From the film-maker of "He Knows You're Alone" (1980) "and "Distortions" (1987); Director Armand Mastroianni's generic survival zombie feature "The Supernaturals" has a good concept (army recruits on a training mission in the woods of the Deep South encounter dead confederate soldiers), which isn't entirely realised. In the end it's a passable low-budget, b-grade presentation that's a little too sloppy and uneventful, but is genuinely moody and atmospheric in its backwoods setting. Mastroianni's use of lighting, shadow work and a fog machine, installs some eerie imagery and a few nasty jolts in the back-end. However it really does take its time, before its final payoff --- the characters that you spend a lot of time with aren't particularly an interesting bunch (with some abysmal dialogues too). The scratchy plot doesn't explain all that much about what's going on; it's rather unusual and vague, but this does come off rather daft and cheesy in its on going build-ups. Although it does gradually get better as it goes along. The performances are decent enough (Nichelle Nichols, a pinning Maxwell Caulfield and Talia Balsam) and look out for a cameo by one of the Bee Gees; Maurice Gibb as a Union soldier. At times lousy, ponderous but tautly constructed with some striking visuals and commendable make-up FX when on show.
Review of The Supernaturals
