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Friday, October 04, 2013

On 7eventy 5ive (Dead Tone) - A Review

Dead Tone showed up on Frightpix as a feature movie and I liked the description, so I figured I'd check it out. It starts off with a pretty good scene in which a bunch of young kids are prank-calling people at random until they accidentally call The Wrong Fucking Guy.

Then this guy just fucking explodes across the screen, killing literally everything in his path. And when I say he explodes across it and kills things, I mean he fucking kills things! Creative Kills and smart-ass quips are left for larger franchises and their cartoonish murder-freaks; this dude is about maximum carnage and his kills are just plain brutal as shit.

So, naturally, I was enrapt.

As 7eventy 5ive continues on, several of the characters prove to be nigh insufferable but even those you like tend to have their little quirks that make them not so likeable -- in all the right ways. Dead Tone strives to establish believable characters who strike a balance between being heroes, anti-heroes, and just plain assholes. In other words, the group of friends are very much like the group of friends with whom you grew up. It's only a small part of the movie but I found it very effective.

Once the killing spree begins... again, the killer in this flick just fucking murders the living shit out of people! It is so awesome! I actually looked away at one point and I haven't done that to basically any horror movie made after about 1984 or '85! Of course, I don't mean to glorify murder or killing sprees or murderous insane people on killing sprees but God DAMN! It was like watching Miley Cyrus at the VMAs: equal parts awesome and uncomfortable in that sense that, like, just a few years ago, she was Hannah Montana. Not unlike the yard in Stephen King's Rage, the killer in Dead Tone does not fuck around.

It was cathartic to see an on-screen Mad Slasher who inspired actual fear in the audience.

Also of note is the way in which the movie handles diversity and race relations. The group itself is a mix of black and white people, and a gay Latino, who are not racially or sexually compromised by their association. The movie portrays their individual differences - the differences in racial/sexual values and mores - without making them all bland and off-white. It also includes a (non-explicit) gay love scene.

The ending is also a boon, as it does something too few horror movies dare to while simultaneously embracing a staple of the genre.

The only real criticism I have with the flick is that Rutger Hauer "stars" in it far too little.

Highly suggested.

© C Harris Lynn, 2013

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