Alright. Color me impressed: in every last regard, 'Mold!' works very hard to mimic and pay homage to 80s sci-fi/horror B-movies, and I think it pretty well succeeds. The worst that can be said is that the line blurs intermittently between "wonderfully exact imitation" and "overt, cheeky modern interpretation," but the effort is so strong that the oscillation in this regard is forgivable. All the hallmarks are here: needlessly exaggerated characters and dialogue, overzealous camerawork, slightly hazy or grainy production values, well executed but obvious special effects, unnecessary and/or overcooked scenes and diversions, one female character in a field of white dudes, and so on, and so on. Even the music, sound effects, production design, and the very appearance of the title card are unmistakable echoes of similar fare of 30 years prior. This might have been released in 2012, but in many ways it would fit right in with brethren of 1983; 'Mold!' isn't perfect, but it's a good bit of fun.
The stylistic choices extend to the plainly cheesy overtones, stopping just shy of horror-comedy; a deliberately bare-bones presentation (small cast, lackadaisical execution of scenes) and hokey Movie Magic writing (e.g. The "crimson filter") that constantly threaten suspension of disbelief; and easily rectified internal inconsistency. . I can understand why this doesn't have high broad appeal, as no matter how much the endeavor excels there's still a clear difference between "80s flick" and "aping an 80s flick." The approach here rides a fine line in and of itself, and scattered lines of dialogue that make reference to movies from the 80s are gauche beyond saving. Yet if one can get on board with what 'Mold!' is doing, it's quite entertaining. The narrative (very 80s B-movie) is written well, and reasonably compelling as such; the practical effects including blood and gore, and associated hair and makeup work, look pretty great. Director Neil Meschino illustrates suitable capability, and the screenplay he penned with Dave Fogerson is solid as it is. The cast lean into the bluster, all unquestionably having a great time along the way, and that goes for everyone working behind the scenes, too.
The concept is fun, and hard work went into making 'Mold!' the silly romp that it is. I personally would have preferred a more sincere and darkly visceral take on the idea, foregoing purposeful pablum - but all the same, this is quite decent. The biggest flaw I see is just that the feature is sometimes entirely too over the top for its own good; it's one matter to embrace kitschy nonsense, it's another to abandon all good sense in that pursuit, and there are points where 'Mold!' does. Still, even at its most self-indulgent, the picture had no intent but ridiculous, bombastic horror/sci-fi fun, and if imperfectly, I believe it ably achieves that aim. So long as as one is open to the type of tomfoolery this represents, I think it really is rather worthwhile, with the caveat that it can at times be altogether too much. Hardly an essential must-see, as far as I'm concerned 'Mold!' is a delightful genre romp if you have the chance to check it out.
