Necromentia (2009)
Necromentia
-2009
Reviewer: Indy McDaniel
Rating: 8
Director: Pearry Reginald Teo
Writer: Stephanie Joyce
Cast: Layton Matthews, Chad Grimes, Santiago Craig, Zelieann Rivera, Cole Braxton
Run Time: 81 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Date Reviewed: March 18th, 2010
Plot: An off-world look at the superstitious repercussions of tattooing an Ouija Board on your body. Hagen, who has a dead wife, believes that he can revive her from the dead. Travis, a man who lost his brother and wants to join him in the after life. Morbius, a bartender who is betrayed by those he loves comes back from the dead to take revenge. And a strange man only known as Mr. Skinny protects the secrets of the Ouija Board and how the stories weave and affect each other.
Comments: Necromentia is like Hellraiser without the puzzle box. It’s probably one of the more demented horror stories NOT written by Clive Barker. It’s a series of three stories involving different main characters that wind up linking together to make a complete story arc. The fact that the stories are shown in reverse order keeps things pretty interesting. And the never-ending barrage of fucked up visuals keeps things plenty disturbing in the meantime.
The first segment involves what appears to be a distraught husband who seems to be having a little trouble with the whole ‘till death does you part’ aspect of his relationship. He lovingly bathes his dead significant other whilst whispering sweet nothings into her ear before dragging her out of the tub and onto a table where he does some less than wholesome things to her. He soon meets up with a pair of villainous guys who know what he’s been up to and claim to know a way to bring his dead lover back.
Things don’t go according to plan however and this leads into the second segment which is both the longest and filled with the most bat-shit insane plot elements. It follows the backstory of the apparent villain from the first segment. You quickly discover that he’s really not much of a villain at all. Despite being a heroin addict that tortures willing victims for money, he’s mostly just trying to take care of his handicapped younger brother. The younger brother enjoys watching a busted TV which occasionally spews forth creepy carnival music while his imaginary friend, Mr. Skinny (a half-naked obese man wearing a pig mask), does fucked up dances and sings (in a little girl’s voice) about committing suicide and things being shoved up his rectum. If for nothing else, Necromentia is worth watching for this middle segment alone.
The middle segment ends where the first segment began and then we travel further back in time as the third segment begins. We meet Morbius, a deaf bartender who seems to be a nice enough guy aside from the fact that he’s in love with a cheating bitch of a girl who wants nothing to do with him. Who’s she cheating on him with? Why, it’s the main character from the first segment! Things come full circle and even if the ending isn’t very climactic, it at least wraps up the story pretty nicely.
Technically speaking, the flick is well shot, well directed and well acted. There’s enough creepy ambiance without things getting too dark to see what the hell’s going on. The special effects, although looking a bit rubbery in a few parts, are well done and the monster effects look like a cross between Hellraiser and Silent Hill. The plot, while not being entirely original, injects enough awesome twists to keep things interesting and, unlike other ‘You’re going to hell!’ flicks, doesn’t get too religiously heavy handed to get annoying. On the contrary, Necromentia doesn’t really get very judgmental at all with its characters. If anything, it does the opposite, by transforming supposed ‘hero’ characters into ‘villains’ and vice versa numerous times throughout the movie. It basically says that there’s no such thing as true good and evil and, as one character says, “Does anyone really deserve to go to heaven?”
Overall: Awesomely demented flick. Unique and fucked up.
