Exhumed

By Gary M. Lumpp • Apr 10th, 2004 • Category: Horror, Science Fiction

A samurai in feudal Japan. A dame playing P.I. in the hard-boiled 40s. Vampires and werewolves in an apocalyptic future. What ties these three things together? In Brian Clement’s horror anthology Exhumed, it’s the Undead.

“An epic anthology of the undead,” Exhumed pulls together three stories from three very different time periods. Each does an amazing job of capturing the look and feel of the different times, while still delivering some good scares and plenty of bloodshed that zombie fans demand.

After a brief introduction by our host Mr. Grey (who really isn’t much of a host, since he only appears at the beginning and near the end), we’re taken into the first tale: “Forest of the Dead.” A samurai heads into the forest in search of his brother and an ancient artifact that’s believed to have the ability to raise the dead. Along the way he encounters a monk who’s also in search of the artifact, and together they find themselves surrounded by an army of the damned.

Surprisingly enough the best part about this short for me is that it’s actually in Japanese, with English subtitles. It’s that extra something special that lets you know these filmmakers are serious about their work. The props are also excellent, even if the sword play leaves a little to be desired. There are some breathtaking shots here, and ultimately it’s the strongest of the shorts.

The second story is “Shadow of Tomorrow,” a 40s noir piece following a secretary who’s taken over the private detective business from her deceased boss. She’s hired to investigate a man’s ex-wife, which leads to a former Hollywood leading lady and a mad scientist. Clement and Company capture the look and feel of the movies from this period admirably, and the lighting alone makes it a must-see for aspiring micro producers.

“Last Rumble” is the third piece, and it starts off with a gang fight as the Werewolf Rockers and the Vampire Mods plan to square off. Before too long though the military arrives, and we discover that in this future one form of entertainment is a fight pit where the prisoners face off against the undead. The surviving members of the gangs, a female vampire and a female werewolf, decide to work together to escape - but not before a chainsaw comes in to play, along with some of the more traditional elements of a Clement zombie movie.

If the star ratings were based on ambition, Exhumed would easily earn five stars. Clement and Company have chosen to take the most popular of horror structures - the anthology - and tried to accomplish as much as possible on a microbudget. They’ve also done something I’ve been waiting for a micro producer to tackle - using the anthology structure to tell the different stories using different styles. “Forest” looks and feels like a 70s samurai epic, including some amazing sunset shots and costumes and props that make it look and feel like the real deal. “Shadow” is not only black and white, but the opening titles are just like the 40s noirs it’s based on - making sure to include everyone’s names before the short actually starts. Only “Rumble” really fails to achieve a distinct look and feel - it starts much like a 60s English action flick, but quickly takes on the air of Clement’s Meat Market movies (right down to including a cameo by the Santo-inspired Mexican wrestler - nice touch).

Technically, Exhumed has few peers. It’s simply that good. There are moments when the small budget shows, but for the most part the crew has taken the time to make every shot look good. This includes some fantastic lighting in the noir piece, and some appropriately over-the-top gore in the future short. Clement does a good job of capturing the various looks and feels he’s going for in the respective shorts, especially with the “so good they should be framed” images of learning how to wield a sword in “Forest” and the Ozone-like fight pit in “Rumble.”

That’s why it makes it so hard for me to admit that in the end, I didn’t really care for Exhumed all that much. Maybe it’s because I was so impressed by all the work that the crew went into creating the images that the stories didn’t seem to live up those same standards. Clement is fantastic at taking nothing and make it look like a really great something - make no bones about it. The way the shots are framed in “Shadow” - the long dark alleyways, the way every room looks like it’s one big shadow except for where the actors are seated - are as good as any arthouse film making the rounds.

But there are two areas where this anthology fell short for me. First is the acting. The actors do a decent enough job, but I think it’s something with the way they’re directed that keeps me from getting involved with their performances. The same thing troubled me in Meat Market - there are too many times when the characters just seem disinterested in what’s happening. This is most apparent in “Rumble,” and hidden pretty well in “Forest” (it actually works to their advantage in “Shadows” since it had the campy feel of those low budget private dick flicks of the time).

The other area that fell short for me was the script. Despite how great everything looked, the stories still relied on a lot of exposition from the cast members. Which is fine - if it’s easy to follow. But none of the stories have solid endings, and “Shadows” suffers from a bit of padding and some detours that don’t really add much to the story. I can appreciate the attempt at something more challenging than the typical zombie opus, but for me the whole wasn’t equal to the sum of its parts - which is a concern when it turns out that these stories aren’t only connected, they rely on each other to tell a bigger story. If you go in to Exhumed thinking you can watch these shorts as stand alones, think again - they’re all a part of a bigger story, which leads to some confusion and a feeling of being let down when two of the shorts just seem to end. (My apologies if this seems overly vague - I’m trying to avoid spoilers.)

The extras on the DVD are appreciated but somewhat limited. There are a couple of trailers, a nice pin-up gallery, and a short featurette. I was looking forward to the featurette, entitled, “Micro-Budget Horror Filmmaking Primer,” but it’s really just a bunch of behind the scenes footage with some humorous tips (like it’s a good idea to not set the cast or crew on fire). The outtakes are the only disappointment - since there are only two, and they last about a minute. I would have loved a director’s commentary, but no such luck with this release.

On the technical side, Exhumed should be the standard-bearer for microbudget features everywhere. It shows how much can be accomplished with plenty of ambition, the right props, and wanting to take the time to make every shot count. I just wish more could be said of the script, which deliveres the genre goodies but unfortunately doesn’t deliver stories worthy of the effort.

Three and a half stars.

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