Thursday, August 28, 2008

Mulberry St.

In the past few months, its become something of a ritual for my roommate and I, as well as a few friends, to head down to either The Movie Fan or Family Video and rent a couple of horror films. I'm not a huge fan of horror movies, not because they scare me, but because they never scare me, and since that's what they all try to do, I usually end up bored. However, I'll watch anything, so I don't complain.

Last night we rented "Mulberry Street", and independent horror film that was part of the "8 Films to Die For" film festival.

Unfortunately, only a few days ago, we watched "28 Days Later", Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic zombie horror film about "rage zombies", who are different than regular zombies in that they are fast moving beings, as opposed to the usual slow suffling variety seen in films like "Night of the Living Dead".

The main problem with Mulberry Street is that its completley derivative of 28 Days Later. It's essentially the same basic plot, a human is infected by a virus carried by an animal, that turns them into a rage filled killer zombie who goes around infecting everyone until there are only a few survivors left. However, thier is one difference, the virus comes from rats, and the infection turns those who are infected into some sort of giant, man/rat hybrid.

So essentially, what the film boils down to is a version of 28 Days Later, with a really bad script, actors who clearly don't care about what they're doing, and a bunch of extremely silly looking rat-people. Its full of a lot of dumb camera and editing tricks that range from crappy knock offs of the 28 Days Later frenetic edition style, to wierd fades and camera movements that are clearly only there to try and hide the fact that this film was made for next to no money.

Metacritic Quote Incoming:

If you're looking for a good time, don't go driving down Mulberry Street.

ZING!