For
too long, only mad scientists in the Dr. Frankenstein tradition have been bold
enough to challenge death. Finally, two
respectably under-achieving grad students will strive to cure mortality. The initial signs are promising in Anthony
Dixon’s moody Canadian indie, The Dead
Experiment (clip
here), which
screens tomorrow during the 2013 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Woozily
staggering home, Chris looks like death warmed over—and well he should. According to his hysterical fiancée, Maddie, he
has been dead for two weeks. This is difficult news to accept. Yet, his reincarnated presence makes a
certain amount of sense. After being cut
from his post-grad program for general dodginess, he and his childhood friend
Jacob started developing a radical procedure to rejuvenate cells. It seems to have worked. However, as Chris and Jacob start documenting
his cure, complications arise.
By
genre standards, Experiment is
unusually idea-driven. There is some
really smart stuff in Dixon’s script’s and he blindsides viewers with one
massive game-changing twist.
Unfortunately, his cast really doesn’t do his concepts justice. At best, they are kind of-sort of okay. Jamie Abrams is the class of the field as the
ethically “pragmatic” Jacob. (That
leaves an obvious implication regarding the rest of the small ensemble.)
Indeed,
independent filmmaking is always an adventure.
Nonetheless, Experiment earns
points for its fresh take on the reanimation motif. What is typically grist for horror and gore,
Dixon essentially re-purposes into chamber science fiction. He and cinematographer Fraser Brown also maintain
the nocturnal atmosphere and mounting claustrophobia quite effectively.
