Days of Horror: Reeker
Jan. 15th, 2008 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiReeker. 2005. Written and directed by David Payne. Released by Primal Pictures and Showtime Entertainment.
Let's get the obvious question out of the way: What the hell were the writer-director, distributors, and producers thinking when they named Reeker? I mean, you're already releasing a film directly to video, and the biggest names in the cast are Michael Ironside and Eric Mabius* in supporting roles. Throw in the fact that you're covering the same ground as at least two spellbindingly awful films that recently got wide theatrical releases, and you're just begging for a bunch of "this film reeks" reviews.
What's amazing, however, is that Reeker actually fails to live up (down?) to its name. It's certainly not a masterpiece, but as films in the "hey, all the characters are already dead or dying, and this is all in their heads" sub-sub-genre goes, it's a good sight better than Dead End or Soul Survivors**.
We get a hell of a good teaser before the story itself begins. A family is driving along a road in the Southwest when suddenly, and without warning, there is a deer in the middle of the road***. They smack into it, and it turns out to be one of those trick balloon deers filled entirely with blood****, covering the windshield completely and forcing the family to pull over. The dad wanders off into the tall grass chasing down the family dog while the son waits in the car. Soon, we see the father come backing out, and his son's happy face at seeing has dad again quickly turns to horror; the mother, who has found the dog injured, turns around to see that half her husband’s face is missing! As she screams, we see something pull dad’s body under the car, and we fade to the actual movie.
We start, as these things sometimes do, with a drug dealer and a moron. The drug dealer is played by Mabius, the moron by that annoying guy who played Chris on City Guys*****. In case you weren't sure if we're supposed to hate the idiot, his name is (wait for it) Trip. Yes, the drug user is named Trip. While the dealer leaves the room, Trip steals an entire bag full of Ecstasy. Because, you know, there's no way that the drug dealer will ever figure out what happened, right?
Trip meets up with four other college students, all of whom met online and agreed to rideshare their way to a rave (as sure a way to die as any in horror flicks, as fans of Freddy vs Jason or Return of the Living Dead 5 would tell you, if either movie had any fans). Since most of them don’t know each other, this is a great opportunity for them to introduce themselves and, coincidentally, let us know which stereotypes they match. We get the "hot but slutty blonde chick"; the obnoxious guy who will end up banging that girl before the end of the first reel; the cute and tough Final Girl named Gretchen; and Jack, the blind guy. Okay, that last one (played by My So Called Life's Devon Gummersall) is a little different, and the first sign that we're not dealing with a completely typical horror flick.
The next few scenes are filled with the expected stuff. The five kids find that they argue more than they get along. They have nothing in common. The drug thief gets a phone call from the dealer, who explains this nifty new technology called webcams that allows him to see what happens when he leaves a room. Threats are made. Eventually, the others find out about the drugs, and more threats are made. Then, after passing through an area in which no one can get any cell phone coverage, things get really weird.
The group ends up at an abandoned motel, where they randomly encounter Michael Ironside (driving an old RV) and Eric Mabius again, and find things like half-dead bodies in Dumpsters, dead deers in lobbies, and cryptic messages in nightstands. It’s pretty much the same stuff you’ll find at some of the skeevier Motel 6 locations, but with better special effects. Also, the dead bodies and blood at least occasionally disappear, even though haunted inns usually have fewer folks on staff than a Motel 6.
Along with the weirdness, we get the titular villain, a towering, hooded creature who A) is really, really fast; B) smells to high heaven; and C) has a pair of Black and Decker Combo Killing Kits for hands. Each one offers a variety of weapons, including jagged pieces of metal, spinning pieces of metal, and the gynecological tools from Dead Ringers, any of which can be snapped in at a moment’s notice to allow the monster easy access to whatever killing method he chooses. The killer dispatches Ironside (by inducing a heart attack) the slutty blonde chick (by offing her on the toilet)*******, and the obnoxious guy (by chasing him through a window, where the victim slices his throat open) before the others realize how much trouble they’re in.
The three survivors confront the villain, with Trip losing his arm in the first confrontation and his life in the second. Eventually, Jack and Gretchen hold off the Reeker in the RV, using Jack’s superior sense of smell******** to detect the monster before it speeds into range. As dawn approaches, the heroes look to be in the clear (although Jack has been slightly lobotomized in the process), butall of a sudden and completely unexpectedly (unless you’ve been paying at least a wee bit of attention for the first hour and a half), we cut to daylight. See, in the real world, Michael Ironside's character had a heart attack while driving his RV, and it plowed into the car with the kids in it. All of them then spent time in limbo, with all sorts of convenient clues (like a Bible that has “this is not real” scrawled in it, or a motel called the Halfway Motel) tipping off the audience that something was amiss. Each victim, of course, ended up taking the same damage from the Reeker that they took in real life. The only survivors of the accident, of course, turn out to be Gretchen and Jack.
On paper, Reeker certainly doesn’t sound any better than the other films that have covered the well-worn “everyone’s already dead” path. There are certainly plot holes throughout, and there's nothing new in terms of the twist itself. But writer/director David Payne — whose previous works, like Alien Terminator, Alien Avengers II, and Addams Family Reunion, certainly showed no indication of much talent — somehow pulls things together nicely, pacing things slowly enough to let the characters (unlikable as most of them are) dominate the first half of the movie, and leaking enough clues throughout that the ending is less a predictable and cliched twist than a necessary conclusion. The cast — which also includes Dean's annoying wife from Gilmore Girls as the bimbo and the guy who played Josh in Hostel as the obnoxious guy — is solid, never camping things up and generally remaining believable. We get some surprisingly funny bits (including a gag revolving around a flare gun), and some decent suspense, which is more than I'd expected when I sat down to watch this movie.
Reeker doesn’t bring anything completely new to the table, but like Dead Mary, it’s a recent direct-to-video DVD that’s far more enjoyable than the majority of the horror films getting released in theatres.
*And since this was filmed before Ugly Betty, he was hardly a big name, in spite of how much fun he was in Resident Evil or how awful he was as Yet Another Fucking Crow.
**Then again, five monkeys flinging poo for ninety minutes is better than Soul Survivors. It’s also how Soul Survivors was written.
***Right after the boy, playing “I Spy,” says that he spies something beginning with the letter D. If he’s spied something beginning with “Q,” they might have run over Q-Bert.
****That, or the f/x guys have no idea how vehicular trauma works.
*****Really, who the fuck thought that TNBC****** was a good idea?
******For those who don’t remember, TNBC was NBC’s attempt at a live-action Saturday morning block of shows in the ‘90s. Highlights included Saved by the Bell: The New Class, reality show Sk8, and basketball sitcom Hang Time, the reason that K-Ville isn’t the worst TV show Anthony Anderson’s been involved with. If you've never heard of any of these shows, it's because you were watching Animaniacs at the time. Good for you.
*******Which means that she joins that Katt Shea Ruben in Psycho 3, the younger of the bounties in Unforgiven, Ada Wong in Deep Rising, that bum in Street Trash, and the lawyer in Jurassic Park in that least dignified of on-screen deaths.
********You just know that the producers want to cash in on a “Daredevil versus Reeker” spin-off. Hell, for all I know, one of the unintended consequences of One More Day is that the Reeker is now a part of the Marvel Universe.
Let's get the obvious question out of the way: What the hell were the writer-director, distributors, and producers thinking when they named Reeker? I mean, you're already releasing a film directly to video, and the biggest names in the cast are Michael Ironside and Eric Mabius* in supporting roles. Throw in the fact that you're covering the same ground as at least two spellbindingly awful films that recently got wide theatrical releases, and you're just begging for a bunch of "this film reeks" reviews.
What's amazing, however, is that Reeker actually fails to live up (down?) to its name. It's certainly not a masterpiece, but as films in the "hey, all the characters are already dead or dying, and this is all in their heads" sub-sub-genre goes, it's a good sight better than Dead End or Soul Survivors**.
We get a hell of a good teaser before the story itself begins. A family is driving along a road in the Southwest when suddenly, and without warning, there is a deer in the middle of the road***. They smack into it, and it turns out to be one of those trick balloon deers filled entirely with blood****, covering the windshield completely and forcing the family to pull over. The dad wanders off into the tall grass chasing down the family dog while the son waits in the car. Soon, we see the father come backing out, and his son's happy face at seeing has dad again quickly turns to horror; the mother, who has found the dog injured, turns around to see that half her husband’s face is missing! As she screams, we see something pull dad’s body under the car, and we fade to the actual movie.
We start, as these things sometimes do, with a drug dealer and a moron. The drug dealer is played by Mabius, the moron by that annoying guy who played Chris on City Guys*****. In case you weren't sure if we're supposed to hate the idiot, his name is (wait for it) Trip. Yes, the drug user is named Trip. While the dealer leaves the room, Trip steals an entire bag full of Ecstasy. Because, you know, there's no way that the drug dealer will ever figure out what happened, right?
Trip meets up with four other college students, all of whom met online and agreed to rideshare their way to a rave (as sure a way to die as any in horror flicks, as fans of Freddy vs Jason or Return of the Living Dead 5 would tell you, if either movie had any fans). Since most of them don’t know each other, this is a great opportunity for them to introduce themselves and, coincidentally, let us know which stereotypes they match. We get the "hot but slutty blonde chick"; the obnoxious guy who will end up banging that girl before the end of the first reel; the cute and tough Final Girl named Gretchen; and Jack, the blind guy. Okay, that last one (played by My So Called Life's Devon Gummersall) is a little different, and the first sign that we're not dealing with a completely typical horror flick.
The next few scenes are filled with the expected stuff. The five kids find that they argue more than they get along. They have nothing in common. The drug thief gets a phone call from the dealer, who explains this nifty new technology called webcams that allows him to see what happens when he leaves a room. Threats are made. Eventually, the others find out about the drugs, and more threats are made. Then, after passing through an area in which no one can get any cell phone coverage, things get really weird.
The group ends up at an abandoned motel, where they randomly encounter Michael Ironside (driving an old RV) and Eric Mabius again, and find things like half-dead bodies in Dumpsters, dead deers in lobbies, and cryptic messages in nightstands. It’s pretty much the same stuff you’ll find at some of the skeevier Motel 6 locations, but with better special effects. Also, the dead bodies and blood at least occasionally disappear, even though haunted inns usually have fewer folks on staff than a Motel 6.
Along with the weirdness, we get the titular villain, a towering, hooded creature who A) is really, really fast; B) smells to high heaven; and C) has a pair of Black and Decker Combo Killing Kits for hands. Each one offers a variety of weapons, including jagged pieces of metal, spinning pieces of metal, and the gynecological tools from Dead Ringers, any of which can be snapped in at a moment’s notice to allow the monster easy access to whatever killing method he chooses. The killer dispatches Ironside (by inducing a heart attack) the slutty blonde chick (by offing her on the toilet)*******, and the obnoxious guy (by chasing him through a window, where the victim slices his throat open) before the others realize how much trouble they’re in.
The three survivors confront the villain, with Trip losing his arm in the first confrontation and his life in the second. Eventually, Jack and Gretchen hold off the Reeker in the RV, using Jack’s superior sense of smell******** to detect the monster before it speeds into range. As dawn approaches, the heroes look to be in the clear (although Jack has been slightly lobotomized in the process), butall of a sudden and completely unexpectedly (unless you’ve been paying at least a wee bit of attention for the first hour and a half), we cut to daylight. See, in the real world, Michael Ironside's character had a heart attack while driving his RV, and it plowed into the car with the kids in it. All of them then spent time in limbo, with all sorts of convenient clues (like a Bible that has “this is not real” scrawled in it, or a motel called the Halfway Motel) tipping off the audience that something was amiss. Each victim, of course, ended up taking the same damage from the Reeker that they took in real life. The only survivors of the accident, of course, turn out to be Gretchen and Jack.
On paper, Reeker certainly doesn’t sound any better than the other films that have covered the well-worn “everyone’s already dead” path. There are certainly plot holes throughout, and there's nothing new in terms of the twist itself. But writer/director David Payne — whose previous works, like Alien Terminator, Alien Avengers II, and Addams Family Reunion, certainly showed no indication of much talent — somehow pulls things together nicely, pacing things slowly enough to let the characters (unlikable as most of them are) dominate the first half of the movie, and leaking enough clues throughout that the ending is less a predictable and cliched twist than a necessary conclusion. The cast — which also includes Dean's annoying wife from Gilmore Girls as the bimbo and the guy who played Josh in Hostel as the obnoxious guy — is solid, never camping things up and generally remaining believable. We get some surprisingly funny bits (including a gag revolving around a flare gun), and some decent suspense, which is more than I'd expected when I sat down to watch this movie.
Reeker doesn’t bring anything completely new to the table, but like Dead Mary, it’s a recent direct-to-video DVD that’s far more enjoyable than the majority of the horror films getting released in theatres.
*And since this was filmed before Ugly Betty, he was hardly a big name, in spite of how much fun he was in Resident Evil or how awful he was as Yet Another Fucking Crow.
**Then again, five monkeys flinging poo for ninety minutes is better than Soul Survivors. It’s also how Soul Survivors was written.
***Right after the boy, playing “I Spy,” says that he spies something beginning with the letter D. If he’s spied something beginning with “Q,” they might have run over Q-Bert.
****That, or the f/x guys have no idea how vehicular trauma works.
*****Really, who the fuck thought that TNBC****** was a good idea?
******For those who don’t remember, TNBC was NBC’s attempt at a live-action Saturday morning block of shows in the ‘90s. Highlights included Saved by the Bell: The New Class, reality show Sk8, and basketball sitcom Hang Time, the reason that K-Ville isn’t the worst TV show Anthony Anderson’s been involved with. If you've never heard of any of these shows, it's because you were watching Animaniacs at the time. Good for you.
*******Which means that she joins that Katt Shea Ruben in Psycho 3, the younger of the bounties in Unforgiven, Ada Wong in Deep Rising, that bum in Street Trash, and the lawyer in Jurassic Park in that least dignified of on-screen deaths.
********You just know that the producers want to cash in on a “Daredevil versus Reeker” spin-off. Hell, for all I know, one of the unintended consequences of One More Day is that the Reeker is now a part of the Marvel Universe.
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