Welcome to 2017 boils and ghouls! It is time to dive back into the seemingly endless lists of horror flicks on internet streaming services. I took a couple of weeks away to collect myself for the long haul that is the new year. Admit it… You guys missed me. ADMIT IT!! …No? Well anyways, I got a tad excited when I landed on this week’s roulette delicacy. What did the wheel of chance have for me this week?
Spin That Shit!
What do we have this time?
Late Phases (2014)
The film begins with an elderly blind man being taken to his new home at a retirement community by his son, after the passing of the man’s wife. The man feels alone. But, with his service dog by his side, he is not completely alone. Upon settling in for the first night at home, a wild and deadly beast attacks the neighbors and himself. This new stranger to the cookie-cutter community, despite his blindness takes up the challenge to uncover what the beast is and what else this sweet little community is hiding. Or is this too much for one man to handle?
Nick Damici (Stake Land, Cold in July) portrays Ambrose McKinley, the elderly blind man. I neglected to mention that Ambrose is also a 20-year retired Army veteran that did two tours in Vietnam. Only recently going blind from eye trauma. So, it’s safe to say that Ambrose is most likely a badass. Nick Damici truly portrayed a blind man magnificently. For an actor that has sight, he really gave a great performance, where others attempting the same portrayal fall way short. Genre familiar Tom Noonan (The Monster Squad, The House of the Devil) rounded out the thin cast with his really intriguing performance as the local priest of the communities’ church. Overall the acting was very good for this type of B-movie style horror film.
If you haven’t guessed already, this is a werewolf flick. The special make-up effects done for the fiendish beasts were very well done. There was an amazing transformation scene that was well thought out. You will need to see the flick to know what I am talking about. Chilling and horrific stuff! I loved it! There are also some very good gore bits, that will keep the gore hounds from causing an uproar (damn puns again).
Now that I have been gloating all over this film, let’s bring it back down to earth a little. The film is a very slow burn. With most of the vile, bloody bits happening at the beginning and ending. It gets dragged down by needless dialogue at times, making the film feel longer than the 98-minute run time. Even if the acting was better than most, the script wasn’t very in depth. Obviously, to me the final payoff is worth the dragging script. Which makes these negatives quite miniscule.
Now on to the fun part! After all my rambling, do we have our first #winner or #loser of 2017?
There you have it! It’s a winner!
IMDB: 6.0/10
ZombiSurvivor: 7.4/10
As Always, Thanks For Reading!
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STAY SCARED!
-ZS
