There are horror movies that are chock full of jump scares
intended to make you leap from your seat, popcorn flying through the air as
others around you scream in unison. Those movies used to have that effect all
the time until the unending number of them were released, each featuring the
latest group of glamor models all placed in danger by some never ending stream
of maniac or revenge seeking individual.
What horror movies were missing are the more thoughtful type
of horror films, the ones that get under your skin and stick with you long
after watching them. These movies delve deeper into the cause of horror as
opposed to those jump scares. Don’t get me wrong, many combine the two and to
great effect. But these movies tend to be ones you’ll discuss later as opposed
to those teens in trouble CW styled horrors. THE DEAD CENTER is one of those
kinds of movies.
The film opens with a coroner called in to handle the victim
in an apparent suicide. He notes the condition of the body which is nearly zero
blood and several long, deep cuts to the forearms. He toe tags it and has it
transported to the freezer to be examined in depth later. And that’s when
things get weird as the body wakes and leaves the freezer to wander the halls
of the hospital.
Working in the mental ward of that hospital is Dr. Daniel
Forrester (Shane Carruth), a far too compassionate psychiatrists whose method
of compassion for his patients has led him to bend the rules once too often. It
is his halls that the suicide victim shows up, wounds healed and very much
alive, yet unresponsive to questions of identity. Knowing that the system will
not allow him to have a room, Forrester circumvents the system and admits him
knowing it will take some time to figure it all out.
From there we have a back and forth tale that unfolds.
Alongside that of Forrester and his patient John Doe (Jeremy Childs) is that of
the corner Dr. Graham. When the body disappears he begins looking into whatever
evidence he has on hand to determine who the body was and why it would be gone.
Searching the hotel room the body was found in he finds the knife that was used
to commit the suicide when he drains the tub filled with blood. He also finds a
circular pattern in the bottom of the tub as well.
Forrester begins using some unusual methods in an attempt to
reach John Doe, one of which is hypnosis. Doe has no clue who he is but
continues to rant on about bringing death to the world. Eventually Doe pleads
with Forrester to kill him before it’s too late.
After his first examination of Doe, Forrester leaves for the
night. During that evening one of the orderlies steps into the room and is
grabbed by the still ranting Doe. He walks out dazed and makes his way to his
car in the lot where he dies, his face distorted in a wide open mouth. Another
patient, an elderly woman with a penchant for leaving her room, is later killed
the same way.
Forrester knows that Doe has had something to do with these
deaths and yet he doesn’t turn him in. At the same time the search for the
missing body of Doe carries on with no one realizing he’s in the same building
his body disappeared from, a definite swipe at the inefficiency of
bureaucracies and the day to day machinations of a hospital system.
We know that these two threads will eventually come together
and we’ll discover just who and what John Doe is. And by the time that happens
the terror that runs through the story, that underlying feeling of dread that
it molds with each passing moment and incident, will find fruit in the seeds
that were planted. This will be a horror story that sticks with you rather than
makes you just jump.
Everything involved here from the story to the direction to
the acting combine to make a thoroughly entertaining and interesting film. It
grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go as it moves forward, providing bits
and pieces of information as it goes, never revealing everything and yet
concealing nothing at the same time. It’s an effective film and one worth
watching.
The film may not have been a huge blockbuster at theaters
but that hasn’t stopped Arrow from releasing it on disc with plenty of extras.
Those include a commentary track with writer/director Billy Senese, producer
Shane Carruth and co-star Jeremy Childs, a commentary track with Senese,
producers Denis Deck and Jonathan Rogers and cinematographer Andy Duensing, A
WALK THROUGH THE DEAD CENTER a making of documentary on the film, nine deleted
scenes from the film including an alternate ending, on-set interviews with
Carruth and Poorna Jagannathan, Head-casting with Childs looking at the
creation of a special effects make-up sequence, INTRUDER a short film from 2011
directed by Senese starring Childs, THE SUICIDE TAPES the original short film
from 2010 directed by Senese and starring Childs that was the basis for the
film, MIDNIGHT RADIO THEATER six chilling radio plays written, produced and
directed by Sense, the theatrical trailer and teasers, an image gallery, a
reversible sleeve with new and original artwork and for the first pressing only
an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jamie
Graham.
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