Dead Still

I am surprise to see so many good reviews from users, with so low rating of the film.

Believe the rating.

This movie is bad, generally speaking. The story is weak, and there are so many inconsistencies, perhaps for the incompetence of the filmmakers, not really because it was unavoidable. Bad timing, wrong reactions to situations... etc.

Maybe the only thing that was notable was the not-so-bad costumes and the filming locations. But it was at all enough.

Finally , the acting was completely shocking, negligent.

The story of Victorian death photography: wasted.

Being quite familiar with the correct history of so called post mortem photography popular from about the 1830th's well into the twentieth century, this movie caught my attention.

When I saw Ray Wise had o role in it I got even more interested, being a fan of his since Twin Peaks. But, man, was I disappointed. I Think they have completely missed out on the possibility to build up tension and uneasy feelings which surrounds this subject, it's all loud rock music with distorted guitars and agitated, irrational character behavior as if all hell had broken loose, and that was just minutes into the movie. The filmmakers could have done more with less, so to speak.

The acting and script seems very stiff (no pun intended), with characters, for example, reading letters out loud for themselves and describing what they are about to do talking loudly to themselves. Ray Wise's performance is good though, he makes a good effort with the role given him, but that's about the only solid acting in there is here.

The special effects in terms of gory dying/dead people is quite good, but over the top, a bit too much, and too early on in the film.

Horror fan, fan of the subject or both, you'll basically be wasting your time if you see this one.

Plot

Upon the death of his great grandfather, Brandon Davis a wedding photographer inherits an antique camera famous for taking Victorian death photography. After photographing his subjects they start to die from horrible, bizarre deaths.

Cast

Ben "Farscape" Browder and Ray Wise

Verdict

I was frustratingly excited by this, horror, Ben Browder, Ray Wise and the cover looked like my kind of horror! Bring it on I thought. I should have remembered Wise does a lot of terrible films and that outside of Farscape I've not seen Browder in anything enjoyable.

It has the "Killer camera" theme which we've seen several times before, the concept here is tweaked but doesn't deliver anything we've not really seen before.

Browder and Wise phone in their performances, this is a paycheck they did not earn.

The movie itself is oddly boring considering the subject matter, it plods along at an uneven pace, never really gets going, the kills are dreadfully handled and it builds to a weirdly drawn out finale that actually had me cringing.

Dead Still is one to skip over or put on if you have absolutely nothing else available to you and you're already too drunk to care.

Rants

So let's talk about the son, this kid is so alarmingly feminine I struggled to believe they were actually a boy until I Googled it. Don't get me wrong this isn't a dig in anyway shape or form, it was just a bizarre casting choice. Was the kid wearing eye liner? You'll think it's a daughter throughout especially since they're mute in the movie. The actor himself rather unsurprisingly went into one of the vampire teen melodrama things, he certainly comes under the pretty boy category and then some. I wish I was pretty, I like like a shaven potato .

Breakdown

Mostly pretty ugly Cast just don't try Never really gets going Boring Truly awful finale.

I've seen a lot of Horror Movies, and although most aren't even a touch original, I still have no Idea what I was expecting from Dead Still. If you haven't already seen it, spare yourself the 80+ Minutes of your Life you'll never get back. The acting was awkward, and uncomfortable to watch, almost like watching a School play performed by 12 year olds. If that Isn't enough to put you off, the Storyline is probably something you've seen at least a dozen times. The crappy Dialogue also left a bad taste in my mouth. I lost count of how many times I cringed while subjecting myself to this "film". Not only does the whole thing feel forced, almost like the script was a rush Job to try make a few bucks, it actually felt like a chore to sit there and watch it to the end. Sure, I was cheering when the credits rolled, but not for the right reasons.

While I admit that this could have been better, it could have been much worse as well.

The story of an evil/possessed antique camera is a good premise, unfortunately. The film is let down by the rather ponderous style it took.

Ray Wise is the best thing about this movie, his offers a good performance which unfortunately highlights the somewhat clunky acting from some of the other cast.

It is not purely a bad movie, it is just not a memorable one. Not bad, not great, it is just there.

This is a shame, because the premise is an intriguing one. A camera that takes portraits that ends in the subject's death, A slightly better script and tighter filming would have resulted in a better movie. But I did not end up turning it off, so that earns it an extra star.