Fire City: End of Days

I had no idea what to expect from this movie when I sat down to watch it, other than I believed it to be a horror movie. I read the synopsis, and it seemed alright.

The storyline in "Fire City: End of Days" was very deviant from what I was expecting, especially since I found this movie in the horror section. It didn't really have an ounce of horror to it; this was more of a fantasy movie of sorts. And there was so little happening of any interest or anything riveting that made you hunger for more, so it was a very bland and uneventful pace that the movie trotted on in.

And just when I thought I just about had seen all there was to see, a demonic drug dealer pops up on the screen here.

So this was supposed to be demons coexisting with humans in our world? But somehow the demons looked like creatures from "Babylon 5". And some of the demons looked like something from one of the early Peter Jackson movies such as "Bad Taste". There wasn't a shred of demonic feel to the majority of the creatures in the movie. Which kind of baffled me, especially since they had definitely put a lot of effort into the make-up and prosthetic. The boar-like demon was perhaps the one with the worst demon design of them all, it looked like something from a low budget young adult TV horror show. There was a Moloch, though, that actually looked quite good and had that demonic feel to its design, aside from the mouth when it spoke and it spoke with Schwarzenegger-like accent, which made it difficult to take it serious.

The acting in the movie was adequate, and I was actually a bit surprised to see that Danielle Chuchran was playing the role of Cornelia. Aside from Danielle Chuchran, the only other familiar face on the screen was Matt Winston (playing Ron).

The characters in the movie were so trivial and generic that you don't really bother committing to any of them. The characters do appear to be rather pointless and could easily be replaced by cardboard cut-outs.

There was a scene where the Asian couple was sitting at the dining table with another woman, and when she got up and started to undress and dance naked then I was just about ready to get up and turn off the movie. Because that brought so much ridiculousness and pointlessness with it. And it served no purpose at all. Sure, I get that some demons are all about sexual prowess and seduction, but come on. It served no purpose other than director Tom Woodruff Jr. having a chance to put a fully naked woman into his movie.

"Fire City: End of Days" was by no means an outstanding or particularly memorable movie in any way. It was entertaining enough for the campy thing that it turned out to be. Just don't expect anything extraordinary here. And I doubt that you will watch the movie more than once, provided you actually make it through the first time, given its slow and mundane pacing.

I really enjoyed this little film. Little bit different from all the other horrors around. Worth a watch.

Right from the start Fire City: End of Days got a big A+ rating in my book simply for the extensive and impressive use of practical effects. For a fantasy thriller and a low budget indie feature this film is remarkably deep and equally dark. For those of you familiar with Angel, the Buffy spin off, Fire City treads kindred ground steeped in the shadows and dust of an urban underworld. For all that this film bears in promise, it ultimately falls short somehow with its bewildering climax that feels both rushed and drawn out somehow. We are set up to expect more installments in the series that continue the story of Atum Vine (installments I await with more anticipation than I had for Desolation of Smaug (!).

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Fire City is not a part of the story, but rather that the film strains its scant budget to the max, popping seams along the way.

Short version: this movie is a very enjoyable film noir, with an interesting mystery story, using demons as plot attributes. It's not a demon horror action movie.

Long version: First off, this movie is weird. Not just in the sense that it's about "weird" stuff like demons, but in that it's a movie trying to mix film noir, mystery, horror, and drama. As I started watching it, I was expecting it to be some crappy demon-horror B-movie, but I've not often been so surprised (and wrong in my initial judgment). I believe the reason for most bad reviews of this movie, is that people were expecting a radically different movie. The best I can describe it is as a film-noir mystery detective demon drama. If that sounds ridiculous to you (and I can't blame you), then you're probably better off watching something different. If instead you're intrigued by this seemingly random combination of genres, you might want to give it a try.

I found the script to be surprisingly intelligent, with pretty few plot holes, and after the first "what the f*ck is this?" moment passed, I really got into the story (which I will not spoil). Most of the movie is very bleak (although it has a somewhat happy ending), including domestic abuse, alcoholism, child rape (although that was thankfully only implied, but never shown), etc., so it's probably not suited for the faint hearted. I found the acting to be much better than I expected: not Oscar nomination material obviously, but it was adequate enough. Also the special effects, being mostly the demons' body prosthetics, were quite nice. At times it was clear they were just rubber masks and floppy prosthetics, but I found the designs very elegant and was impressed with the film's visual style. Overall I would say it's very entertaining to watch and very different from what you would expect from something called "Fire city: end of days". I also found it to be thematically intriguing, and most of all a very original combination of different genres. I would give it a solid 7/10, but it gets an extra +1 because it's really much better than the 5/10 it has now on IMDb.

If you're going to watch the movie, just keep in mind you'll actually have to pay attention to the story - otherwise it's just going to seem like a strange, confusing, meandering movie. But believe me, it actually does make sense in the end. Just think of it as a film noir that happens to feature demons, rather than a demon movie, and you'll know better what to expect.

When I grew up in Western NY, in the mid-1960's, the Catholic Church was very strong. The Church had television programs, broadcast over the three major networks. The shows were strange and eclectic. One show, called Lamp Unto My Feet, was an exposition of scripture, as interpreted through modern dance. And who could forget Bishop Sheen, and his weekly homilies? This movie, Fire City, reminded me of yet another show produced by the Church, in which demons come up with plans to please Satan. Turns out Satan thinks procrastination works best.