Fantasia 2010: The Revenant (Review #2)

“The Revenant is outrageous, jaw-dropping, genre-busting filmmaking filled with audaciously grotesque special effects and witty black humor. It is the Re-Animator of a new generation and guaranteed to become a cult classic.”

The Revenant

Directed by D. Kerry Prior

The night after his funeral, Bart, a soldier killed in Iraq, gets up out of his grave and seeks help from his best friend Joey. No explanation or higher education will make sense of his return, and Bart wouldn’t care in any case. Now it’s all about survival, since he needs to drink blood to stop his body from decomposing. In their quest for types A, B, O and everything in-between, Bart and Joey set out in a Camaro as unapologetic vigilante “heroes” to rid the city of amoral scum in exchange for their victim’s blood.

Written, produced, directed and edited by D. Kerry Prior (visual effects artist on films such as Bubba Ho-Tep, Phantasm II – IV, The Lost Boys, The Abyss) The Revenant is a truly remarkable experience  – a dark comedy that creeps up not to scare its audience so much as surprise us again and again. Part buddy comedy, The Revenant is anchored by David Anders (Heroes) and Chris Wylde (Strip Mall), who deliver remarkable and memorable performances. The chemistry between the two leads is the real strength, the glue that holds the whole film together. Of course it helps that The Revenant is richly written, covering a lot of ground while never becoming lost in itself. Perhaps the best example is how it skirts around a commentary on the Iraq war and the L.A. police department but it never makes any definitive statements. The dialogue is rich and crisp, and the film has a great supporting cast, colorful characters and perfect blend of dark and ridiculous humor, graphic violence, raucous splatter, over-the-top theatrics, and a unique supernatural premise. It’s a premise that can easily fail on screen only director Prior handles the dramatic scenes surprisingly well, balancing the serious and light admirably, while always keeping the audience firmly invested.

Prior’s film doesn’t seem to bear the marks of a limited budget. Prior’s experience as a special effects aids him in getting the most for what little resources he may have had.  The best effect is a talking head that really does look severed; used in the film’s most memorable scene alongside a vibrator. The production values across the board are solid and perhaps its only real flaw is the tiresome reliance on profanity.

The Revenant is outrageous, jaw-dropping, genre-busting filmmaking filled with audaciously grotesque special effects and witty black humor. It is the Re-Animator of a new generation and guaranteed to become a cult classic.

- Ricky D