Dead Within

source: Dead Within

Moviecut—Dead Within

source: Dead Within

Very vague, minor spoilers. First, there are zombies in this movie. Only 2 (well, 3, maybe 4), and they are only on screen mainly for a very brief flashback, but they are there. But beyond that I think this could have been a decent little movie. The acting isn't great, but it serves its purpose. The problem is not much happens to string the movie along to its conclusion. I think, perhaps, if they made the subplot with the baby even slighter bigger (or even slightly less implied and more direct) it would have given the movie more depth. And if there had been a bigger "to-do" outside at the end, where they actually could have had a full action/dramatic scene rather than a quick jolt. The movie wasn't about scares, anyway. So why end that way and take away one of the few opportunities to show something happening (other than her opening the front door)?

Good pace on a difficult two-hander. Better than Moon, I reckon. Acting very good, and the sound track maintains tension along with cuts in visuals. The dialogue could have been livelier - the characters had their niggles, but both were reserved personalities. Timeline jumps about a bit, so keep an eye on the hand bandage. Not sure the final shot was necessary - perfectly satisfied with psychosis induced by grief and cabin fever. And how/when could it have happened to her? Maybe a spinning cam in the sunshine with a zombie jaws final frame was best bet. One thing that bugged me was no explanation for running water until about 40 mins in, when it cut off. People - in a zombie apocalypse you'll die of thirst or typhoid way before the brain gobblers get you. So it's important! Then the water turned on again, and I couldn't figure out if it was hallucination. Not as good as The Battery - sort of indoors version without the humour - but definitely deserves higher rating. edit: the ranger story wasn't resolved, so point lost.

The film opens with two couples celebrating and then the next thing you know there are just two people living in a remote cabin who have barricaded themselves in because of some unknown zombie like infection. Mike (Dean Chekvala) dares to go outside to scrounge for food while his wife Kim (Amy Cale Peterson) stays inside and goes squirrelly from cabin fever. That is the entire film and nearly all of it is filmed from inside the cabin. Two characters, one setting, boring dialogue. It was like watching "The Road" as I kept waiting for an explanation or something to happen or the scenery to change. If you want to watch a zombie film, without zombies, that is character driven, this could be your film. Why someone would make something like that, I have no idea. Parental Guide: F-bomb, brief sex, brief nudity.

The script for this movie was probably excellent, the execution should have been taken out and shot. The movie is about a pandemic of some sort leaving a couple isolated and trapped in a remote cabin in the woods while it unfolds. When I say unfolds I use the term loosely as the movie gets stuck very early and the over use of flash backs causes it to drag on and on. Attempts to create emotional connection just leave you bored at best. They come far too late in the movie, you are saying OK already I got it 30 minutes ago, what happens next? The problem is nothing happens for a very long time. The positive reviewers of this movie are the ones who do not get it. The movie spells out the ending with blinding clarity but for some reason many people want to make it into more. The ending was never meant to be more than a culmination. There IS NO discovery, no revelation. No insight into the nature of mankind or deeper hidden meaning. The script was meant to be a journey not a destination. I cannot be more specific without giving away the movie, but suffice it to say that the director missed the point of the movie and irrevocably damaged it in the process. They thought they were being clever but instead it took the heart out of what could have been a very good movie.

Mike (a sturdy and credible performance by Dean Chekvala) and his wife Kim (a fine and touching portrayal by Amy Cale Peterson) are a young married couple who hole up in a remote cabin in the woods in the wake of a zombie outbreak. However, Mike must venture outside into the dangerous world and leave Kim by herself on a daily basis after their supplies begin to dwindle. Director/co-writer Ben Wagner ably crafts a suffocating claustrophobic atmosphere that makes the viewers feel like they are trapped in the cramped cabin along with the two desperate main characters. Moreover, Wagner astutely captures the overwhelming hopelessness of the bleak situation and brings a wrenching poignancy to the gripping premise by relating it on a small intimate scale, with Kim's gradual descent into madness in particular packing a potent emotional punch. The strong acting by the two leads further keeps this picture humming. While the slow pace and lack of cheap jump-out-at-you jolts will tax the patience of fright film fans expecting a standard formula scarefest, anyone else with a taste for slow-burning psychological suspense should appreciate this nice little sleeper's admirably smart and subtle approach to the zombie horror genre.

The Dead Within started out good. I was interested in the couple and what could have been going on out there to make them hide out the way they were. Kim and Mike seemed happy at the dinner party. They have an unusual routine- Mike goes out, Kim stays in, they have dinner dates with what supplies Mike can find outside. The dinner dates and dresses were a little unusual and made me curious. This intro to the characters held my interest and made me keep watching... but it just got worse from there. Kim is a little stir crazy and her husband is having more difficulty finding resources. There are a few threatening sounds outside... Kim talks to a "ranger" who claims to be rescue but we aren't sure if this is real or imagined. This ranger gets abusive as the movie progresses. Kim descends into madness, especially in the third act and we see a lot of scary post traumatic stress dreams/hallucinations/images. I will give this movie credit for portraying post traumatic stress accurately. The actress also did a good job with what she was given script wise. My problem is the path this movie took. It chose to focus on Kim's descent from stir crazy to psychotic breakdown. What I was really hoping was the movie would focus on the Ranger. The idea of a rescue not being a rescue isn't new in zombie movies, but the lonely Kim looking for company and finding dangerous company in the Ranger seems way more interesting and less discombobulating than a bunch of flashbacks and trauma scenes. At one point Kim said with agency that she is doing an important job: she isn't doing nothing. She's keeping watch while her husband is away. I really liked this hint of development for Kim. I wanted her to grow stronger and deal with the Ranger character in some way. I wanted to see her become smarter, braver, and more competent. This direction has much more room for growth for Kim than what the writers chose. When she killed her husband she was angry he cooped her up (understandable). She said something about her being competent and able and that she didn't need to be cooped up like how she was. What Kim said about her competency might be true, but the movie didn't give her a chance to prove it. She's never seen what's out there and there is lot of evidence she's mentally unstable. For her to say she IS competent struck me as a bit childish. I wanted more maturity and growth from her character. Based on what I saw in the movie, I'm not convinced Kim would be competent outside. The ending was pure garbage. I didn't care when she opened the door and ran out. I knew at that point I would really dislike this movie. I felt her black eyes at the end and her husband appearing again to kill her was a cheap trick. How would he pop out of nowhere like that? Come on! It's also a major stretch to say Kim is infected. I can't see how that would be possible without giving the plot major leeway. I invested my time and energy in this movie based on the first third, but got absolutely no payoff. This movie is like the theater has run out of popcorn when you try to claim your refill :(

There have been so many zombie movies made that I usually stop watching them after thirty minutes on streaming Netflix because many of them are the same basic story over and over again. Dead Within offered a new twist on the zombie genre without having to resort to either gore, or supposedly ironic humor. Zombie comedies were novel for a while, but the novelty soon wore off after you've seen a few of them. Dead Within was a psychological drama modeled on Polanski's Repulsion, and offered two good performances by the leads, good direction, good writing and improvisation by the two leads, and fine camera work. There's an official website for the movie that has a six part web prequel, a number of fake and real news articles about the CINS Virus, fake Twitter messages detailing the back story of the film, youtube messages by the 'Skull Monkey, and even a manga version. One clue to the plot that no one seemed to have noticed was when the female lead was playing the guitar for a brief scene- the guitar had no strings on it!