Thursday, May 10, 2007
By: MrDisgusting
|
Comments
|
When Tex saw Jim Mickle's Mulberry Street at this year's SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, he didn't like it one bit... now the film has played at the Tribeca Film Festival in NY and we sent our new reporter John Marrone to take a peak and share his opinion. Inside you'll find the review. In the film a deadly infection breaks out in Manhattan, causing humans to devolve into blood-thirsty rat creatures. Six recently evicted tenants must survive the night and protect their downtown apartment building as the city quickly spirals out of control.
MULBERRY STREET
Review By: John Marrone
Tribeca 2007
Reporter Peter West tunes in a radio broadcast while escaping from zombie infested Matuul. Airwaves of chaos come to them from halfway across the world. New York City has become overwhelmed by the undead – corpses stagger across the Brooklyn Bridge – packed shoulder to shoulder on their way into Manhattan for the ultimate feast of flesh. This was Zombie - 1979. In a perfect finale to the film, it was only hinted at. What could become of one of the most congested, powerpacked cities in the world, if overrun by the Hell known as “the living dead”?
To this day, we still await such a zombie epic. But this subgenre has slothed itself in gluttony, trading characterization and relative plotlines for locales and mass low budget gore that still can’t outdo the Savini era – as Hollywood skirts it near entirely, and little studios put more effort into finding ways to justify titles like Plane Dead, Forest of the Dead, and The Quick and the Dead, as fans are forced to wait for the next soulless spawn of Romero’s brilliance (Im predicting it will be Garage Sale of the Dead).
Knowing this, and entering mighty New York City to attend the already classic Tribeca Film Festival, one can get a feel for what one might expect going into a super low-budget cinematic excursion synopsed as being a rat/zombie metropolitan apocalypse. And although its hour and a half was devoid of a hardcore horror’s gorebath and cheap schlock shocks – what your left with upon walking from the theater is having seen a “zombie” film that breaks the mold, showing more substance, thought, effort, and depth than most prior productions put together.
Co-writer Nick Damici plays Clutch, an ex-boxer and your average good hearted resident struggling to make rent and stay afloat, who is awaiting the arrival of his daughter (Kim Blair), who is returning from a long tour in Iraq. As she tries to make it across town, and as Clutch mingles with the residents of his apartment building, a rat virus has been unleashed in Manhattan. Victims bitten by these feral rodents soon get sick and mutate into disgusting, blood-thirsty rat people, frothing and attacking others until violent chaos begins to overtake the citizens of this congested city. The action ensues as Casey attempts to make it across town to her home, and as Clutch and his cotenants fight to survive, using moreso their fists to bash in their squooshy heads than guns. It makes for a much more, up close, personal experience (trauma), and puts you in that personal zone with the characters as opposed to simply waiting to see how each of them will be offed.
The subplots in Mulberry Street are very familiar with residents of the NYC area, and anyone else in tune with the post 9/11 era. New York City, for instance, is gigantic and has a life of its own. Rent is two grand a month if youre lucky, mobs rule, and if you don’t have a strong family unit, nowadays you find yourself building an “urban family” to survive. Hard working, good hearted Americans, passive and kind until you cross them – threaten someone they love, or threaten the home that they fight so hard to live in and keep pleasant. Whether it be a group of familiars facing eviction, or banding together to fight off mass rabid ratjuicy maniacs – these days we find ourselves banding together when faced with overwhelming and extreme adversity. Someone pulled some crap about six years ago and pissed off a lot of people – we’re still buzzing in their hair like a swarm of angry bees to this day.
In the end, its simple. The acting the best you can get for a cast of firsttime actors and actresses. The story is semi-believable, taking an approach to the zombie Xerox and putting reason behind it – its not a meteor, or some government born invention bent on population control – its rats - goosebump inducing beasts that can be seen slithering along the city streets on ANY given night – tunneling through garbage, wriggling through slimy pipes, feeding off sewage, or nibbling on infants in their cribs at night. Its around us and as familiar as cats or dogs. And what this film lacks in visual special effects, it makes up for with audio. What you don’t see, you’ll hear, and the result is just as horrorfying.
Final analysis: Jim Mickle and cast have gone above and beyond what anyone would expect from a low budget urban apocalypse. His involvement behind the scenes in many films before, in lighting and artwork, apparently has taught him the value of the little things – of how much more far and beyond good acting, characterization and subplot can take a nearly no-budget film, as opposed to liquid latex, cotton balls, red syrup and turkey tendons. Having shot this film without permits in the New York City, guerilla style, the reality of Manhattan and the lack of green screen or “sets” comes thru to your senses like a high definition LCD in place of your 1965 Zenith B&W TV. The screenplay is magnificent, the shooting and direction are near superb, and the acting is Tiger Woods above par. All this aside, horror wise, its effectively disturbing and well paced. Mickle shows us you don’t need a damned gun – all you need is an ex-boxer who can cave in heads with his fists. Much more personal. Tribeca earns itself more credibility with horror fans this year. Even though the ratio of horror films was small in comparison, efforts like Jim Mickle’s Mulberry Street make the whole thing just bloody worth while.
Source: Tribeca
Be The First To Comment!
You have to be logged in to comment!
If you don't have an account register now for free! Your account allows you to post comments and reviews, upload videos and images, access or our forums, write personal blogs, and maintain your profile.
Print Story
Send to a Friend
