Evilution  E-mail
Written by Zombie Boy   
Sunday, 28 March 2010 20:20

 

In the world of document writing, the mantra is KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Or more thematically relevant to Evilution, the goal in science is to always find the most elegant solution. In other words, the simplest theory; the one with the least math. Somewhere along the line a production company with a modest budget thought they could properly portray Brian Patrick O'Toole's everything-including-the-kitchen-sink script, which has never even rubbed shoulders with elegance. Not only could they not, but they shouldn't even have tried. Someone should have reined this puppy in, and hard. Its plot is convoluted to the extreme, and the characters' motivations vacillate in the breeze.

Evilution opens with a straight-up 28 Days Later rip-off. This is not an homage or a reference, but a total stepping on of Danny Boyle's dick. In a secret lab in Iraq, hell has broken loose. Infected GI's run around with bloody mouths, snarling and attacking everyone in sight, spewing plasma from their gobs. The only minor difference from Days is the occasional flip or running up the wall that one of the infected will do. This minor variation in theme reminds me of Vanilla Ice's explanation for how Ice Ice Baby was really entirely different from Bowie/Queen's Under Pressure. It didn't work when he said it and it don't work here. Anyway, a soldier tries to escape the carnage with a suspicious looking bottle of red liquid, and even though the attentive gate guards stop him, it's all moot because a bomb drops and blows the whole place up.

 
Flash-forward a year, and witness a nice young man moving into an apartment complex called The Necropolitan. This is our first introduction to this building, which figures in a loose trilogy also including Basement Jack and the forthcoming The Necropolitan. It is presided over by a mysterious and unnamed manager, played by Nathan Bexton. Instead of letting the events of the film play out against the backdrop of the creepy manor, we instead have it shoved down our fucking throats. Bexton is cool, and about the only good thing I have to say about the film, but even his deadpan delivery cannot save us from this ridiculous subplot. First he tells his new tenant that the building just appeared one day, during World War II. Then, as they near the basement apartment that is their destination, he tells the man that the chlorine he smells is because the building was built directly over a swimming pool. Wha-wha-what? Then he drops him off with some ominous jazz about always locking his door, and how the building is locked at 6 PM every night so nothing gets out...or in. *yawn*
 
 
By this point I am sure you've figuring out that the new tenant is Darren Hall, the soldier who escaped from the secret lab in Iraq. It takes a while to get to the fucking point, but we discover that he is under an assumed name, and is carrying on the research from the lab. Which makes sense, since the serum he has in his magic ampule killed whole lots of people. Anyway, the reason it takes so long to find out what he's up to is because he first has to have ridiculous and contrived interactions with the other Froot Loops in the building. There's Noel G. as Random, a hardcore thug posturing hard as hell, and usually accompanied by his lesser satellite thugs, Killah B. and Asia Mark. They hassle Darren a bunch and steal some of his stuff, and generally go around as an unintentional spoof on gangstas.

 

Here's the, um, "star" of the movie.

Then there's Maddie, a super-hot Latino girl who decided on first sight that she must get a piece of the new white boy. She invites him to her place for dinner on his second night in the building, and lays it all on the line. We're talking candles, wine, low-cut dress, the whole shebangedy-doodle. They make small talk, and then she pulls out the big guns: "You have such sad eyes." I almost turned the movie off right there. Darren of course politely excuses himself, apparently needing to bring the plot to a grinding halt somewhere else for a little while. Like shooting some mice who never did anything to him with his icky red goo. That sounded bad.

 
Okay, just in case you thought there weren't enough plot points already, make room for the Army sergeant who is sent out on a secret mission to kill Darren, and anyone who might be infected, and retrieve the illicit serum. What is the serum, after all, you ask? Good question. Apparently it is not just a drug the Army was developing to make super-soldiers. Nope, that would be way too simple. Apparently it is an alien intelligence, which got pissed off at all mankind when the Army attempted to weaponize it. If you don't understand what the fuck that means, don't feel bad. Neither do I, and I'm willing to bet few people involved with the film do, either.

 

Here's some blood. That'll make the horror fans love us, right?

 
Now we've got Darren being hunted by the army while living in a haunted hotel while working on an alien intelligence serum while clashing with neighborhood gangstas while porking the local hose-beast. Check. What now? Right, the virus gets loose. Random gets shot, and Darren brings him back to life in a suspiciously Re-Animator-esque scene. Is that what does it? No. Once again, too simple. A junkie breaks into the apartment where Random is drooling like a moron and steals the red liquid to shoot up with. There, that is satisfyingly complex and pointless. Now the rats are eating each other, Random is trying to bite all his friends, the junkie is spreading the angry virus all over the building, and Maddie is being turned into the Queen Mother. What next? 
Right, the sergeant and Darren, now buddies apparently, go on a quest with Killah and Asia to kill the infected, which can apparently be done with a mixture of chlorine and ammonia. For a quick lesson on why mixing those two things is the goddamned stupidest thing you could do unless you're wearing a full-face respirator with acid gas cartridges, do a search on Google. But I digress. So the pool thing earlier was a set up for this. Because they have 55-gallon steel drums of chlorine in the basement. You can tell because CHLORINE is stencilled on the sides of them. I work in the chemical industry, but I won't bother going into how stupid all of this is. I'll just bring your attention to the green Sprite-looking plastic bottles with AMMONIA written on masking tape on the asides of them. Yeah.

Sometimes Nathan pee red! 

So now we get the whole Dawn of the Dead thing, with people being chased through an apartment complex by zombies, all the while throwing condoms (yeah, condoms) full of a quite deadly to ANYBODY mixture of chlorine and ammonia in them. The final battle between Darren and the alien intelligence is suitably stupid to this stupid movie, with the added bonus of being anticlimactic as well. Basically this thing is a winner on all counts. Pick up a copy for pointers on how not to make a movie. Chris Conlee, I'm looking at you. 

 

 

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Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.
Angela Mac  - Fun with Condoms!   |67.142.161.xxx |2010-04-02 16:41:03
I haven't tested this theory, but I've always imagined condoms as more sturdy
creatures than dollar store balloons. Perhaps they were using the Ultra-Thin
variety.

And really -- as long as the serum isn't green, it's not a
Re-Animator ripoff.

All in all: Wow. I almost want to watch it,
just so you're not alone in your misery
Bobby B  - Dayum   |71.59.210.xxx |2010-04-02 19:14:50
Don't sugar coat it, Zombie. Tell us how you really feel. It's almost irony that
you put up the Amazon link for people to buy. Ha!
Zombie Boy   |SAdministrator |2010-04-02 19:30:35
That's what I said when I linked it at Facebook. Let it never be said my balls
are anything less than brass.
Chris Conlee  - Director here   |76.93.27.xxx |2010-04-24 01:04:06
Hello,

Just read your review. So, did you like it or not?

It's not
for everybody, but we had a good time making it and thankfully most people have
responded better than you.

Can you direct me to a movie you've made. I'd be
interested in seeing how it's done.

Chris
Zombie Boy   |SAdministrator |2010-04-24 23:20:46
Hey Chris:

I had a whole respond typed out, and lost it. Goddamn
website.

But anyway, the crux is that yes, I have never made a film. That is
a valid point. And yes, most of the reviews I read for the film were positive.
I'm just one dude with an opinion and admittedly sometimes a bad attitude. I
won't apologize for any offense because that would be a foolish statement in
light of the harsh review I gave the film. I will just say kudos to you and the
cast and crew for doing what you love and having fun with it. I hope you
continue making movies for as long as you want.

And hey, the only bad press
is no press, right?
Zombie Boy   |SAdministrator |2010-04-24 23:21:55
Er, response.
Midnight Butterfly  - The Critic's Job...   |71.59.210.xxx |2010-04-25 14:55:31
...is not to babysit the artist. Sorry Chris, but you don't have to be a
painter to have an opinion, even an informed one about painting, or a
musician to have an informed opinion about music. The critics job is
to approach the art form of his/her choice with intelligence, integrity and
passion and to bring some semblance of illumination to the mystery of
art -- an essentially impossible task. The critic's burden is to also be entertaining to the reader. The only way to achieve both is
to write with some semblance of personality, preferably one's
own. People who look to a critic to find some guide post to find what
is and is not worth their while will not trust a critic who simply slathers
praise over everything they see. Presumably, the people who did like
your movie have movies they did not like as well. Perhaps they even
expressed their varied opinions with some level of conviction. Hence,
Zombie Boy. Or the New Yorker. Or Us Weekly. Do yourself a favor, Conlee
and don't go running after every critic who doesn't like the work you
do or expresses that opinion in a way you don't like. You're expending
precious creative energy chasing after windmills. My experience
of Zombie is that when he likes your movie, he'll write that with the
same fire, zest, intelligence and yes, crassness and it will as likely gain
the same level of emotional response from you. Though, if history
serves, the artist will be much less likely to write in and say thanks.
Besides, I'm much more likely to see your movie even because of a
scathing review than I was when there was no review at all.
Midnight Butterfly  - I Cannot Tell a Lie...   |71.59.210.xxx |2010-04-26 03:47:45
...I rushed to see if there would be a response to my obviously brilliant,
insightful and devastating rejoinder post aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnddd...there was
SPAM. Ouch. That shattering you heard was the sound of my broken dreams.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Last Updated ( Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:50 )
 

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