose, in that for such a landmark and legendary film they run through only one person has seen it among the group, which makes no sense at all and really stretches believability here with something that influential and massive. It would've been more fun had everyone been aware and fans so that they all have the ability to outwit the killers that way, yet here it's just the one and it really seems like a stretch. Otherwise, this one is a lot of fun.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Just saw the premier showing of this last night at the McMorran Complex in Port Huron, Michigan. All (or most of) the actors and actresses were at the showing which made it all that much more interesting. I have to say that I enjoyed this movie very much, even if it were a little bit on the "campy" side. But perhaps that is because I am biased. I am also a big fan of the original Night of the Living Dead Romero Classic from the late 1960's. This movie was made on similar budget as that, albeit updated to the current price of movie making as compared to 40 or so years ago. The effects were good enough to grab most of the audiences attention as far as the reactions went, including myself! It was nearly a sold out movie theater, and I can tell you from the unemployment in this part of the world that is a rare thing in this town for sure! Let me say that it gave me a bit of the "Halloween Spirit" that I haven't had for a few years now. Dare I say it made me giddy? Anyways, I would definitely recommend this indie as a must see for the low(er) budget horror flick fan.

Really loved the idea of this movie, but it just never got off the ground running. I kept watching Mimesis because it was really giving respect and praises to the original Night of the Living Dead. But the movie didn't really do anything that made me feel anything other than reminding me that I love the original Living Dead. I think that it had potential but because of the low budget, it didn't get there. Plus some of the acting got so bad that it was distracting. Wouldn't be a big deal to pass on this one.

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A disparate group of people including a young girl attend a lecture by a horror film-maker. Invited to a select after party, they wake up in bizarre surroundings. One of the first group - two buddies - are attacked by a zombie, and is very badly wounded. They are joined by a woman, and make it to the house where in the disjointed introduction the householder - a farmer - and his apparently disabled wife are murdered. All very confusing so far, and obviously supernatural, though it turns out these zombies are anything but. The clue to what is happening is in the film's title; mimesis refers to life imitating art, in this case a group of sickos have decided to recreate the classic 1968 horror film "Night Of The Living Dead".

Clearly "Mimesis..." scores for originality, but if zombies are beyond belief, so are the logistics and leaps of faith the viewer is supposed to make here. In the original film, everybody died. Does that happen here? If you stick around to find out you won't be disappointed, but you probably won't be enthralled either.

The only reason I can think of that someone would rate this movie above a 1 is because they personally know someone who worked on the project. The writing is cliche, the make up is terrible, the acting is horrendous. Can't find one thing to like about this movie. Just dumb.