13 Nights of Halloween Horror part 14 - Prevenge

31 Nights of Halloween Horror - Night 23 - Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead

Mimesis
95 mins.
Dir. Douglas Schulze
USA/2011

Never heard of this one before, but it has a really interesting premise.  And if you are wondering what the word Mimesis means as I was?  Google defines it as -

• representation or imitation of the real world in art and literature.
• the deliberate imitation of the behavior of one group of people by another as a factor in social change.
• 
  

So with this unique take on a classic film, we start off at a horror convention where fan fave Sid Haig (who plays a different character in this movie, not himself) is giving a talk about life imitating art and does violence in movies cause violence in real life.  An age old conversation, but a set up for the premise of the film.  Our two attendees Russell (a genre fan) and Duane (a skeptic just in it for the chicks) are having lunch at a cafeteria or something where the convention is held and get invited to an after party at a farm by this goth girl.  Russell has to go to work tomorrow so he doesn't want to go, but Duane wants to hook up with the goth chick so he drags Russell along.  Once there, they as well as a few other attendees from the horror convention get drugged and wake up the next day in outfits identical to characters from the Romero film Night of the Living Dead.  

They find themselves in a scenario very much like the movie.  Duane who is the Ben character and Russell who is the Johnny character meet up with a blonde dressed as Barbara.  Johnny and Barbara head out and wind up at where....?  That's right the cemetery.  And what do they run into....?  Say it with me, a zombie.  On cue the zombie attacks Johnny and actually bites out a chunk of his throat, little updates here, there is gore and these zombies are playing for keeps.  Barbara runs back to the house gets Ben, Ben runs out and gets Johnny and they head back to the house that is now being surrounded by a few zombies.  Inside the house they run into Marilyn, Karl and Kyra in the basement and the Tom character comes into play.  The gang is all here like in the movie, in fact the actual Night of the Living Dead film is playing on a TV in the house.

So is this just another updated retelling of Night of the Living Dead in a modern setting?  Not really, there is a twist.  There are spoilers ahead if you feel you need to watch this blind, I'll see you tomorrow.  The zombies are actually a group of friends who kidnap people and put them in real life horror movie scenarios, because what is a better rush then actually living out your favorite horror films.  The violence is all real, the death is real.  The zombis are not, they are just guys in make up, but they wear steel teeth so they can actually bite you and rip your flesh.

So this actually sounds like an interesting premise doesn't it?  And maybe this could actually work as a series of films.  So what went wrong?  Ultimately the acting is very amateurish, but I can get past that.  The biggest problem and I am not sure how they managed this, but the movie is kind of boring.  It lingers too long in places killing the momentum.  The direction is a little choppy in that sometimes the zombie action is sped up then slowed down, not sure if it was meant to give a disorienting look, and some of the lighting and other effects were all over the place.  The film looked good, the effects were good.  The zombie make up was simple dark ringed pale skin make up, but then I guess it was supposed to be.  I feel like the movie was a good idea that could have been executed better and there in lies the biggest disappointment.  Want to try something new, give Mimesis a shot, don't expect a great movie, but watch it for a unique idea.