DEAD MARY

Kim (Dominique Swain, ALPHA DOG) sits waiting impatiently in the passenger seat of a stationary car on a quiet country lane. A while passes before Matt (Jefferson Brown, KAW) returns to the car with a canister of petrol.

As Matt fills the car up, the couple bicker over trivial matters. It soon becomes apparent that this is not a happy couple. Matt and Kim have, in fact, just split up.

But that doesn't stop them from attending their friend Ted's uncle's log cabin for a long weekend with their old friends.

Speaking of the old friends, we are next introduced to them - who have all arrived at the cabin before Matt and Kim. We meet married couple Dash (Michael Majeski) and Amber (Reagan Paternak), newly courting Bryce (Stephen McCarthy, THE SKULLS) and Lily (Maggie Castle, THE WOODS; I'M NOT THERE), and single girl Eve (Marie-Josee Colburn).

When Matt and Kim turn up, Eve is the first to greet them and immediately spies that all is not well between the pair.

But, as uncomfortable as it is for the group of reunited friends, the beers come out and everyone agrees to make the most of the weekend regardless. Everyone, that is, except Ted - who hasn't turned up, despite the gathering being at his suggestion …

The afternoon is a quiet scene-setting affair as the boys drink and smoke pot indoors, while the girls drink at the nearby dock in their bikinis. The boys discuss Matt's break-up and Dash's history of cheating on Amber, while the girls talk about relationships in general - deducing that none of them are truly content.

Lily meanwhile wanders off into the woods by herself for a stroll, feeling alienated by all the reminiscing over old times. She's younger than the others and, having never met this bunch of old pals before, feels left out.

Come the evening, the group all gather indoors where the unease caused by the friction between Kim and Matt is combated by the suggestion of revisiting a game the group used to play years earlier. The game is called Dead Mary. Lily is unfamiliar with the game so Eve explains the rules to her (and, conveniently, to us): each person takes in turns to walk up to a mirror, close their eyes and say "dead Mary" three times, then open their eyes and look into the mirror. Why? Because, it is claimed, you then get to see the image of Dead Mary - an evil witch - in the mirror.

Dismissed as rubbish by Matt, the others start to play the game regardless. Dash goes first, taking a candle into the dark bathroom and returning moments later. Eve follows, then Matt.

Later that night, when everyone has retired for the evening, Lily sneaks out of the cabin alone. Then Matt awakes in a hot sweat and goes outside too. We follow him, and see that he bumps into … someone. Moments later, Lily comes racing back into the cabin, covered in Matt's blood, claiming that she witnessed Eve kill him.

Bryce and Dash go outside to investigate and discover Matt's savaged corpse. Suspecting that either an animal killed him or that Lily is a psychopath (none of the group trust her, apart from Bryce), the group begin to plan their next actions. But things get worse when Matt's cadaver springs back into life and spits demonic home-truths at members of the group.

The following morning, Bryce and Dash chop Matt up and burn his remains. Lily is bound and gagged, and locked in a cupboard. The remaining group members begin to fret over what to do next, believing that Matt was possessed by the evil spirit of Dead Mary and that any one of them may also be possessed. As the day progresses, their paranoia steadily increases …

DEAD MARY earns zero points for originality. It's plot is clearly taken principally from four cinematic sources: THE BIG CHILL (the old friends reuniting and realising how life has changed them); CANDYMAN (the game that involves facing a mirror and repeating the name of a folklore figure); THE EVIL DEAD (young Americans pursued by demonic possession whilst on vacation in a rural cabin); and THE THING (the idea that the evil spirit can overcome any of them and their appearance may not alter, creating a destructive paranoia within the group).

Where DEAD MARY does score points in its earlier scenes, where the interaction between the group is believable and highly watchable. The dialogue and performances work together to make the setting extremely convincing in the film's first half, and it's almost a shame that this has to progress through lame horror territory in the final 50 minutes, such is the positive impression the human interest aspect of the story has.

But the set-up of the tension bubbling beneath the relationships of these old friends is convincing enough to exist throughout the film, and when the terror scenes arrive it's not the mild gore or spooky music that impresses, but the rivalry that we already sensed was there - and that is finally provoked to the surface.

Director Robert Wilson coaxes fine performances from his highly skilled cast, and while the story line is contrived the script by Peter Sheldrick and Christopher Warre Smets at least tries to flesh out it's protagonists, allowing us to care for them even if we don't care too much for the silliness they're being subjected to.

In terms of tension, DEAD MARY doesn't really achieve any, and its climax is distinctly disappointing. But for a well-acted, thoughtfully scripted and occasionally unpredictable low-budget thriller, it's better than a lot of DTV stuff being released nowadays.

The R2 disc offers the uncut film in a gorgeous anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer. Images are bright, vibrant and vivid. Colours are well presented and images are pin-sharp.

The English audio is available in 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. I concentrated on the solid former effort, as the latter was a little distracting (dialogue was low in comparison to everything else). Optional English Hard-of-Hearing subtitles are on hand.

Animated menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras begin with a decent 26-minute Making Of featurette. This begins with each actor describing his or her character backgrounds and motivations, then moves into some interesting behind-the-scenes footage. Throughout, the featurette is intercut with scenes from the completed film.

A 90-second trailer focuses more on the silly horror aspects of the film, and therefore doesn't really do it justice.

Finally, a music promo video for Evolved Monkey's "We Are Here" is a bland Beatlesesque number bogged down with an even duller video.

DEAD MARY is a competent if derivative horror-thriller, that works better in its build-up than it's denouement. Its observations on human relationships are sometimes acute, while the horror stuff that eventually comes along is something of a let-down. Worth seeing though.

Review by Stu Willis