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Review: Dead Sea

dead-seas-608x792Creature features. They’re a popular subgenre of horror film that many film makers try to capitalize on. People love to see Bigfoot crushing people with boulders or giant bunnies attacking a small town. What makes or breaks a creature feature is the production: who’s calling the shots and are his/her decisions wise. As horror viewers, we’ve seen a lot of bombs – hello, SyFy Channel – and it has become easy to spot a film about an otherworldly creature that is done correctly. So, is Dead Sea a bomb or a feature film you want in your creature feature collection? Read on to find out.

Dead Sea is written and directed by Brandon Slagle (Area 51 Confidential, The Black Dahlia Haunting). Cast members include Alexis Iacono (The Black Dahlia Haunting), Devanny Pinn (Truth or Dare), Brandon Slagle (Patient Zero), Britt Griffith (“Ghost Hunters”), and Jw Wiseman (“Deadliest Warrior”); with appearances from Chanel Ryan (Bad Kids Go To Hell), James Duval (Independence Day), Candace Kita (Coffin), Tawny Amber Young (Wonderland), Frederic Doss (Humans vs. Zombies), Jim Mitchell (“Storage Wars”), K.J. McCormick (“Ghost Hunters”), and Ryan Kiser (“One Night Stand”). Is that a cast list or what?!

In Dead Sea, “A Marine Biologist is assigned to investigate the mysterious deaths of marine life in an inland salt water lake that have been attributed to a creature thought to have been the stuff of legend.”

It’s important to note before going forward that Dead Sea is also an action-thriller. One of the opening scenes is features a gun fight with suspected terrorists in Afghanistan, and the bullet assaults continue throughout the film. I think this was a smart move by the screenwriter Brandon Slagle because it opens this particular movie to a wider audience. Creature feature? Check. Action-thriller? Check. What more can you want in a movie?

I think what I like the most about Dead Sea is the amount of effort that was put into making a cohesive story. Why is the town so barren? Why are the army guys so mean? Who is that lady? Who is that guy? Why does the monster return to feed every 30 years? Every question has an answer, every cause has an affect and I can really appreciate that. Dead Sea is a film that relies on storytelling more than blood and guts, so the fact that every aspect of the storyline is so fleshed out… It’s just really impressive.

DeadSea

The second thing that wrangled me in as a content viewer is the use of the serpent in Dead Sea. Thankfully, production chose not to use in-your-face-bad CGI and opted to use more practical effects to showcase their monster. Still photography, ripples in the water, far away shots at night, sound effects, and more created a picture of the serpent that haunts the waters of Dead Sea. While I was a little let down with the final reveal at the end, using practical effects was the best way to go here. Had Dead Sea contained a fantastic script, superb acting, and then a hokey CGI monster, I think it would have lost a lot of credibility and seriousness.

Beautiful set locations, professionally done practical effects, grade A acting chops on every cast member, and – again – a waaay above average script… There’s not a lot I can harp on here. I can’t think of one aspect to review negatively, actually…

With intense action sequences, mysteries unfolding by the minute, thigh tearing monster attacks, and a lead performance by the extremely talented Alexis Iacono, Dead Sea is one film you don’t want to…swim…by. One of the best creature features since Cloverfield and a shining example of how monster movies should be. I give it 9.2 out of 10 stars. I can’t wait to own it next month!

Michael DeFellipo

(Senior Editor)

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