LD 50 Lethal Dose

This isn't Scary Spice's (Melanie Brown) first movie. That would be Spice World, not that I would ever admit seeing that. It is her first movie since then, and she was an interesting character that met an unusual end.

The Brits are famous for horror. Remember Hammer? Now, it seems they are famous for movies about radicals releasing animals. We do that here, but I don't know that we make movies about it. I don't think that many people really care over here, so we leave it to Peta.

The thing is that the group left one of their members behind on a raid and he got three years. He sends them an e-mail about a secret lab that they should check out. That is when the fun begins; as this lab is underground and some really strange stuff is going on there.

Now, I won't spoil it by saying what is going on, except to say that it was an interesting concept. The problem is that I really didn't care about the people in this film, and whether they lived or died. Maybe Katharine Towne (But I'm a Cheerleader), but even that is stretching it.

Don't just scare me, but make me care.

I found this a really interesting and challenging film, not like your usual run-of-the-mill horror movie. I'm not going to give anything away because I think it is worth seeing, but there were some very clever plot twists that took me completely by surprise! The acting was good, I thought that all the actors really pulled together as a team and that really shows (also the mark of a good director!). I also think the direction itself was really tight and perfect for the creepy, slightly claustrophobic nature of the scenes underground. The supernatural elements were fascinating as well, a very modern take on a popular genre. All in all a really good evening's viewing, and well worth seeing! I would say don't miss it!

The premise of this movie is seemingly solid, and it begins like "28 Days Later" Animal Rights Activists break in to a lab and free the cute and fuzzy bunnies. One of them gets captured, and then it turns into some kind of "Altered States" heist movie.

Seems our Activists are now set on freeing their captured comrade from the lab where he has become the focus of a new experiment that is gradually stripping away his humanity in a "Lawnmower Man" kind of way.

Sounds cool, right? That's what I thought. The problem is that once the heist portion of the movie starts, it goes nowhere fast. There's a lot of pointless screaming as members of the crew start turning on each other. It's another entry into the current string of U.K. funded programming that features people turning on each other. For more of the same, watch "The Bunker". The Bad Guy doesn't make an appearance until the last ten minutes of the movie, and it's a pretty dull ride up to that point.

Synopsis : A group of animal rights activists have a rescue mission go wrong and one team member gets trapped at the location. A year later the team receives an encoded message from the friend and they join together to break him out of the facility he is trapped in. To their dismay, they locate an abandoned laboratory that seems to have a mind of its own, and the team starts disappearing one by one.



Plot : The story was a very interesting concept but I feel it lost something in the translation from paper to screen. The film had a decent budget but at times it didn't seem like the budget was used to it's full capacity. Definitely more of a science fiction feeling type of movie but it also had it's horror moments. It can be enjoyed by parties that enjoy either genre.



Cast/Characters : Not a Blockbuster line-up but some familiar faces on the screen with decent acting skills. Some of the scripting though made a few on the screen less talented than what they normally would be. All personality types were covered with the team, almost too formulaic.....nothing tossed in to liven up the story.



F/X : Nothing too cheesy, which is good. Just enough gore to keep ya going and no moments when you are sitting there saying "I see the guy behind the curtain". Of course, there could have been more gore to give it more of a horror feeling but working with what they gave me made it a-okay.



Pace : They spent a little too much time at the beginning of the movie setting up each character and creating a story that really had nothing to do with the result of the film. I feel they should have just skipped to the 2nd act and started the movie there, explained some things better that they skipped and it would have been perfect.



Jekyll's Final Thoughts : It was a good experience to see this film at the Nevermore Film Festival, especially with it being a British made film ; no usual dribble with American casting, etc. If you have the chance to see this movie, try and catch it. I give it a 3 star rating.

"Lethal Dose 50" is a stylish British production that deserves a view. It's a for sure a great and pleasure full time killer. The cast isn't that well known, although maybe the spice girl " Melania Brown" could be a recognizable face. The director of this horror SF flick, "Simon De Selva" sets a pretty impressive movie onto your screen as first time director! The tension is superb and of a perfect level. The director knew how to put in the suspense moments at just the right and perfect time. Acting is of a decent quality though can't be called amazing but actually I think that was for sure not needed into this flick. Everyone played their part to best of their ability and in which they succeeded for sure. Sometimes I did spot some "28 Days Later" links into the film but it never annoyed me in anyway. It didn't interfere into this flick in a negative way. The music is good and adds by times that certain needed drive to get some scenes, even the whole movie into a certain gear so it starts rolling onto your screen and creates that great feeling of being locked onto your screen. Which also gives that extra power onto these "jump chair" scenes. Where into this movie one is to be found for sure!

Not as great as "28 Days Later" but for sure much better as "Dogsoldiers"! A' kinda must see if you're in for a foreign filled film evening.

Dario/ 7.5 outa 10.