Dominador de Corpos

"Freakdog", "Coma: The Movie", "Frickin' Stupid Doctors" or whatever the film wants to call itself, is unsurprisingly a very unknown film. I had never heard of it, critics ripped it apart and medical students were probably told to never watch it (unless they purposefully wanted to fail). Essentially it's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" meets "Flatliners", and it's just as predictable as both of those films. A group of medical students make a pact to try and kill a creepy stalker, whom recorded footage of them stealing pharmaceuticals, but instead puts him in a coma.

However, this is very very bad. Why? Well because he can travel out of his body, possess these students and kill them in elaborate ways. A slasher/revenge flick utilising an admittedly unique and imaginative premise. Just a shame that pretty much everything sucked! Putting aside the absurdly cheap aesthetic, editing and direction, the film's biggest issue is with its characters. Forcing literally everyone to be unlikeable, from the students to the experienced doctors, results in an entirely expendable cast. A consequence of this is that whenever someone pours burning acid down another's throat or crushed their head in a car door, it's all for nothing. No emotional attachment. No "ahhh but I liked that guy!". Nothing. Then we somehow need to comprehend how unintelligent these students really are. This is the future generation of doctors! Why are they are all so frickin' dumb? And why is a predominately British cast playing American characters? Just get an American cast!

The gore was unfortunately rarely shown on screen, which culminates the "horror" aspect and lays it on an uncomfortable hospital bed whilst we all watch it slowly die. Acting? Questionable. Camera shots? Zoomed in. Conclusion? "Red Snooze". Oh, and if you have epilepsy...watch with caution. (Although I recommend you don't watch it at all, epileptic or not!). Nearly caused me to have a nosebleed with its excessive flashing lights. Seriously! My retinas were burning during the last five minutes. It's coma time!

It's been a while since I liked a horror movie as much as this one. Much credit goes to Arielle Kebbel who is a great actress and looks even better. The director also knows how to film her.

A bunch of medical students go partying. A freaky loner (Kenneth) who may work at the morgue and who has a crush on Cathering (Kebbel) shows up and films their drinking and drug shenanigans. That could get them in serious trouble. So they decide to get him drunk, drugged. But he's also an epileptic who gets seizures with strobe lights. Once he goes into a seizure and starts choking, the group debates whether to help him or rather save their careers. Arguing against helping him is a bastard named Sean. They decide to dump him in front of a hospital.

It turns out that till he gets help, Kenneth's brain has already suffered enough oxygen deprivation to put him in a coma. Cathering, feeling guilty does research and actually medicates him with trial meds to help him. But something strange happens. People suddenly start killing the group of students one by one and yet remember nothing. It's as if they are possessed and it may be Kenneth who thanks to the trial meds gained some type of power.

Horror movies set in hospitals and with medical students always have a lot of potential. Many turn out disappointing. Red Mist on the other hand turned out great. The kills are gory and violent, there's a bit of nudity, the story is very good, the cast looks good and does a great job. Apparently this movie was filmed in Ireland although you can't tell, there are no outdoor scenes. Not sure what the purpose is to film this elsewhere when they don't take advantage of the setting. Overall, a highly recommended horror movie.

Even the extras are worth seeing as Kebbel actually takes part in most of them and shows herself to be a very fun girl.

In FREAKDOG (aka: RED MIST) a group of med students decide to mix narcotics and alcohol for a night of utter blotto-ness. Unfortunately, their shenanigans are witnessed by Kevin who records their antics on his cellphone.

Not wanting their future careers ruined, the quick-thinking students decide to get Kevin wasted so they can destroy the evidence. Things don't go exactly as planned.

If you enjoy paranormal horror-revenge movies with possession and lots of gory deaths, then this will take you to Nirvana! There's even some mad science tossed in for extra joy!

This film gets bonus points for originality and its novel approach...

Or is it "Dog Standard"? ;o) Just kidding, I'm not spoiling anything, by saying the movie doesn't involve a dog (as in an animal). It's a "nickname". The movie is more or less what you would expect it is (with one or two exceptions). The gore is OK, the story has been told in similar fashion many times and the acting is OK.

The craziest thing was a warning before the movie started. For anyone who might be epileptic, there are scenes in here, that will trigger epilepsy (I don't know if there is any other more political correct way to say that, but I guess you get my point). The movie was screened at Fright Fest and the reaction of most of the crowd was less than enthusiastic (some even said, that it was as "bad" as Shrooms ... since I haven't yet seen that one, I can't comment on that though)

Irish film-maker Paddy Breathnach bored me to tears with the asinine drivel that was Shrooms, but being the reasonable fellow that I am, I was willing to give the guy a second chance at impressing me with his next movie, Red Mist AKA Freakdog (the fact that the back of the DVD showed hottie Arielle Kebbel in her undies had nothing to do with my decision—Scout's honour!).

Although this film isn't as soporific as Breathnach's earlier fungi-flavoured flop, at least delivering a few reasonable performances, it's still an ultimately unimpressive effort, with a derivative narrative that borrows heavily from several other horrors (most notably 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and 'Patrick'), a thoroughly unlikable group of extremely clichéd characters, and a surprising lack of gore given the nasty ways in which the characters meet their fates (a juicy knife-in-the-throat aside, Breathnach misses every opportunity to really gross out his audience).

Oh, and the 'Kebbel in her scanties' scene lasts for all of 10 seconds... grrrrr!