The Dead Matter

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

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.

Andrew Divoff stars as Vellich, he has to have that relic and will do anything to get it. Watching this film, I realized how much I missed him in the Wishmaster films. He truly makes this film a blast to watch. If you take away the vampire and zombie parts, this felt like Wishmaster 3 should have felt. This is true indie movie gold. What a fun film from start to finish, this film is just a treat to the genre. You get the bad wig worn by Divoff which made him look like a 70′s stoner with a weird touch of Col Sanders. You have Tom Savini, who plays Sebed, a vampire lord that really gives Divoff some of his best moments in this film. To watch those two icons act with each other is almost the equivalent of watching Robert Plant sing with Paul McCartney. There is a scene in the film where Gretchen opens the fridge and the food becomes reanimated. To watch the chicken act the way it did, was such a nod to Evil Dead, without feeling like it ripped it off. You also get a beer drinking zombie, hey zombies get thirsty also you know. The special effects were done by Robert Kurtzman, who a few of you may have heard of once or twice maybe? And get this, you get a Jessica Cameron cameo. Some of you guys may have heard that name before as well.

This is old school horror meets new school ideology with a twist. The script was fun, it was dark humor and it was smartly written. The characters felt fresh, as did the situations. And the nod to Fulci The Beyond. Kudos for having the guts to attempt it, and not only that, but succeeding where you know Fulci is in his grave clapping the effort. If you are going to rent this to be scared, you may be watching the wrong film. This film is not a scary horror film, it is a fun one. And such a breath of fresh air, that all horror movies can still be effective but yet has heart and humor. This film gives you a fair amount of gore and blood goodness. This is clearly a nod to us old school fans, and it is such a fresh breath of air in the lungs of people who suffer thru so much junk to get to good films like this. This is a must watch, and will enjoy film.

The extras on the DVD are very amazingly fun. There are two Midnight Syndicate music videos, three finalists' music videos from the Midnight Syndicate 13th Anniversary video contest, gag reels, audio commentary by Ed Douglas, Robert Kurtzman, and Gary Jones, a feature called Maximum Dead Matter that allows you to watch a scene in one corner of the screen while simultaneously watching the actual filming of the scene in another window, interviews with cast and crew members, locations, and concept art. Also included in this triple disc combo is 2 soundtracks.

All in all, this is so much fang for your buck

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.

What we have in this film is a seance, a book of grimoires, an ancient amulet, zombies, vampires and a vampire hunter that creates a really fun independent film that is sometimes humorous and other times creepy. Let's not forget that Tom Savini is in this film AND the movie has some of the very best Gothic music on film you will ever hear by Midnight Syndicate. If you don't take the film seriously, and just lighten up to kick back to an hour and a half of fun entertainment then you might really enjoy this movie. I really don't believe the film deserves this low of a rating it's getting.

I obtained this film in DVD format and it came with Midnight Syndicate's soundtrack for this movie plus it has their Halloween Collection CD! I would highly recommend the The Dead Matter: 3-Disc Deluxe Edition if you are wanting this film in your personal collection.

6/10