It
turns out those mind-numbing internet games are powered by the pentagram rather
than Pentium. For millennia, necromancers have battled demons, tooth and nail,
but the forces of darkness have really upped their game during the internet
age. It is up to a formerly oblivious necromancer and his rag-tag band of
allies to foil a web-based scheme for total planetary domination in Kiah &
Tristan Roache-Turner’s Nekrotronic, which opens tomorrow in Los
Angeles.
The
latest internet game craze is devilishly addictive—and just plain devilish.
People think it is cool to be able to view the wraiths and ghosts around them,
but they do not realize they are really real. The app also opens up a backdoor
through which the demons can suck out users’ souls. Unfortunately, Rangi, Howie
North’s mate and partner in the garbage collection trade perishes from his use
of the demon app, but he comes back to haunt (or hang with) him as a wraith. It
certainly freaks North out, but he will soon have wilder revelations to
process.
Basically,
as the orphaned son of two esteemed necromancers, he is the prophesized prodigy
of all prodigies. Unfortunately, his mother Finnegan succumbed to the dark side
and killed his father, right after he managed to arrange magical protections
for North. That is all gone now, but at least he gets a crash course in necromancy
from three who have survived Finnegan’s relentless war on necromancers—grizzled
Luther and his two grown daughters, Molly and Torquel. Oops, make that two
surviving necromancers.
Nekrotronic
is
even more unruly and chaotic than the Roache-Turner Brothers’ Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. With all its flashing
lights and over-the-top carnage, Nekrotronic is tailor-made for an
ADD-addled generation raised on Candy Crush. That sounds cynical, but its
eagerness to please is quite impressive. Frankly, there are a lot of clever
elements the Roache-Turners do not fully capitalize on, because they are already
moving on to something new and different.
Of
course, it helps enormously having Monica Bellucci vamping it up something
infernal as Finnegan. It is like she is getting revenge for all the films that
roughly abused her characters, most notably Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. She
definitely seems to enjoy being evil, especially when belittling blokes like
North.
Ben
O’Toole certainly brings out North’s blokiness, but that is appropriate, since
he is a rather passive fellow, who just gets caught up in the maelstrom. Bob
Epine Savea has plenty of shticky goofball moments as Rangi, but he wears well
over time, becoming something of a trusted companion for characters and
audience alike. Caroline Ford and Tess Haubrich both step up nicely, assuming
the action responsibilities as hard-charging sisters, but the latter really
shines as the take-no-prisoners Torquel.
Nekrotronic
is
quite a bit of fun, but definitely in a meathead kind of way. Yet, that makes
it rather refreshing. Recommended for fans of kitchen sink sf-horror hybrids, Nekrotronic
opens tomorrow (8/9) in LA, at the Arena.
