D4 Mortal Unit

My brother sent me this DVD as a Christmas gift and we finally got around to watching it. I was a little hesitant because monster movies aren't really my thing. It was low budget and I do mean very low budget, but for what they spent on it, they sure did get far. I've seen big budget movies that Hollywood cranks out not come anywhere close to as good in terms of story or pacing but these guys did a really fine job. I read that they shot this in two weeks in the mountains which is pretty darn amazing. Most people have no idea what it means to make a movie but my boyfriend and I are avid film buffs and we've learned a lot about indie filmmaking after watching boatloads of flicks at film festivals all over the country (he drives a truck and sometimes I tag along and we catch festivals occasionally)....well needless to say, a lot of people hate on movies because they just want to be picky but I've certainly come to appreciate every level of movie but the one thing I've learned that matters the most is the story. I read a little about D-4 right before we watched it and I found out about the director's son being an epileptic and that being the inspiration for the monster in the movie...now i don't know about you but that is just sad and inspiring at the same time. How many horror movies or action movies take the time to put a piece of themselves up there on the screen? I'm going to watch D-4 again with my parents because I think they would really like it if I told them about the metaphors in it.

One of the greatest true to story action flicks I've seen in a long time. It was very refreshing to find a thriller that has an actual story instead of the standard explosive sequences accenting horrible dialog (which sadly is all action/thriller fans have coming from Hollywood anymore). The actors come out gritty and true to form. No one tries to steal a scene and they all end up shining until the final credits roll. The writing holds true to what story telling once was and should be. The direction is amazing. The fact that this movie is considered low budget never crossed my mind, just due to the sheer amount quality that comes through. I recommend D$ highly whether you're an adrenaline movie junkie, having a first date, or even having family movie night.

Wow, how some movies get a green-light and a budget is beyond me. Awful sums this one up. The story revolves around a group of special ops mercs that are hired to rescue a wealthy women's son that supposedly is being held at a shut down, secret government facility. So the team assembles (not going to waste your time with actor names) and head off to find him. You have your usual cookie cutter characters here each with their specialty (acting not being one of them). Of course, they get to the base to find that they are conducting experiments to create super soldiers out of kids with epilepsy. This also leads to a sub plot of a grandfather who has his child abducted and taken away for this experiment, don't worry though, this is not very engaging either. The action scenes are terrible and I wouldn't be helping you any if I didn't point out the special effects are absolutely horrible. When the "monster" gets shot, repeatedly, which does nothing, the blood spatter is the biggest joke I have ever seen. How they thought anyone wouldn't just laugh at the effects that appear like someone did it with Microsoft paint to appear like blood is beyond me. Well, I have to say "snipe" as a character is the best one, not because the women could act or was believable, but because she was the only character that I didn't loathe throughout the movie. I will give them points for a plot twist that a 4 year old would've seen coming in the first 5 minutes of the movie but pays off at the end, so expect a lot of boredom for the 93 other minutes of this indie pile of rubbish. Please, even if free or on netflix, don't harm your brain with this one. Curse yourself later after watching but don't come back here and say I didn't warn you. 1.6/10 IMDb 3.5 from 356 votes(movie came out in 2010 and that few votes???). In other words, the cast giving high ratings skewered the numbers from people that watched it, not worked for the crew.

Mr. Dickerson follows an aging grandfathers emotional search for his missing grandson and a team of skilled mercenaries are tested to their limits when hired to conduct a search an rescue for a missing teenager. i was fortunate to view this film at the Horrorhound Horror convention in Cincinnati in November 2011. Mr. Dickerson received a huge round of applause and it was well deserved. a bigger budget would mean bigger effects, but the story stands for itself and is entertaining as well as engaging. the grandfathers performance is especially exceptional an the team of hired mercenaries move the story along at a quick pace. it is a great choice for movie night.

So, I watched this film, largely because all of the reviews claimed what an indie masterpiece this was. I'll admit is was a piece of something. The acting isn't too bad, but the editing sucks. There are large unnatural pauses in dialogue that grates on my mind like nails on a chalkboard. The story is OK, but totally unbelievable. A man's grandson is kidnapped and he doesn't call the cops? Because some guy in a stairwell told him they wouldn't believe him? Come on! I can't believe I wasted this much of my life on such a crap movie. They keep referring to a "beast" as an it, like it were a non-human animal, but it clearly was human. I also loved the lack of muzzle flashes on the weapons. All they did was play the sound of a gun firing. In fact most of the audio was like that. Just clearly added after the fact with no visual cue to associate it with. This is a typical B movie. Nothing more, nothing less. I guess I was just hyped into believing it was better than it was.