Now available on DVD
Cast:
Edward Furlong as Adam
Lance Henriksen as Connor
Tiffany Shepis as Cassie
Alexandra Holden as Scarlett
Tony Todd as Detective Shields
Directed by Josh Eisenstadt
Review:
We have all had the experience. A movie gets a few positive notices, so when we sit down to watch it, our expectation is a little inflated. Then the actual viewing experience showcases something quite different. We begin to question ourselves because what we are seeing is so far removed from what has been pledged. Such is the case with Dark Reel, a preposterously moronic slasher.
A black and white prologue tells the story of an actress who goes to what she thinks is an audition (even though it is in the middle of the night) with some random man that approaches her in a bar. Needless to say she does not audition. He strangles her and posthumously severs her limbs. Cut to 53 years later.
Here Dark Reel‘s first major problem presents itself. The protagonist is Edward Furlong. Furlong has become the male Tara Reid. Once a star of decent Hollywood fare, he publicly fell from grace and found himself on the wrong side of the law. That led to a career in direct-to-DVD movies of questionable quality while appearing somewhat rough onscreen as well as off. The performances, well, they typically leave a lot to be desired.
Furlong plays a poor loser named Adam. After she dumped him Adam followed his former girlfriend from Virginia to Los Angeles. He is a horror buff going nowhere fast. His luck changes when he wins a walk on role in Connor Pritchett (Lance Henriksen) production. Pritchett produces the movies Adam loves, though for some inexplicable reason the movie currently filming is some sort of pirate adventure, not horror.
Adam’s luck hardly ends there. The flick’s leading lady is Cassie Blue (Tiffany Shepis). For reasons that totally defy logic even in a movie like this, Cassie immediately likes Adam. He doesn’t even have to work for it. He just shows up to the set, she looks at him, and two minutes later she’s inviting him to a bar. This despite looking like someone who just completed a week-long bender and has shown less than zero charisma.
Meanwhile, in between comically long stretches of talking, someone in a mask and blond wig begins killing people involved in the movie. Is this somehow related to Scarlett Ray? Adam and two of the least convincing detectives you will ever see are going to get to the bottom of it.
At 110 minutes, at least 15 minutes longer than it should be, Dark Reel moves at a snail’s pace. The killings are few and far between. After more than an hour there have been only two. To make matters worse they are mundane, mainly consisting of slit throats. A little creativity in the death department would have gone a long way.
There is an attempt to spice things up with strange humor. A sound guy screams “no reverb” and runs around giving high fives after every take. A British actor devours red onions wherever he goes. One of the detectives is a horror fanatic. One victim is beaten to death with his own arm. None of it really works though. It feels forced and awkward, making for jarring changes in tone.
Looking like it cost about fifty grand to make, Dark Reel is a chore to sit through. There is no sense of fun and everything feels a little off, as if no one in front of or behind the camera really knew what in the hell was going on. There are student films with more polish and confidence than this.
