Mulberry Street

OK, this is strange. Low budget and renegade style film making are all well and good. I can respect that. In the independent scene this is very common. However I have to split from the pack after reading these reviews. There are some good concepts here, the rat thing just seems silly (reminds me of the creativity of the movie Bats?) but after you get past that there are some good concepts and scenes in here. There is development from some very interesting characters but then it just all falls apart. The film takes time getting to know certain characters only to basically throw them away in a whim. The story doesn't take you anywhere, sure there's a journey and you can make a movie simply off of that but you still want your audience walking away feeling something. Specifically what, is up to the creators but i walked away with nothing from this movie. The story simple doesn't leave you with anything. Not even a feeling of emptiness, that's something that artistically can be presented to you. This just leaves you thinking, "that's it?" The film isn't complete. It's as if the screenplay was only a rough copy and still in need of some rewrites to really flesh out the character development and exactly how we, the audience, should leave the characters when they each meet whatever ends they might meet.

I saw this at Tribeca Film Festival and had a great time. This is a great example of low budget film-making at its best. The first half hour establishes the protagonists, which are all a nice mix of "real" New Yorkers who are under threat of eviction. This is due to the major gentrification of the city, which is slowly causing it to lose its soul. Film deftly conveys how NYC is becoming a city just for the wealthy. A rat plague begins turning people into zombies. The film drags a bit and then picks up steam in the final half hour. There's one shot in the front seat of a car involving the reunion of two characters and the elimination of another. It's one of the best scenes I've see in a horror film in quite sometime. Filmmakers should be commended for not selling out on the bleakness of this apocalyptic post 9/11 gem.

In Manhattan, in a dilapidated building on Mulberry Street, the super Ross (Tim House) has trouble to repair the decayed systems to improve the lives of the tenants. The former boxer Clutch (Nick Damici) is a leader in the building and is anxiously waiting for the return of his beloved daughter Casey (Kim Blair) from a hospital for veterans after serving overseas. He prepares a surprising homecoming party for Casey with his gay neighbor Coco (Ron Brice). Clutch feels an attraction for her neighbor, the single mother and waitress Kay (Bo Corre), and her teenager son Otto (Javier Picayo) respects him like a father. Clutch is also close to Frank (Larry Medish), who is very sick, and his friend Charlie (Larry Fleischman). Meanwhile there is a rat attack in a subway station, followed by two others in different stations, and forcing the Major to showdown the public transport system. Sooner the victims bitten by rats turn into flesh eater mutants, attacking the other human beings and there is an outbreak that puts Manhattan in quarantine. The inhabitants have to fight to survive the attack of the ratlike creatures and Clutch gives his best effort trying to protect Casey and his friends. "Mulberry Street" is an effective low-budget horror movie that really works. The characters are human, realistic and very well developed, creating an empathy with the viewer; the plot is simple but explains the origin of the outbreak; and the attack of the horde of mutants is gruesome and claustrophobic, recalling 1968 "Night of the Living Dead" and "REC". There is no final redemption in the non-commercial end, and for me it is another plus in this good film. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Infecção em Nova York" ("Infection in New York")

This movie ended up being a lot more than I expected. I thought it was going to be another one of those zombie movies with three snobby girls and the one good looking jock, but it's far from that. One of the main things that puts this movie ahead in my opinion is that to me it's more about the people and the government's reaction more than anything else. The characters are normal people, living normal lives, and you really begin to like all of them. It's filmed in such a way that you start to feel like you're right in the midst of the terror, right next to them, and you can't take your eyes away. And the 'creatures.' They're terrifying. The idea of rat creatures at first doesn't seem that scary, but they do SO well with these. I'll never have a pet rat again, that's for sure. All in all, this is one of the best horror films I have ever seen. It is absolutely terrifying, and it really makes you think.

Okay I realize my title is silly, but this really is a terrific flick. Excellent characterization, fabulous script, good build-up of suspense, and really cool/creepy/gross creatures. Since the filmmakers had very little budget, they wisely don't show the creatures in much detail. This makes them all the more horrible and unnerving. Now, I was prepared to like this movie. I LOVE killer rat movies in all their forms, from the really wonderful Willard remake to the godawful but hysterical "Rodentz." But this went WAY beyond a killer rat movie, a zombie movie, a disaster movie, or even a horror movie. It's just flat a GOOD FILM. Go see it while you can!

New York City has a rat problem it seems. The little furry pests are crawling all over the place and you better hope they don't bite a chunk out of you because, when that happens, you start growing hair out of strange places and want to eat human flesh! "Mulberry Street" is an apocalypse movie which takes "28 Days Later" and filters it through a post 9-11 New York. It begins at a rundown tenement building on the titular street where we are introduced to several of those who live there including Clutch, a retired boxer, a bartender named Kay (living with her teenage son) and Coco who is Clutch's best friend. Meanwhile, Clutch's daughter Casey arrives in New York City after serving in the Middle East and begins making her way home. Unfortunately, there have been several reports of rats biting humans, a nasty virus spreading through the city and people suddenly turning on one another. This results in the subways being shut down and Casey is forced to make her way home on foot. Are all these events connected? You bet! "Mulberry Street" begins slowly with the horrors kept in the background. A feeling of dread infects the first third of the movie; dark figures shamble around alleyways as the characters walk past, a man sits silently in Kay's bar sweating and acting strangely, rats scurry around nearby gutters and televisions begin reporting strange events. I actually quite liked this - it was nice to watch a horror movie where the characters were developed, allowing the audience to get to know them before the city fell into Hell. There aren't any stereotypes either which makes a nice change. The characters in this movie probably do exist somewhere in Manhattan; enabling you to care about whether they'll survive or not. The movie was made for a very low budget and features a lot of shaky-cam, which is obviously used to hide some of the effects (although they were, in my opinion, pretty good - the rat people are appropriately gruesome and deformed) but it doesn't hurt the film. In addition, the visuals have a dark and very dirty look to them. For a movie which revolves around rats, this adds to the atmosphere and makes it appear more gritty and realistic. I really enjoyed "Mulberry Street". The acting was great all round, the storyline was interesting and it was nice to see a movie of this type that didn't use zombies for once! The squealing noises made by the rat people as they flood through corridors and streets was suitably disturbing. If you enjoyed "28 Days Later" or are a horror fan in general then you should certainly check out "Mulberry Street". Jim Mickel is definitely a director to watch out for in the future. If he can produce something this entertaining with such a low budget, who knows what he'll be capable of with more money?

Mulberry Street is a kind of strange movie. Basically its premise is the same as that of every zombie movie. You got a New York neighborhood plagued with rats and after being bitten some residents turn into rat people who pretty much act like zombies and infest the whole neighborhood. The budget was low, the FX were simple and so the director is obviously trying to hide the cheap creature FX with hectic camera moves which often remind of Blair Witch and the likes. Its hard to rate this movie... the FX are not important anyway since Mulberry Street doesn't rely on creature FX and gore and rather tries to create atmosphere like "28 days later". A lot of time is spent introducing the next door types in a house that seems to be soon torn down by an investor (signs saying "The neighborhood is changing" point to this and get a very cynical double meaning later). When the plague hits the inhabitants basically try to survive the night and the main character, a boxer hits the rat-zombies a lot like in "The stink of flesh", so no shooting here. There is some critical undertones like the bleak re-union of the boxer with his girlfriend who comes home from service in Iraq to just another mess. Regular TV news clips hint to media and government misinformation and a lot looks like conspiracy theories thrown in. The pacing of the movie is pretty slow, at times close to boring. But although the shaky camera tends to get annoying and many details just are shaken down Mulberry Street is in some way hypnotic with the calm music and blurry imagery. The budget obviously was minimal, so the director did a nice job after all. Anyway I think the ending is way off and after all the movie seems to lead nowhere which gave me a bad taste when the credits rolled. There is far worse movies around, but since Mulberry Sreet had me with its hypnotic vibe its too bad it lets you off the hook by not giving any meaning in the end... and there's sure plenty of hints to actual social problems given throughout the movie. Could have been so much better.

This film caught me by surprise. It is rare indeed to find well written characters in films today and much less so in horror films. These characters were incredibly well written and it is their relationships that bring so much power to the film. The film brings the grittiness and fear that made the original Night of the Living Dead a classic and added the intensity and ferocity of 28 Days Later. Now add well written characters to that recipe! The movie takes its time to unfold as you get to know the characters and slowly learn about the mayhem that is beginning to unfold in New York. The film aptly captures that gradual realization as the news stories begin to unfold in a crisis. It takes you from the who cares, the what the heck, and the OMG! As the city falls apart. Confession: I have never cried in a horror movie before and by the end I was bawling. And I wasn't the only one in the theater. When the lights came on, people were looking around and caught the others who were moved by it all. Reading about the other film written by Michael Damici (Fast Horses) there seems to be a theme of the unspoken love between men in his work. If that freaks you out, then you won't like the movie much. Otherwise, catch this film!

This is a story idea that could've gone very wrong. I was pleasantly surprised by how well this film was done. It was very Indie-looking from the beginning, with gritty film stock and no-name actors, but after worrying for the first few minutes that this could mean "cheesy", I realized that the film felt authentic instead. I was made to feel a part of the community of Mulberry Street, so when things start to go wrong, I felt as anxious as the characters. I like films that make me forget that I am watching a film. I like it when I get lost in the world I am watching, no matter how fantastical the situation may be. The writers / director kept a story very grounded in "reality", that could've been silly or unbelievable. They didn't over-explain or show too much of the horror / gore of it all. I think the best horror stories are the ones where the audience feels as though they are secretly peeping into other peoples' worlds. We get to sit in our comfy chairs and watch their safe little lives fall apart in a horrific and disturbing way. This film pushes it just far enough without breaking that line where "suspension of disbelief" becomes "that would NEVER happen". If you like all things horror, old school style, I think you will like this film. It is clearly made by people who love the genre and care a great deal for the underground art of move-making. I hope to see more from these writers and director. They have a new fan.

The Afterdark Horrorfests are some of the best B-movies I have ever seen. It has it's crappers like The Hamiltons and Nightmare Man, but they make up for it with surprisingly wonderful and underrated movies like Mulberry Street. This is yet another great movie in the Afterdark Horrorfest 8 Films To Die For series, and would say probably in my top 5 favorite out of all of them. It was really well executed for a B-movie, like Borderland and most all the Afterdark Horrorfest films are, and I could not help but be so sucked into the story plot and suspense. It may have been just a little retarded, funny even, and they left some things unexplained, but hey, I was expecting less, and got a lot. It was entertaining with nice characters and a good use of violence. Most of all the movies in the Afterdark Horrorfest films are great and very under-appreciated, and I hope for these movies to be more recognized than what they already are, which is not recognized hardly at all, because they are some really spectacular movies, and I am looking forward to the next set that comes out.