Movies
Wreckage
With so many different plots going on at once, it’s amazing that Wreckage is so damned slow. It seems capable of cranking along on the strength of its complex plotting, but instead it chooses to introduce a new idea, and then either smother it into the ground or abandon it entirely. The villain, clad in an enormous welder’s mask, kills too rarely to be memorable as a separate character. Nothing really clicks here. It’s like three boring movies in one.
There is a spoiler paragraph regarding Aaron Paul’s role in this movie at the very end of this review.
Without the presence of Emmy winner Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), a wee-budget indie flick like Wreckage would easily slip under the radar, completely unnoticed. Frankly, it’s just not that great of a movie. But Bad‘s fans are rabid in their loyalty, and while Paul’s presence in Wreckage may result in some easy cash for the releasing studio, it can’t possibly improve on the mediocrity of this amateurish horror-drama.
In what bears a striking resemblance to the opening moments of Halloween, Wreckage begins as a young child murdering his mother and her boyfriend, and follows up with his subsequent escape from prison 15 years later. Roll opening credits. And by the way, everybody, it may be in your best interest to remember all of this escaped convict shit. Store that in your memory banks somewhere. In the case of Wreckage, it may not come up for again for awhile. But we’ll get back to that.
Most of the film takes place in a desolate junkyard, as a foursome of adults search for a replacement fan belt for their busted car. Jared and Kate are recently engaged, with wrench-monkey Jared having just proposed by sliding an engagement ring down a wiped-down dipstick. It was super romantic, you‘ll have to take my word for it. Best buddy Aaron Paul and his whiny girlfriend Jessica are along for the ride, but they don’t have it so good…she’s pregnant and he’s obviously not happy about it. Aaron Paul shines during his 20 minutes of screen time in the second act, scaring the shit out of the girls with scary junkyard stories, and just holding the screen, in general. Bored, Paul eventually pulls out a piece and starts squeezing off shots, accidentally plugging Kate with a ricochet, which results in a general panic. Jared is forced to run to town for help, but when he returns to the junkyard with the sheriff and deputies…there’s nobody there.
Although it has its share of intriguing moments, Wreckage is all too happy to pile on the red herrings with reckless abandon. Assloads of screen time are devoted to the antics of an uber-nerdy junkyard employee, as well as the bumbling inner workings of the local sheriff’s department, with the central plot taking a back seat to reams and reams of padding. After Jessica’s dead body is discovered hanging bloodily from an overhead junkyard light, everyone from boyfriend Jared, to Aaron Paul, to the goofy-ass junkyard employee serve as easy suspects, and this is the moment a random deputy decides to remind the audience of all that prologue bullshit: “Sheriff, don’t forget! We’ve got an escaped convict on the loose!”
With so many different plots going on at once, it’s amazing that Wreckage is so damned slow. It seems capable of cranking along on the strength of its complex plotting, but instead it chooses to introduce a new idea, and then either smother it into the ground or abandon it entirely. The villain, clad in an enormous welder’s mask, kills too rarely to be memorable as a separate character. Nothing really clicks here. It’s like three boring movies in one.
[Monster Spoiler: After being absent from the last half of the film, Aaron Paul returns after the climax, in an extended final sequence where it is revealed that he was the killer all along. Although this revelation doesn’t make the film any better, it may make it more appealing to die-hard Aaron Paul fans.]
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.
The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallis.
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
You must be logged in to post a comment.