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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Michael Staininger
Wes Bentley (P2)
Kaitlin Doubleday (Waiting...)
Sofya Skya
Michael Madsen (Kill Bill Vol 1)
Supplied By : Phase 4 Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : July. 20, 2010
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| PLOT Successful writer and scholar, Jonathan Merrick, falls under the spell of the irresistible, bewitchingly beautiful, Ligeia. She's fighting a fatal illness and she will stop at nothing to defeat death, her one true enemy. She steals other people's souls and on her quest to immortality she tricks Jonathan into supporting her work, breaking him apart from his fiancé and pulling him into her dark, mysterious world. They settle down in an old manor by the Black Sea where Ligeia's everlasting presence slowly drives Jonathan to madness. |
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| THE REVIEW In THE TOMB, Jonathon Merrick is a Literary Professor that is in a great relationship with his girlfriend Rowena. Jonathon goes on lecture tours from campus to campus, which might not seem weird, but one thing about them is, they have all been attended by a Russian woman, dressed in black. The woman by the name of Ligeia seems to be obsessed with Merrick which causes him to raise question, and with good reason Ligeria is is a strange one as we'd later see as she has a strange habit for abducting people, only to steal their souls later, in hopes of successful curing the illness that is slowly killing her. With he sights on Jonathan, could the Literary scholar be the next victim on her growing list? Based on Edgar Allen Poe's LIGEIA, THE TOMB (written by famous Cyberpunk Author, John Shirley) is a film that is an attempt to modernize to old short story from the renowned poet. THE TOMB tells a story that evolves black magic and one's use of it for a means of evil and deception. The film gets off to a good start as we are introduced to College Literary Professor Jonathon Merrick and his bright eyed girlfriend Rowena The film retains a good level of mystery for about the first 30 minutes or so, we are introduced to the dark and mysterious Ligeia, as she follows Jonathan on yet another speaking tour, and it's not until a few moments later that we her her again. We find her is the morgue room of the school where a big henchman of sorts has just brought in a victim. The victim is a junkie so it's apparent, that for whatever she is doing, she preys on people who are weak, and sadly won't be forgotten. But it's not until she attaches a strange device to the victims forehead, that we truly begin to wonder what the exotic Russian is up to. Soon, however it's clear that the device is some sort of tool for sucking out people's souls - almost like a human vacuum. After she claims a few more victims, Ligeia moves on to her most important target, which is Jonathon, the man she has been seemingly infatuated with for quite sometime. From here on out, minus some supernatural play, THE TOMB plays out as your typical "woman scorned type of thing, Ligeia wants Jonathon, and nothing will get in the way of getting her man, even if that means killing Jonathon's friend, the school chancellor, and stealing him away from Rowena. It's typical, and predictable, but fun as Ligeia begins mind controlling Jonathon, turning the once straight-laced professor, into someone who is almost the complete opposite of himself. After Ligeia successfully brainwashes Jonathan and marries him, the setting of the movie movies to Romania, and the castle in which Ligeia grew up. It is here when the film takes a more less serious turn, as there are even more jump cut, speed ups and etc. and the focus on the spirits and possession becomes more of a prominent thing. Since we know that Ligeia suffers from an illness from the beginning, we can't help but wonder what on earth she plans on doing with all of these souls she keeps in special canisters, although one would assume that they are for use as some form of a cure or something. Rather quickly, we would find out the answer to this, as with her health fading, Ligeia leaps to her death from the top of the castle. To make a long story short, her soul, as well as the many souls she has taken are all released into a nearby tomb on the property, where they bond together, creating the most menacing spirit. It's then that the film is at it's most routine as Ligeia's spirit does the 'ol predictable spirit jump from body to body - people die and and spirit possesses. Technically, although obviously shot on a lower budget the look and feel of the film is quite slick, as it has no problems there. It's in the film's editing that one could complain, and the film does suffer from the ever so popular, MTV style of eding, sometimes featuring fast cuts and warp speed, not to mention that booming sounds emerge from your speakers as such a thing happens. Also, now i'm usually not one to complain about good pacing in a film, but sometimes it could be considered a little to good. As we know, THE TOMB is based on a short story rather than a novel. I'm not sure how long the story is, but this, the film very often movies too quickly, and just feels as if it is thrown together. Things occur, and they happen sometimes at the blink of an eye. You'd think that they would take an idea of a short story, and try to stretch it out, and milk it for all it's worth, seeing as they have a lack of source material available for a lengthy story. But nonetheless, THE TOMB movies at a surprisingly quicker pace, not something to truly complain about, but as I said, some of it just seems a little rushed and thrown together - yet it is still rather entertaining, to watch it all fold out. Every since I saw him in AMERICAN BEAUTY, and even more so in P2, I have thought of Wes Bentley as being a pretty decent actor. With this film is with he stars, and Executive Produces, he's Jonathon, your typical guy who happens to be a Literature Professor. He is the typical human being that vulnerable to change, and as the film shows us, that is just what happens to him - he is swept under the spell of an exotic beauty, who is up to no good. Bentley had ever opportunity here to overact, seeing as some of the things that occur in the latter portions of the film are pretty "B-Movie-ish", but he chooses a more natural approach. Sofya Skya is the character that is the center of the film's attention in Ligeia, who is all things exotic, mysterious and deceiving. I know you probably expect me to rave on about how great Skya was as Ligeia, but my feelings are sort of in the middle. While she gives a decent showing, and looks exotic enough for the part, I just didn't feel that Skya brought enough charisma to the role, she just wasn't "evil" enough. While I agree that most actress probably would've over performed the part, Sofia, at times, just didn't have enough vigor, shall we say. Included her in a VERY small part as the chancellor's wife, is 2001 MANIACS alum Christa Campbell and if I had my way, instead of having character that bear speaks, she would have been the one to play Ligeia instead. As for the rest of the cast, for the most part they are underused, including the very pretty Kaitlin Doubleday, as Rowena(whose younger sister Portia has starred in films such as the recent hit, YOUTH AND REVOLT - which I love), She is Jonathon's girlfriend in the film, but she is basically just there to get abused by her boyfriend. In even smaller roles are also Michael Madsen as Rowena's father and Eric Roberts and the castle's "speaking with an accent" caretaker. Although this film is at times, pretty routine stuff, overall it is a film that ended up being enjoyable, as it is one of those films that doesn't require a lot of thinking. |
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| GORE
METER 2/10 Not a lot of gore, maybe some blood, and that's it, although there is one minor "stabbing" involving a shoe through one's hand. |
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MUSICAL
SCORE 4/10 The soundtrack does have some dance/trance music, but most of the film's scoring is an orchestrated score, consisting of loud and tension filled tracks. | ||||
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM THE TOMB is a very modern, straight to the point adaptation one of Poe's stories, and for what it is, it's a pretty decent effort. I haven't read Poe's story so I really didn't know what to expect before seeing the film, so with that I took it in as a new story. The film doesn't go out of it's way to build things up, as for the most part it seems to want to get to it's more ambitious scenes as soon as possible, so don't see it expecting a thought-provoking story. But if you go into it just wanting to have fun with it's action and effects scenes, then chances are that you just might find something to enjoy in THE TOMB. Each FANGORIA FRIGHTFEST film will be available through Blockbuster stores and Blockbuster By Mail, as well as digitally via Blockbuster On Demand for a full 45 days before they are available for purchase or rental through other national home entertainment providers.They then will be released on DVD, September 28, 2010 |
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