With the appearance of THE WALKING DEAD some years back now
zombie films became the big thing for a while. Zombie films were popping up as
fast as, well, zombies in a zombie movie. While that’s good on one hand for
fans of the genre it’s bad as well. The genre became stale and predictable. So
when something different comes along its worth making note of it. DEADSIGHT is
that something new.
The film opens through the blurred vision of some inside an
ambulance who then passes out. When he wakes, there’s no one around him. Still
not quite able to see he discovers he’s handcuffed to the gurney. He finds a
bottle of eye drops in his pocket and puts some in which helps a small bit.
Still somewhat blind he replaces his bandages and tries to find out what
happened.
Once outside it isn’t long before one of the ambulance
attendees attacks him, growling while doing so. Ben (Adam Seybold), as we learn
later is his name, defends himself but soon the other attendant is upon him. A
truck coming by with an armed man in the back shoots hitting the attendant and
saving Ben’s life but doesn’t stop.
While this is going on police officer Mara Madigan (Liv
Collins) wakes up and gets ready for work. Obviously pregnant she dresses and
heads out. She had heard Ben calling for help on the ambulance radio and heads
his direction to find out what was going on. When she gets nearby a woman in
the road stops her. Obviously in the midst of changing she steals Mara’s car
and takes off down the road leaving Mara on foot.
Through determination and sheer luck Ben has made his way to
a farmhouse, attacked once more outside. He takes down this zombie and begins
to explore the house, counting off steps as he goes. Attacked once again it
seems like the end for Ben when Mara shows up and shoots the zombie. Assessing
the situation the pair decide to work together and make their way back to the
ambulance. When it becomes apparent they can’t make it with Mara guiding Ben,
she heads out on her own.
The predicaments that this pair come up against with Mara’s
being pregnant and Ben being blind are what make this movie a bit different
than most. This twist works well within the confines of the zombie genre and
brings something new to the table. There’s little change in the zombies but the
only options are fast of slow. In this film they’re both for some reason,
perhaps due to the time of death. We also get an explanation for the outbreak
for once, a variation of a flu shot that went bad.
The one thing that could ruin a movie like this is placing
the roles of Ben and Mara in the hands of bad actors. While I’ve not heard of
much by either Seybold or Collins both do a great job here. They play the roles
as believable rather than ridiculing the characters. They also don’t overact, a
problem found in many low budget films being made in the horror genre. And yes,
this is a low budget film.
But that doesn’t stop it from being entertaining and
interesting. In fact the low budget might actually be a plus here. The film
works well in the rural setting (perhaps a tribute to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD,
which can also be seen when someone is killed in a cemetery by hitting their
head on the corner base of a tombstone), much better than it would have in an
urban one. The pregnancy, while not the first seen in a zombie flick (the
remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD) it plays well here as Mara is the only one who can
see.
I’ve seen some review take the movie to task for issues that
stem from the budget and I think that’s a bit unfair. For me I was interested
throughout the movie never feeling that urge to press the fast forward button
to get to the good parts. The combination of interesting story and solid acting
made it worth watching and a film I would recommend to those who enjoy a good
horror film with something new to offer.
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