Unwritten rule in horror #1: ALWAYS remain somewhat skeptical whenever you rent a movie of which the DVD cover is literally bespattered with praising quotes from acclaimed horror magazines and/or listings of awards won at Festivals no one ever heard of. This might be an indication that the distributors need extra reasons to convince people into renting/buying their film, because the plot summary and the still images on the back of the box aren't convincing enough. The box of "The Living and the Dead" features quotes stating "Brilliant", "Disturbing", "Harrowing" and "The Greatest Film Ever Made", but personally I don't think the film deserves any of those compliments. The tagline, on the other hand, is very truthful. It says "Terror by good intentions" and not only does this simple sentence summarize the whole plot, it also accurately describes the entire film production! The story revolves on the physical, financial and mental downfall of a once-eminent family of three living in a massive mansion in rural Britain. The father is nearly bankrupt, the mother is terminally ill and the twenty-something son James is mentally handicapped. When the father is forced to travel to London to solve his financial issues, James insists to look after his mother instead of an expensive nurse. Naturally his intentions are good, but his lack of realism and intellect make it a long period of pure agony and humiliation for his poor old mother. Ah, good intentions
Writer/director Simon Rumley obviously had plenty. The concept of the film is original and fairly engaging, but it's too little to revolve a whole movie around. "The Living and the Dead" suffers from far too many dreadfully dull moments and Rumley only seems to fill those moments up with lame visual gimmicks and pointless padding footage. He particularly seems to be fond of the fast-forward filming style. Very often we just see accelerated images of James running up and down the house for no real reason other than to kill a few extra minutes of playtime or to set up the viewers with a dreadful headache. If anything, "The Living and the Dead" is the type of film that can make even the calmest person nervous and irritated. The pointlessness of this film is really frustrating, good intentions or no good intentions. The finale is highly implausible, the film honestly isn't that shocking as it thinks it is and Rumley's atypical directing skills almost feel pretentious and arrogant. Seriously, you're not Werner Herzog or David Lynch, mister.
Review of The Living and the Dead
