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Reviews
Dead Within (2014)
A movie that left me annoyed and empty within
The Dead Within started out good. I was interested in the couple and what could have been going on out there to make them hide out the way they were.
Kim and Mike seemed happy at the dinner party. They have an unusual routine- Mike goes out, Kim stays in, they have dinner dates with what supplies Mike can find outside. The dinner dates and dresses were a little unusual and made me curious.
This intro to the characters held my interest and made me keep watching... but it just got worse from there.
Kim is a little stir crazy and her husband is having more difficulty finding resources. There are a few threatening sounds outside...
Kim talks to a "ranger" who claims to be rescue but we aren't sure if this is real or imagined. This ranger gets abusive as the movie progresses.
Kim descends into madness, especially in the third act and we see a lot of scary post traumatic stress dreams/hallucinations/images. I will give this movie credit for portraying post traumatic stress accurately. The actress also did a good job with what she was given script wise.
My problem is the path this movie took. It chose to focus on Kim's descent from stir crazy to psychotic breakdown.
What I was really hoping was the movie would focus on the Ranger.
The idea of a rescue not being a rescue isn't new in zombie movies, but the lonely Kim looking for company and finding dangerous company in the Ranger seems way more interesting and less discombobulating than a bunch of flashbacks and trauma scenes.
At one point Kim said with agency that she is doing an important job: she isn't doing nothing. She's keeping watch while her husband is away.
I really liked this hint of development for Kim. I wanted her to grow stronger and deal with the Ranger character in some way. I wanted to see her become smarter, braver, and more competent.
This direction has much more room for growth for Kim than what the writers chose.
When she killed her husband she was angry he cooped her up (understandable). She said something about her being competent and able and that she didn't need to be cooped up like how she was.
What Kim said about her competency might be true, but the movie didn't give her a chance to prove it. She's never seen what's out there and there is lot of evidence she's mentally unstable.
For her to say she IS competent struck me as a bit childish. I wanted more maturity and growth from her character. Based on what I saw in the movie, I'm not convinced Kim would be competent outside.
The ending was pure garbage. I didn't care when she opened the door and ran out. I knew at that point I would really dislike this movie.
I felt her black eyes at the end and her husband appearing again to kill her was a cheap trick. How would he pop out of nowhere like that? Come on! It's also a major stretch to say Kim is infected. I can't see how that would be possible without giving the plot major leeway.
I invested my time and energy in this movie based on the first third, but got absolutely no payoff.
This movie is like the theater has run out of popcorn when you try to claim your refill :(
Berkshire County (2014)
Great beginning but steadily declines throughout
This movie started out with a lot of potential. AJ King's character Kylie is very relatable. She's very pretty but not in a model sort of way that's distracting. She's a little insecure and and got pressured into sexual activity. She has a strict mother who doesn't understand what she's going through.
From the beginning of this movie we see a kind girl who is the victim of cruel bullies. The scene of Kylie crying in the shower was very well done. I was able to really feel for Kylie and step into her shoes.
The problem is this movie doesn't take the first act anywhere. When Kylie goes to babysit in a creepy house, we don't see her grow as a character when she is attacked by creepy intruders wearing pig masks.
Kylie is smart and pretty good at keeping her cool, but she doubts herself. I would have liked to see Kylie channel her anger from the bullying into self-confidence and growth.
Instead, we get Kylie on the phone with a suspicious sounding 911 operator for almost the whole middle of the movie.
The ending is even worse. The student who assaulted her (Markus) shows up for no good reason. There are a few highlights: Kylie was able to turn the tables on Markus and use her ingenuity in the truck to handle her attackers.
The highlights are good but still left me wanting a lot more.
The ending scene in the hospital was so unrealistic I wish I could unsee it. I could excuse one major plot hole (Markus showing up randomly) but not that hospital scene.
Berkshire county would be a much better movie if they used Kylie's trauma to help her develop over the course of the movie.
Instead, Berkshire County was written in a way that makes the first part unnecessary really. We don't need to learn about Kylie being bullied if it doesn't contribute to the rest of the plot.
In a nutshell, this movie didn't make use of its strong points. Maybe the director and writers were trying to make the plot unpredictable, but I found it discombobulating.
I would have preferred Markus and his girlfriend being behind the attack and Kylie getting revenge on them through her superior intelligence and character. This was what I was expecting but we got a bunch of fakeouts instead :(
Sometimes being predictable isn't so bad.