The Dead Matter

Looked interesting and even had some potential talent on the listing. It should have been good but the script was completely awful. The directing and many of the scene setups weren't much better. Another movie bites the dust because the writer and director can't take the time to make it right. I'm not talking about spending money, just time and preparation, which often if not always do not require actors or other costs.

But this doesn't make sense. It has a ton of 10 star and 8 star ratings??? ... and yet a ton of 1 and 2 star. Hmm something is not right here. Look at that , so many of the high ratings were given by reviewers that only reviewed a single movie: this one! Nice to have a big family and circle of friends. And I hate bogus ratings.

If your tired of Hollywood horror that do not deliver then this is a movie for you. It has blood, guts, zombies, vampires, glowing amulet, spells and so much more. If you love old school horror from the 80's then you need to buy this movie. A guilt -ridden young women desperate to contact her deceased brother discovers a powerful ancient relic that controls the dead. Her dark obsession drags her into the tangled world of two warring vampire lords each with his own sinister plans for the artifact, and a vampire hunter who will stop at nothing to destroy it. This Gothic dark-fantasy co-produced by Robert Kurtzman features a haunting score by Halloween horror music composers Midnight Syndicate. A mix of classic horror themes with modern twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

When I found out about this movie, my interest was peaked and I was thrilled to find out about what Midnight Syndicate would muster to put into this movie.

And now having seen it, it is with a heavy heart that I must say that in my opinion, then Midnight Syndicate should stick to what they do so well, and that is making music - not movies! This movie was bad, plagued by a shallow storyline, unenthusiastic acting performances and generally a lack of appeal. I am sure that Midnight Syndicate meant well and tried their best, but the end result was just not that impressive.

And more so, it was just downright tacky the way they were self-promoting themselves throughout the movie; such as the ring-tone on a phone was a classic Midnight Syndicate tune, and the mentioning of the band when someone was looking at vinyl albums. It was just too sleazy the way they were subtly trying to promote themselves through the means of the storyline.

The story was mediocre at best, though it was heavy with stereotypical things, and it didn't really work out all that great. If they had stuck to just one type of classic horror creatures instead of two, it would have worked out much better. Either go with zombies or vampires, both of them together just doesn't really work out all that great.

And what was up with the horrible fake wig plastered to Andrew Divoff's head? It looked God-awful, and I was laughing most of the time when he was on the screen because of it. So it was hard to take this movie seriously. And it was far from anywhere near the usual performances that Andrew Divoff delivers in movies. It was cool to see Tom Savini in the movie, though, and that much credit is due to the movie.

"The Dead Matter" is a shallow movie experience that is thick with self-promoting from Midnight Syndicate. And for a horror movie, then it turned out to be as far as it could be from being a horror movie. It sort of resembled a parody of horror at best.

The one thing, and the best thing, that the movie had working for it, was - without any surprise - the music score / soundtrack. As always with Midnight Syndicate, you get some really great atmospheric and ambient music that emphasizes on the horror and occult aspect.

It's sad when the only good ratings a movie can get are from the filmmaker's family and friends. Well, here's the dead matter in a nutshell: The vampire (Andrew Divoff) wears a blonde lady's wig that looks like it's on backwards. The storyline is… oh wait, there is no story. The overweight zombies look worse than what you'd expect to see at a local haunted house run by high school kids. The music just drones on, but maybe it's better than nothing. The movie is described as a campy horror comedy, but there's nothing humorous at all about this film, except maybe the terrible acting. No boobs, very little blood and no interesting death scenes, nothing you haven't seen a million times already, and no hot chicks, just a few frumpy fat dudes. The actress that plays Gretchen is cute, but not in a "hot" way. And like I said, no boobs.

I can't even recommend this train wreck for a beer and B-movie night. It's just a huge waste of time.

This is Edward Douglas first attempt to direct a flick. He surely knows his stuff because he is normally an music technician for a few horror flicks. By doing so he also knew the people inside the genre. By that we see Andrew Divoff (wishmaster) as a leading role and Tom Savini in a special role. The special effects were done by Robert Kurtzman, also known in the genre.

It's a weird flick to watch because we have all elements in it that you can think about, zombies, vampires, ouija boards, supernatural effects...It's even sometimes a bit funny to see, a vampire being attacked by a zombie. It's really not your average horror flick. But the effects used are really well done and that makes it watchable. Strangely, Andrew Divoff couldn't convince me. Due the names in it it wasn't really my thing nevertheless I enjoyed it on the , for me, funny parts if you know what I mean.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Story 3/5 Effects 3/5 Comedy 2/5