Movies
Reborn (V)
“Reborn is definitely an upgrade to its predecessor but an upgrade from garbage is still trash.”
Reborn
By: Brittney-Jade Colangelo
1 ½ Skulls or 3/10
One would assume if a filmmaker creates a complete debacle of a film and receives poor reviews, that the filmmaker would move on and start a completely new project. It’s safe to say that Craig McMahon is convinced he’s holding on to a golden idea and we must suffer because of it. Reborn aka Machined Reborn is supposed to be a sequel to the ungodly trash pile that is Machined, but sequel is not the optimal word in this situation. This film is less of a sequel and more of a remake of the previous film with a bigger budget, and a little less of back story on a killing character that the audience doesn’t care much about in the first place.
After the-worst-character-ever-made Cade quits his job as an engineer (let’s assume he makes big bucks) and buys a piece of property to start an auto shop in the desert without telling his wife (that he’s also not trained to run by the way) he assumes his life in the middle of the desert is going to be brilliant. Little does he know, he’s bought a piece of property that once belonged to crazed killer Motorman Dan! The audience is lucky our villain is so scary his name even rhymes. Motorman is a killer by nature, but he also creates these android, robot, killer men. The idea seems really interesting on paper, but on the screen it just translates to a step above the kid in Grandma’s Boy who wants metal legs. Who knew there were so many ripe candidates to kill off by robot men in the middle of the desert?
This film is an absolute clusterfrack with plot points, cutaways, characters, and purpose. Characters die off before the audience can even remember their names and there is an overabundance of unnecessary and poorly timed blackouts. What is so frustrating about this film is that it is supposed to be a sequel, but it doesn’t help the audience understand little to anything about how the killer returned from the dead. That may have worked for slashers back in the day, but that was because it was universally accepted that the characters just never died. The same rule does not apply for this film. There’s also an actor who was in the first film who comes back in the second film and plays a different character. That’s about as logical as bringing back Deborah Myers after she’s been killed off. The only way for the audience to keep up with anything from the first film that was left out in this film is either by reading the back of the DVD or googling it online. While that may be fine and dandy, it’s a sign of a poor script…which our director also thought up.
McMahon also completely rapes the use of gore and drilling into people. The first time the drill went through an arm it was a little off putting, but after seeing it so many times, it became less scary and more unoriginal. The reason films like Saw or Hostel were so successful with this over-the-top gore was because they were versatile in the use of torture. This film is just continuing to add salt to an already existing wound. Reborn is definitely an upgrade to its predecessor but an upgrade from garbage is still trash.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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