Sci-fi horror film Big Brood is something I covered in my news round-up for August, and which I have now had the pleasure of checking out for a review. Directed and co-written by Matthew A. Peters (Empire State of the Dead segment 'Blessed are the Meek', Brackish), this indie horror sometimes felt like it struggled a bit to bring its vision to the screen, but made up for it by being entertaining throughout.
Adam (Lucas DeNies) and his girlfriend Allie (Veronica Rozler) have gone away to her family's holiday home in the woods for a weekend break. It is here that Adam intends to propose to Allie, but first he plans to attempt to get permission from her intimidating father, Mitchell (Patrick Regan - Brackish), a man who detests the boy due to perceiving him as weak. Unknown to them all, the night before, a U.F.O crashed in nearby woodland, the alien on board (Hillary Schmatolla-Brooks) has the ability to turn her victims into mindless drones who carry out her will. Two campers who have been turned by the alien now set their sights on the holiday home, with the aim to find a new vessel for the dying alien to inhabit.
I wasn't immediately taken with Big Brood, I thought the prologue featuring the two campers felt a bit underwhelming. Thankfully as soon as the core cast are introduced my feelings quickly changed. I often lament the time it can take horror films to get to the horror part, and here, with the horror not really properly beginning in earnest till around the forty five minute mark I was surprised to see that wasn't an issue. I thought the characters were an interesting bunch, I remember thinking that even if there wasn't any horror at all, I would have enjoyed watching this. The characters are certainly not all likeable, but Adam, Allie, and laid back stoner Ty (Joe Cappelli - A Quiet Place Part II uncredited, Brackish) in particular certainly were. Even the less innocent characters fitted into the often comedic vibe Big Brood carries with it, with Mitchell's unfaithful wife Marilyn (Jennie Russo - She Kills, Empire State of the Dead) and even the obnoxious Brent (Donovan Gale) still being entertaining to watch despite their flaws. I think it was Agent Owens (Stephanie Ward) who had the most fun role, she turns up midway into the movie with all the answers for what is going on, Ward's eccentric performance made her a joy to watch, and she gets a few action scenes that were neat. Special mention goes to the two park rangers (played by Mark Joseph Peek and Michael John Gilbert), these characters played their roles purely for laughs, and they succeeded thanks to them working well off of each other.
So, this has a bit of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe to it, with the main threat the characters face being the drones, rather than the alien herself. Effects were minimal, but still effective, and the infected either giggling creepily, or being dead serious was entertaining. The infection scenes involved lots of black jelly like (black honey like?) goop that is vomited onto victims, I could never quite figure out if I thought these scenes look good or not but they did the job. Elsewhere gunshots and stabbings are all blood and impact free, which did lessen these moments somewhat, with the exception of one cool looking effect near the film's conclusion.
It is testament to the casting and script that I found myself not wanting anything bad to happen to many of the characters, all the way to the end credits I was hoping things would all turn out ok. Big Brood plays to the strengths of its budget, creating a compelling film world and telling its story in an engaging way. Big Brood is due to be released on Blu-ray on October 13th from Mad Angel Films.
SCORE:
No comments:
Post a Comment