By Karolina Gruschka
Going by the artwork and the trailer for VFX artist Torey Haas‘ (V/H/S Viral, Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie) first attempt at directing a feature, I had high hopes for The Neon Dead. I was expecting to see a serious horror film interlaced with comedic elements and a camp sensibility; the kind of sophisticated camp one would find in The Evil Dead or Donnie Darko, where the wicked is disguised as the frivolous and extravagant. Now add the etheral beauty of red, green and blue hues reminiscing of certain Italian gialli and I was excited for the crazy ride. Unfortunately, the anticipation of eating the cake outdid the actual consumption of it. The Neon Dead looked so yummy with all its icing and sprinkles but boy, did Haas forget to add eggs and butter!
Like most graduates these days, Allison Hillstead (Marie Barker) winds up unemployed after university. However, she is very fortunate to be bequeathed with a nice big mansion from her great great uncle. Accommodation and financial security sorted – not a bad kick start. ‘Lucky for some!’ one might think. But the house comes with baggage: Allison also inherits its evil necromantic past, some real voodoo zombies, servants of the demon Zathax and basically, a gateway to a demonic dimension. With the help of the rather unprofessional paranormal exterminator duo of pompous Desmond (Greg Garrison) and nerdy Jake (Dylan Schettina), Allison faces up to the glittery neon glow-in-the-dark evil that lurks on the property.
One word that kept repeating itself in my notes for this review was ’emptiness.’ It felt like there was always a lack of something; as if the physical and intellectual spaces were not charged or dense enough. Though the monsters look amazing and have the potential to be terrifying, there was not one moment during the film that was scary or horrific. I did not feel tension, suspense nor any form of emotional involvement. I began to wonder what might be the reason for this response (or rather lack of) to an interesting plot and fabulous visual effects. In The Philosophy of Horror (1990) Noel Carroll explains that audiences share “parallel emotive appraisals” (p.92) with the protagonists by means of comprehending and assessing the characters‘ situation from the outside. Although, the emotional state of both parties is of different quality, both kinds of responses overlap in regards to certain aspects. One of those elements that Carroll suggests is “the emotive appraisal of the monster as something […] threatening and repelling” (p.93). As mentioned above, the creatures in The Neon Dead do have the potential to be understood as both threatening and repelling, however, the lead does not seem to display much concern for her circumstances herself. Consequently, if Allison Hillstead shows no concern, why should I care about her plight!
The only way for me to describe Allison – at the risk of sounding like Kevin Khatchadourian (We Need to Talk About Kevin) – is: nyeh-nyeh nyehh nyeeeh. Each piece of text is delivered by actress Marie Barker without an internal motivation or intention and in a rather awkward nagging tone. Take her first encounter with a servant of Zathax, for instance; Barker almost seems unsure herself of whether to act out a comedic matter-of-fact response or a horrified one. The result is an impact-less medium that makes Allison appear nothing more than sulky at times. When she does choose to settle for the emotion of ‘scared,’ the performance is missing some flesh – again, it is empty. Her loud exhalation, the light rise of her chest… all too clean and put on. As if a choreography was learned and placed on top of a song rather than that the performer understood the musicality of the piece and actually danced to the tune.
This is not only the case for the physicality of her body but also the spoken word. The rhythm or flow of the dialogue is unnatural and feels very scripted. The other leads Garrison (Desmond) and Schettina (Jake) contribute to the awkward exchange as well, however, since there is more intention and drive behind their words and actions I cared a little bit about the fate of the two. Though I have to be clear here that my intention is not to blame Marie Barker for the short-comings of The Neon Dead. Even the greatest of actors and actresses might not deliver their best performances if the script and/or the directions are not right for them.
There is of course the possibility that The Neon Dead was intended to be more camp/comedic than horrific. However, in Notes on ‘Camp’ (1964) Susan Sontag finds issue with this particular intention, stating that “camp which knows itself to be camp (‘camping’) is usually less satisfying” (Notes on Camp, 1964). There are films that have succeeded at camping despite their lack of naivete (again, Evil Dead and other Bruce Campbell works are a great example), yet The Neon Dead is not one of them. With the exception of Josie Levy, who plays young and feisty scout Ashley (love her!), and maybe the character Desmond who seems always more lucky than clever, the protagonists and performances both lack ooomph; they need to be possibly more exaggerated, more bad, more ambitious, more outlandish, more passionate…but most of all I am missing the love.
Aaaargh… I really wanted to like it!! Despite the fact that my review is fairly negative I do love the premise of The Neon Dead and the sheer decadence and fabulousness of the creatures, in particular the zombies. I will be honest, though The Neon Dead is not a great film, it is worth seeing for the original monsters, from which ideas and inspiration might be gained.
The Neon Dead will be released by Wild Eye Releasing on DVD and Digital HD on the 13th September 2016. The DVD will feature a film commentary by director Torey Haas, bonus scenes, 2 monster short films directed by Haas (First Date, Troll Picnic) and a creature profile.