Red Mist

In FREAKDOG (aka: RED MIST) a group of med students decide to mix narcotics and alcohol for a night of utter blotto-ness. Unfortunately, their shenanigans are witnessed by Kevin who records their antics on his cellphone.

Not wanting their future careers ruined, the quick-thinking students decide to get Kevin wasted so they can destroy the evidence. Things don't go exactly as planned.

If you enjoy paranormal horror-revenge movies with possession and lots of gory deaths, then this will take you to Nirvana! There's even some mad science tossed in for extra joy!

This film gets bonus points for originality and its novel approach...

Irish film-maker Paddy Breathnach bored me to tears with the asinine drivel that was Shrooms, but being the reasonable fellow that I am, I was willing to give the guy a second chance at impressing me with his next movie, Red Mist AKA Freakdog (the fact that the back of the DVD showed hottie Arielle Kebbel in her undies had nothing to do with my decision—Scout's honour!).

Although this film isn't as soporific as Breathnach's earlier fungi-flavoured flop, at least delivering a few reasonable performances, it's still an ultimately unimpressive effort, with a derivative narrative that borrows heavily from several other horrors (most notably 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and 'Patrick'), a thoroughly unlikable group of extremely clichéd characters, and a surprising lack of gore given the nasty ways in which the characters meet their fates (a juicy knife-in-the-throat aside, Breathnach misses every opportunity to really gross out his audience).

Oh, and the 'Kebbel in her scanties' scene lasts for all of 10 seconds... grrrrr!

"Freakdog", "Coma: The Movie", "Frickin' Stupid Doctors" or whatever the film wants to call itself, is unsurprisingly a very unknown film. I had never heard of it, critics ripped it apart and medical students were probably told to never watch it (unless they purposefully wanted to fail). Essentially it's "I Know What You Did Last Summer" meets "Flatliners", and it's just as predictable as both of those films. A group of medical students make a pact to try and kill a creepy stalker, whom recorded footage of them stealing pharmaceuticals, but instead puts him in a coma.

However, this is very very bad. Why? Well because he can travel out of his body, possess these students and kill them in elaborate ways. A slasher/revenge flick utilising an admittedly unique and imaginative premise. Just a shame that pretty much everything sucked! Putting aside the absurdly cheap aesthetic, editing and direction, the film's biggest issue is with its characters. Forcing literally everyone to be unlikeable, from the students to the experienced doctors, results in an entirely expendable cast. A consequence of this is that whenever someone pours burning acid down another's throat or crushed their head in a car door, it's all for nothing. No emotional attachment. No "ahhh but I liked that guy!". Nothing. Then we somehow need to comprehend how unintelligent these students really are. This is the future generation of doctors! Why are they are all so frickin' dumb? And why is a predominately British cast playing American characters? Just get an American cast!

The gore was unfortunately rarely shown on screen, which culminates the "horror" aspect and lays it on an uncomfortable hospital bed whilst we all watch it slowly die. Acting? Questionable. Camera shots? Zoomed in. Conclusion? "Red Snooze". Oh, and if you have epilepsy...watch with caution. (Although I recommend you don't watch it at all, epileptic or not!). Nearly caused me to have a nosebleed with its excessive flashing lights. Seriously! My retinas were burning during the last five minutes. It's coma time!

Or is it "Dog Standard"? ;o) Just kidding, I'm not spoiling anything, by saying the movie doesn't involve a dog (as in an animal). It's a "nickname". The movie is more or less what you would expect it is (with one or two exceptions). The gore is OK, the story has been told in similar fashion many times and the acting is OK.

The craziest thing was a warning before the movie started. For anyone who might be epileptic, there are scenes in here, that will trigger epilepsy (I don't know if there is any other more political correct way to say that, but I guess you get my point). The movie was screened at Fright Fest and the reaction of most of the crowd was less than enthusiastic (some even said, that it was as "bad" as Shrooms ... since I haven't yet seen that one, I can't comment on that though)

Having seen the Northern Ireland premier of this home-grown horror film at QFT in Belfast, I can now share my disappointment in its complete lack of features that would lead me to recommend it. 'Freakdog' tells the somewhat original tale of a comatose man's control over a group of friends, leading them to commit unspeakable acts. Unfortunately, it fails on almost every level; a complete non-starter as a horror film and totally incoherent as a thriller.

The opening portion of the film is simply dull; a chance for the screenwriter's occasionally competent dialogue to be ruined by an ill-conceived cast. The character development is so lacking that all human aspect of the story is played entirely in cliché, and the standard of acting is poor even for a low-budget independent feature.

Of course, the purpose of this film is obviously to provide either shocks or genuine, disturbing scares. It delivers neither. The film is utterly inept as a horror, offering nothing but a series of mild gore scenes to fans of the genre. Essentially, this film is mixture of poor acting, dull cinematography and a script that, despite a few good pieces of dialogue, is both confusing and simplistic in equal measure. However, the production team must be commended for successfully shooting a U.S-set film in Belfast, which is carried of convincingly.

Overall, 'Freakdog' is a poor effort when pitched against either major Hollywood horror films or the usual B-movie fare. It fails to deliver the necessary scares and constantly suffers from poor acting and a ludicrous storyline. I really cannot recommend this film, which is a real shame as I was hoping it would deliver so much more.