Review of film: “The REVENANT” [ = REPORT # 05 re CIFF ]

Review of film:  “The REVENANT”   [ =  REPORT # 05 re 45th CIFF = Chicago Int'l. Film Festival  ]

     –  There’s MORE than just “food for THOUGHT” here (unfortunately!)…

       Rating:  6.5 of 10 stars. 

Scheduled to show 10-10-09 @ 11:00 PM;  10-16 @ 10:45 PM;  & 10-17 @ 11:15 PM.

There’s a reason this has been set to always play LATE at nite:  The Festival brochure describes this as POSSIBLY being a “ZOMBIE buddy comedy with political overtones”.  Overall, a “comedy” it ISN’T, in my opinion;  the other descriptions DO fit, in part…

…   A soldier named Bart (DAVID ANDERS) is killed-- & suddenly leaves his grave as a talkative rotting Zombie-ish corpse (a “revenant”). He seeks out his foul-mouthed friend Joey (CHRIS WYLDE), who helps him discover how he can AVOID decomposing by joining the “VAMPIRE” persuasion. Mix in a group of odd elements (a Wiccan, a 1979 Camaro, typically clueless victims, etc.), & there’s your movie…

                                        

…  On the “educational” side, you learn that seemingly the only way you evade being a Vampire / Zombie is by having your HEAD totally cut off (as the old "stake-in-the-heart” remedy has proven “untrustworthy”)… 

…  There’s a SMALL number of really funny ideas, like “vigilante gunslingers” & he “didn’t get a reasonable diagnosis--”, & especially the use of a helpful DILDO at one point.  And, you can “unearth” a few humorous lines (i.e.,“Scientology can help him—”, and “She loves you, and you use her for FOOD!”)…

…  As I watched it, I wondered to myself, didn’t writer – director Kerry Prior have enough real friends that they’d point out to him that using an “F-bomb” or the like every 5 or so words does NOT make a really effective “script”?!...

…  Because that’s frequently what you get (especially from Chris’ character). The very end has a really CLEVER “political” overtone (regarding a possible good USE for “revenants”), the main characters are WELL acted (especially considering weaknesses of the script), & there’s probably a sizable public that’ll enjoy this effort.

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