Search the Cinema Head Cheese Archives!

July 12, 2014

Movie Review: Rigor Mortis (Blu-ray)

Reviewed By: Jimmy D.

Rigor Mortis is a film going into it I have to admit I was really hyped up. I read all the glowing reviews and some of my blogging buddies went on and on about how this film is going to change the vampire genre. First time director Juno Mak has very high expectations with this film and he really works hard to create something unique but I just feel this film I was really expecting it to be better than it was. The actors for the most did a very good job, and the CGI stuff was really effective as well, but this film really had some bad pacing issues and it really takes its sweet time to really get going.

The mood of this film is dreary and depressing, which I felt for the most part was fairly effective at getting the message out, but I would have loved for this film to maybe interject something of a comic or light element, because as the film goes on it just seems that this film really was far more serious than fun. The film opens with an actor who tells us his career has went downhill and he is wondering how he is left in this shit. His wife has left him, took his son with her and now he is depressed. He moves into this rundown hotel and he hangs himself. The problem is while he is hanging he starts to see ghostly images, and before he breathes his last breath a man comes in and cuts the rope saving him. This near-death experience has made him a portal to two sisters who are ghosts to enter his body.


We learn as this film drags on slowly that the man who saved his life owns a eating place attached to this building. He is an ex-vampire hunter and with the help of a local priest he is also a person who practices black magic. As the film goes on we watch as the guy gets the sisters from his body and as another resident is killed, his wife wants them to bring him back to life in doing so, as you can guess we create a vampire. This film is a victim of its own cleverness, the film at the end really tries to give us a smart ending but it was way too confusing and for a film like this very unnecessary. This film I feel should have been trimmed maybe 20 minutes and really add to the horror element.

With a film like Rigor Mortis there will be plenty of people who will go on and on about how this is such a well shot film, which I am not going to debate, it is a beautifully shot film. The story is my issue, there is really not too much back-story and the plot and story just go so slow, that by the half hour mark we really feel that this story really needed better editing and at least something thrown in there to keep our interest beside the 4 minute suicide attempt that really needed more depth and backstory to even make us feel for the former actor. Rigor Mortis is a film going into it I have to admit I was really hyped up. I read all the glowing reviews and some of my blogging buddies went on and on about how this film is going to change the vampire genre. First time director Juno Mak has very high expectations with this film and he really works hard to create something unique but I just feel this film I was really expecting it to be better than it was. The actors for the most did a very good job, and the CGI stuff was really effective as well, but this film really had some bad pacing issues and it really takes its sweet time to really get going.

The mood of this film is dreary and depressing, which I felt for the most part was fairly effective at getting the message out, but I would have loved for this film to maybe interject something of a comic or light element, because as the film goes on it just seems that this film really was far more serious than fun. The film opens with an actor who tells us his career has went downhill and he is wondering how he is left in this shit. His wife has left him, took his son with her and now he is depressed. He moves into this rundown hotel and he hangs himself. The problem is while he is hanging he starts to see ghostly images, and before he breathes his last breath a man comes in and cuts the rope saving him. This near-death experience has made him a portal to two sisters who are ghosts to enter his body. We learn as this film drags on slowly that the man who saved his life owns a eating place attached to this building. He is an ex-vampire hunter and with the help of a local priest he is also a person who practices black magic. As the film goes on we watch as the guy gets the sisters from his body and as another resident is killed, his wife wants them to bring him back to life in doing so, as you can guess we create a vampire. This film is a victim of its own cleverness, the film at the end really tries to give us a smart ending but it was way too confusing and for a film like this very unnecessary. This film I feel should have been trimmed maybe 20 minutes and really add to the horror element.

With a film like Rigor Mortis there will be plenty of people who will go on and on about how this is such a well shot film, which I am not going to debate, it is a beautifully shot film. The story is my issue, there is really not too much back-story and the plot and story just go so slow, that by the half hour mark we really feel that this story really needed better editing and at least something thrown in there to keep our interest beside the 4 minute suicide attempt that really needed more depth and back-story to even make us feel for the former actor. This is maybe at best, a cheap rental at the Redbox or if it is streaming on Netflix. This film to me was a letdown, but it had some scenes and signs of promise, just not enough.

This is maybe at best, a cheap rental at the Redbox or if it is streaming on Netflix. This film to me was a letdown, but it had some scenes and signs of promise, just not enough.


No comments:

Post a Comment