Red Mist – movie review
Director Paddy Breathnach returns from the relative success of low-budget horror “Shrooms” with more of the same, making sure to tick every genre cliché in the process. European location filming as an anonymous American city? Check. Beautiful US starlet and a supporting cast of EU unknowns? Check. Spooky Hospital? Check. Malfunctioning video cameras; flickering strip lights; inexplicable deii ex machinae; this film’s got the lot.
In a plot borrowing elements from “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Patrick,” and numerous others; a group of young doctors who have prescribed themselves a few too many happy pills stumble into a moral minefield when “accidentally” dosing and terrorising a stuttering stalker to the point that he falls in a coma. Typically, the unconscious victim is soon possessing the bodies of nearby innocents and wreaking his brutal revenge.
“Red Mist” (aka “Freakdog”) is not a great film, but neither is it a terrible one.. Despite all the familiarity and tropes, the film succeeds in being wryly amusing, unpleasantly horrific when it needs to be, and all very capably put together. The film is clearly made to appeal to a transatlantic audience, which noticeably jars in a couple of scenes, but is overall a lot stronger than initial impressions might indicate.
Horror fans will glean some fun from the proceedings, and after a short run in the cinema (bravely duking it out against the week’s Hollywood Blockbusters) this ought to be a good dvd rental to watch from behind a pillow.
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