Movies
Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night
” ‘I hated it’, I whispered over to my colleague as the credits rolled on the mind-numbingly tepid Dylan Dog: Dead of Night – except that it wasn’t true, and I knew it half a second after the words rolled off my tongue. The truth is, I’m not sure such a strong reaction would even be possible after watching a film as inconsequential as this tedious would-be franchise-starter. After all, how can you hate something that hardly even exists to begin with?”
“I hated it”, I whispered over to my colleague as the credits rolled on the mind-numbingly tepid Dylan Dog: Dead of Night – except that it wasn’t true, and I knew it half a second after the words rolled off my tongue. The truth is, I’m not sure such a strong reaction would even be possible after watching a film as inconsequential as this tedious would-be franchise-starter. After all, how can you hate something that hardly even exists to begin with?
Based on the bestselling Italian comic book series created by Tiziano Sclavi, Dead of Night was helmed by Kevin Munroe, whose sole feature directing credit previously was 2007’s TMNT, the belated CG-animated continuation of the early ‘90s Ninja Turtles franchise. That film garnered surprisingly strong box-office but weak reviews, topping out at a relatively meager 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. I admittedly haven’t seen it, and based on Munroe’s altogether toothless second effort I probably won’t be Netflixing it anytime soon.
For those not familiar with the comic book, the Dylan Dog series posits a world in which supernatural creatures live more or less peacefully (and secretly) amongst the human population. The quirky title character, based out of a cluttered and seedy London home/office and with the stated title of “nightmare investigator”, is a detective-for-hire who’s an expert at investigating crimes committed by vampires, werewolves, and other ghouls of the night. Acting as his “Watson” is a Groucho Marx doppelganger who mainly functions as the punny comic relief (though in English-language editions the character’s name is changed from “Groucho” to “Felix” and his appearance significantly altered due to rights issues with Marx’s estate in the U.S.).
The film version, relocated from London to New Orleans, opens with a rather awkwardly-staged prologue set in a stately manor, during which we witness a beautiful young woman named Elizabeth (Anita Briem) walking in on the aftermath of her father’s murder by a barely-glimpsed creature that appears to be a werewolf. Directly following this, Dylan Dog (Brandon Routh) is established as a smooth-talking former paranormal investigator, having given up on his supernatural exploits for more conventional detective work following the tragic death of his late wife. Soon enough, however, he and wisecracking partner Marcus (Sam Huntington, who played Jimmy Olsen opposite Routh in Superman Returns and who takes on the “comedic sidekick” role fulfilled by Groucho/Felix in the comic books) are called upon by Elizabeth to track down the hairy beast responsible for her father’s death.
Though Dylan initially refuses to take on the case, he’s finally convinced following a series of events that culminate with Marcus joining the ranks of the undead (albeit with every ounce of his one liner-spouting/bumbling sidekick faculties intact) after being attacked by an unidentified flesh-eater. Along with Elizabeth, the pair soon find themselves tangling with more werewolves, a vampire clan led by the seductive Vargas (Taye Diggs), and a muscle-bound zombie or two as they discover that her father’s murder is most likely the product of a shady underground conspiracy.
As played by ex-Man of Steel Routh – who possesses the classically handsome, square-jawed good looks of a leading man but little of the charisma required to become one (although in a world where Keanu Reeves is considered a movie star, there’s admittedly always hope) – Dylan is unfortunately a major bore. Though I felt Routh was appropriate for his dual role as Superman and alter-ego Clark Kent in Bryan Singer’s underrated superhero adaptation, Dylan Dog is a character that calls for a bit more edginess than the actor seems capable of bringing to the table. He’s got the build of an Adonis, sure, but there’s something awfully bland and non-threatening, even asexual, about him. While in a strange way that made him perfect as the most iconic of American superheroes, his brand of Wonder Bread masculinity only extends so far – and unless he’s able to pull off an unexpectedly strong performance at some point in the near future, I’m afraid his silver-screen trip may be coming to an end quite a bit sooner than he’d like.
To be fair, Routh is far from the only one at fault here. Many of the film’s considerable problems lie in the screenplay by Sahara scribes Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenhimer (though Munroe admittedly made significant revisions once he came on board). For one thing, Dog’s characterization in the film doesn’t really square with the way he’s portrayed in the comic books. Though I’ve never read a single issue of the series, all you need to do is glance over any description of him online and he reads as a deeply conscientious and philosophical protagonist beset with a host of phobias and other intriguing psychological hang-ups, including an intense Oedipal desire and an aversion to modern modes of communication.
In the film Dog seems to have been scrubbed of almost all individual quirks, leaving us with a standard archetype that comes off as a cross between Philip Marlowe and James Bond but without the hard-boiled edge of the former and the suave, magnetic sex appeal of the latter. Perhaps a more sophisticated performer could’ve imbued this thinly-written caricature with some sense of genuine humanity, but for all his smirky bravado Routh seems incapable of suggesting there’s anything more going on beneath the surface. As a result, the entire flimsy enterprise can’t help but crumble all around him.
Of course, if there was a good performance to be coaxed out of Routh, Munroe certainly wasn’t the man for the job. It becomes apparent pretty early on that the director isn’t entirely comfortable working with live performers – the scenes between all the actors, even those involving such reliable old hands as Peter Stormare, come off strangely obligatory and lifeless. As Marcus, Huntington does have a couple of good moments but his performance also feels awkwardly unmoored; his obvious tendency to ad-lib tends to overwhelm the proceedings rather than add to them, and Munroe (perhaps realizing he’d been stuck with a lightweight in the lead?) appears to have been either unable or unwilling to reign him in.
The action sequences are of course the bread and butter of a film like Dylan Dog, but sadly those come off just as stilted as the human element. For one thing, they’re staged in such rapid-edit style that it’s often hard to tell what’s even going on. A sense of spatial logic is key in effectively choreographing action, but Munroe simply doesn’t provide it. And while his choice to utilize mostly practical effects over CGI is admirable – particularly given his background – they are often painfully ineffective at key moments. Though at one point I found myself hoping for at least a decent werewolf transformation to ease the boredom (for the record, there isn’t one, at least not in any great detail), by the time Munroe and company trotted out what had to be one of the lamest-looking zombies in the history of modern filmdom, I decided maybe it was best if I didn’t get my wish. Even the climactic final monster – preceded by some rather persistent and hyperbolic foreshadowing leading up to the third-act showdown – appears to have just wandered off the set of a low-budget creature feature from the 1950s. Eesh.
Dead of Night has reportedly been met with a generally negative reception in Italy, where the character is something of a national icon. It’s not hard to see why – the film is disappointing not only on a craftsmanship level, but Dylan Dog the character seems to bear very little resemblance to Sclavi’s original conception. The latter doesn’t matter much to American audiences – most of whom won’t be familiar with Dylan Dog in the first place – but the former, unfortunately for all involved, is still more or less a deal-breaker, particularly for a film without the benefit of a big-studio marketing budget. Sorry to say, but when the most impressive thing about your movie is the sight of Brandon Routh’s steel-cut abdominal muscles, you’ve got problems, buddy.
Here’s what we know about Longlegs so far. It’s coming in July of 2024, it’s directed by Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter), and it features Maika Monroe (It Follows) as an FBI agent who discovers a personal connection between her and a serial killer who has ties to the occult. We know that the serial killer is going to be played by none other than Nicolas Cage and that the marketing has been nothing short of cryptic excellence up to this point.
At the very least, we can assume NEON’s upcoming film is going to be a dark, horror-fueled hunt for a serial killer. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five disturbing serial killers-versus-law-enforcement stories to get us even more jacked up for Longlegs.
MEMORIES OF MURDER (2003)
This South Korean film directed by Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) is a wild ride. The film features a handful of cops who seem like total goofs investigating a serial killer who brutally murders women who are out and wearing red on rainy evenings. The cops are tired, unorganized, and border on stoner comedy levels of idiocy. The movie at first seems to have a strange level of forgiveness for these characters as they try to pin the murders on a mentally handicapped person at one point, beating him and trying to coerce him into a confession for crimes he didn’t commit. A serious cop from the big city comes down to help with the case and is able to instill order.
But still, the killer evades and provokes not only the police but an entire country as everyone becomes more unstable and paranoid with each grizzly murder and sex crime.
I’ve never seen a film with a stranger tone than Memories of Murder. A movie that deals with such serious issues but has such fallible, seemingly nonserious people at its core. As the film rolls on and more women are murdered, you realize that a lot of these faults come from men who are hopeless and desperate to catch a killer in a country that – much like in another great serial killer story, Citizen X – is doing more harm to their plight than good.
Major spoiler warning: What makes Memories of Murder somehow more haunting is that it’s loosely based on a true story. It is a story where the real-life killer hadn’t been caught at the time of the film’s release. It ends with our main character Detective Park (Song Kang-ho), now a salesman, looking hopelessly at the audience (or judgingly) as the credits roll. Over sixteen years later the killer, Lee Choon Jae, was found using DNA evidence. He was already serving a life sentence for another murder. Choon Jae even admitted to watching the film during his court case saying, “I just watched it as a movie, I had no feeling or emotion towards the movie.”
In the end, Memories of Murder is a must-see for fans of the subgenre. The film juggles an almost slapstick tone with that of a dark murder mystery and yet, in the end, works like a charm.
CURE (1997)
If you watched 2023’s Hypnotic and thought to yourself, “A killer who hypnotizes his victims to get them to do his bidding is a pretty cool idea. I only wish it were a better movie!” Boy, do I have great news for you.
In Cure (spoilers ahead), a detective (Koji Yakusho) and forensic psychologist (Tsuyoshi Ujiki) team up to find a serial killer who’s brutally marking their victims by cutting a large “X” into their throats and chests. Not just a little “X” mind you but a big, gross, flappy one.
At each crime scene, the murderer is there and is coherent and willing to cooperate. They can remember committing the crimes but can’t remember why. Each of these murders is creepy on a cellular level because we watch the killers act out these crimes with zero emotion. They feel different than your average movie murder. Colder….meaner.
What’s going on here is that a man named Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) is walking around and somehow manipulating people’s minds using the flame of a lighter and a strange conversational cadence to hypnotize them and convince them to murder. The detectives eventually catch him but are unable to understand the scope of what’s happening before it’s too late.
If you thought dealing with a psychopathic murderer was hard, imagine dealing with one who could convince you to go home and murder your wife. Not only is Cure amazingly filmed and edited but it has more horror elements than your average serial killer film.
MANHUNTER (1986)
In the first-ever Hannibal Lecter story brought in front of the cameras, Detective Will Graham (William Petersen) finds his serial killers by stepping into their headspace. This is how he caught Hannibal Lecter (played here by Brian Cox), but not without paying a price. Graham became so obsessed with his cases that he ended up having a mental breakdown.
In Manhunter, Graham not only has to deal with Lecter playing psychological games with him from behind bars but a new serial killer in Francis Dolarhyde (in a legendary performance by Tom Noonan). One who likes to wear pantyhose on his head and murder entire families so that he can feel “seen” and “accepted” in their dead eyes. At one point Lecter even finds a way to gift Graham’s home address to the new killer via personal ads in a newspaper.
Michael Mann (Heat, Thief) directed a film that was far too stylish for its time but that fans and critics both would have loved today in the same way we appreciate movies like Nightcrawler or Drive. From the soundtrack to the visuals to the in-depth psychoanalysis of an insanely disturbed protagonist and the man trying to catch him. We watch Graham completely lose his shit and unravel as he takes us through the psyche of our killer. Which is as fascinating as it is fucked.
Manhunter is a classic case of a serial killer-versus-detective story where each side of the coin is tarnished in their own way when it’s all said and done. As Detective Park put it in Memories of Murder, “What kind of detective sleeps at night?”
INSOMNIA (2002)
Maybe it’s because of the foggy atmosphere. Maybe it’s because it’s the only film in Christopher Nolan’s filmography he didn’t write as well as direct. But for some reason, Insomnia always feels forgotten about whenever we give Nolan his flowers for whatever his latest cinematic achievement is.
Whatever the case, I know it’s no fault of the quality of the film, because Insomnia is a certified serial killer classic that adds several unique layers to the detective/killer dynamic. One way to create an extreme sense of unease with a movie villain is to cast someone you’d never expect in the role, which is exactly what Nolan did by casting the hilarious and sweet Robin Williams as a manipulative child murderer. He capped that off by casting Al Pacino as the embattled detective hunting him down.
This dynamic was fascinating as Williams was creepy and clever in the role. He was subdued in a way that was never boring but believable. On the other side of it, Al Pacino felt as if he’d walked straight off the set of 1995’s Heat and onto this one. A broken and imperfect man trying to stop a far worse one.
Aside from the stellar acting, Insomnia stands out because of its unique setting and plot. Both working against the detective. The investigation is taking place in a part of Alaska where the sun never goes down. This creates a beautiful, nightmare atmosphere where by the end of it, Pacino’s character is like a Freddy Krueger victim in the leadup to their eventual, exhausted death as he runs around town trying to catch a serial killer while dealing with the debilitating effects of insomnia. Meanwhile, he’s under an internal affairs investigation for planting evidence to catch another child killer and accidentally shoots his partner who he just found out is about to testify against him. The kicker here is that the killer knows what happened that fateful day and is using it to blackmail Pacino’s character into letting him get away with his own crimes.
If this is the kind of “what would you do?” intrigue we get with the story from Longlegs? We’ll be in for a treat. Hoo-ah.
FALLEN (1998)
Fallen may not be nearly as obscure as Memories of Murder or Cure. Hell, it boasts an all-star cast of Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, and Elias Koteas. But when you bring it up around anyone who has seen it, their ears perk up, and the word “underrated” usually follows. And when it comes to the occult tie-ins that Longlegs will allegedly have? Fallen may be the most appropriate film on this entire list.
In the movie, Detective Hobbs (Washington) catches vicious serial killer Edgar Reese (Koteas) who seems to place some sort of curse on him during Hobbs’ victory lap. After Reese is put to death via electric chair, dead bodies start popping up all over town with his M.O., eventually pointing towards Hobbs as the culprit. After all, Reese is dead. As Hobbs investigates he realizes that a fallen angel named Azazel is possessing human body after human body and using them to commit occult murders. It has its eyes fixated on him, his co-workers, and family members; wrecking their lives or flat-out murdering them one by one until the whole world is damned.
Mixing a demonic entity into a detective/serial killer story is fascinating because it puts our detective in the unsettling position of being the one who is hunted. How the hell do you stop a demon who can inhabit anyone they want with a mere touch?!
Fallen is a great mix of detective story and supernatural horror tale. Not only are we treated to Denzel Washington as the lead in a grim noir (complete with narration) as he uncovers this occult storyline, but we’re left with a pretty great “what would you do?” situation in a movie that isn’t afraid to take the story to some dark places. Especially when it comes to the way the film ends. It’s a great horror thriller in the same vein as Frailty but with a little more detective work mixed in.
Look for Longlegs in theaters on July 12, 2024.
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