The Plot:
After his girlfriend breaks up with him, lonely horror movie buff Adam moves out to LA to be closer to her. There, he gets lucky and wins a contest, landing a walk-on role in Connor Pritchett's latest cinematic schlockfest, Pirate Wench. As he prepares for his part, he meets the crazy crew including idiot director Derek Deeds, stupid starlet Lorraine Wilson, stuck up lead Rhett Johnson, and famed scream queen Cassie Blue. One night, a killer starts stalking the set, and before long, bodies are piling up like cordwood. On the downside, it's wrecking havoc with the film's budget. On the plus side, Adam's part keeps getting bigger and bigger. With ace police detectives Shields and LaRue on the case, everyone hopes the mystery will be wrapped up soon. But when Adam starts seeing the ghost of an actress who died 50 years before, there may be more to this serial spree than a simply psycho with a taste for torture.

The DVD:
Dark Reel is a delightful spin on the typically moldy slasher film and the always oldie whodunit. It's occasionally too clever for it own good, and wears out its welcome by the 90 minute mark, but while we're on the journey, it's one heckuva fun ride. This is the rare genre title that wants to concentrate on character and performance as much as the slice and dice, and the attention to narrative detail is such that it takes nearly two hours to get to the talking villain denouement. Still, with a wonderfully witty performance by the badass of bleakness himself, Lance Henriksen (yes, THE LANCE HENRIKSEN), an equally enjoyable turn from Candyman himself, Tony Todd, and a truly inspired whack job wake-up call from Edward Furlong (he gives Crispin Glover and Casey Affleck a run for their Method madness money), you get more b-movie bang for your direct to DVD buck. Kudos to director Josh Eisenstadt, who takes the normal fear film formulas, mixes them with a little tongue in cheek commentary, and creates something that delivers in both the fright and funny business department.

Of course, there will be purists who palpitate over the notion of messing with macabre, and others who'll complain about the slow pace, anticlimactic ending, and a reliance on supernatural support to get there. Still, Dark Reel does such a spiffy job of deconstructing the current climate of bottom line oriented terror. There are several sensational conversations between Henricksen and his assistant which basically boil down to which cockamamie idea will best bring the home video bacon. We even catch glimpses of the prickly producer's latest magnum opus - Gnome Killer (as kooky as it sounds, though Pirate Wench and Snakes on a Crane aren't bad either). This is counteracted by Tiffany Shepis' terrific work as '50s loving scream queen Cassie Blue. She's the heart and soul of Dark Reel, a sparkling presence that must play off Furlong's flustered discomfort and the rest of the cast's too cool for film school callousness. As she has in past schlock showcases, going back as far as Tromeo and Juliet and including Dorm of the Dead, Blood Oath, and Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula, she radiates a kind of girl next door geek goodness. Besides being beautiful, she knows how to hold the camera.

Still, this is Eisenstadt's baby and the novice filmmaker shows some growing pains in playing cinematic parent. When he's dealing with people, he's aces. The movie moves with a kind of kinetic energy you associate with farce, or a first-rate thriller. Even the scenes of onset screw-ups, including one character's penchant for red onions, delivers when it should occasionally drift. However, the flashback material never links to the current situation. It seems locked in its own dirty martini universe. And when we get to the moments of gore, Eisenstadt pulls back instead of going all out. An especially gruesome navel to neck garroting should be so much nastier than it actually is, and the first killing is actually the only one offering ample arterial spray. Still, these are minor faults that a little editorial control could have addressed. Instead, anyone looking for something unusual and different in the basic, by the numbers realm of slasher/mystery cinema could do a lot worse than Dark Reel. For all its missteps and over indulgences, there's a lot to like about this semi-serious fright night throwback.

The Video:
Offered in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen image, Dark Reel looks ever bit of its $5 million (!) budget. The black and white material is excellent, and the color sequences are a cut above your typical outsider cinema stock. Eisenstadt does indulge a little too much in obvious directorial flare (crane shots and overhead vistas are his favorites) but all in all, this is a good looking movie.

The Audio:
However handled the mix of this movie needs to step forward and fess up to the following - what in the heck is up with you and seagulls? All throughout the external shots of Pirate Wench, we have a nonstop bevy of beach birds circling the home theater system. The speakers get such an avian workout that you swear The Audubon Society had something to do with the soundtrack - and this is true of both the Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 tracks. On the plus side, the score is nice and cheesy, and the dialogue is easily discernible, so we'll take the flock of seagulls with a grain of sea salt and move on.

The Extras:
As for added content, this DVD presentation goes all out. There's a wonderfully witty and very insightful alternate narrative track featuring Eisenstadt (who sounds VERY young), Schepis, Rena Riffel (who plays Todd's tantalizing police partner), and Jake Grace (as the onion loving leading man of Pirate Wench). They do tend to ramble with one too many personal anecdotes, but their stories about working with the famous castmates are classic. There is also a collection of deleted scenes that are interesting, but not mandatory (the DVD package proclaims that there is an "optional" commentary track for these edits, but yours truly could not find it). Finally, there is a wonderfully demented mock doc about the making of the Gnome Killer 2, which contains more laughs than many so-called mainstream comedies. Toss in a still gallery and a collection of trailers and you've got a nice collection of supplements.

Final Thoughts:
As someone who gives horror its fair due every time out, this critic has to remember that not every fright fan will cotton to what Dark Reel has to offer. Individuals in love with the dim, depressing, and deadlier aspects of the genre will look at this lark and scream more than a mere "Foul!" Indeed, they will accuse Eisenstadt and company of killing the last remaining vestiges of true balls-out terror. On the other hand, if you sit through dozens of dopey, derivative scary movies every month, films that haven't the foggiest idea on how to be terrifying, let alone competent, this will feel like friggin' Friday the 13th. As a result, a balance between Highly Recommended and Rent It will be reached, meaning that Dark Reel earns a solid Recommended rating. It's fun without being too frothy, serious without straying too far into the sullen. Let's face it - when was the last time you saw Lance Henricksen square odd with Tony Todd before turning all emasculated and wuss?. It's worth the price of admission alone. In fact, a lot of what this film has to offer is worth a look. It's not classic, but it's not crap either.

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