Emerging Past Has All the Necessary Components for Great Horror
| Tweet | |
|
|
Emerging Past has a good soundtrack, slick production quality and recognized performers. Unfortunately those elements can’t keep the film from being a train wreck.
Written by The Horror Czar, Don Sumner
May 28, 2011
Movie Trailer
Image Gallery
Release: May 17, 2011 (U.S. DVD)
Written and Directed by: Thomas J. Churchill
Starring:
Krista Grotte as Pam
Brooke McCarter as Dylan
Stephen Geoffreys as Cameron Nucci
Steve Dash as Det. Vorhees
Tony Moran as Blind Man
Edward X. Young as Father Cole
Pam (Krista Grotte) is a news photographer living with terrible pain. Some time earlier her husband to be, a priest who turned his back on his faith to be with her, is killed right before her eyes by a stray bullet intended for a fleeing robber. The experience has left her tough and driven, seeking solace in her work.
While on assignment Pam witnesses, and photographs, a ritual killing in a graveyard. When the perpetrators discover her watching a chase ensues that grows into a city-wide conspiracy to take from Pam the telltale film of the gruesome murder.
Emerging Past has some great things going for it out of the gate. The cinematography and visual quality, for example, are outstanding; especially if the rumored budget of $275,000 is accurate. Although the camera work during scenes with people in them are poorly planned and edited, the overall tone and brightness of the film implies a much larger budget than reported and certainly some cinematographic skill. The�soundtrack is also very good, original music that is well produced and
performed. The music was used completely inappropriately for the scenes they accompanied… but the music itself is top notch. Several of the performers in Emerging Past are known for something dear to the hearts of Horror Freaks, including Steve Dash (Jason, Friday the 13th Part 2), Tony Moran (Michael Myers, Halloween) and Stephen Geoffreys (Fright Night). Good strategy to ensure some good film publicity and interest, but not so good when Moran’s portrayal of a blind man resembles a cross between the rain man and Stevie Wonder. Noticing a pattern here?
Although Emerging Past has several positive components, the use of them just doesn’t work. Then there are the “less than positive” components, namely the script, sets and acting performances. The script is awkward; the characters use phrases that people just wouldn’t say in a given situation, and there are just too many words and explanations. No subtle looks of suspicion as Pam notices a man being chased and decides to follow, but rather an out-loud musing to her self in the realm of “what the? That’s strange. I’m going to follow them!” as if she’s explaining her actions to the visually impaired. The monologue that Pam launches into to proclaim that she is not materialistic and just wants love is another notable, sounding more like a Harlequin romance novel than a person making an earnest statement.
The sets in Emerging Past are extremely out of place in some scenes. Not the outside scenes, mind you – the city and park shots are all great, even though the graveyard has so many cuts of Pam running through it that it must be the size of four football fields. It is interesting how Pam seamlessly moves from graveyard with a cityscape way in the background to an open field with dozens of people chasing her to a basketball court in the middle of Harlem without breaking a sweat, but that’s more a directing thing than a set thing. Anyway, outside was good, but inside was at times absurd. Pam’s house was filled with ornate Grandma Furniture with a Mickey Mouse toy and circa 1980 television with rabbit ears thrown in for good measure. The police station was some kind of warehouse or something I think, don’t know. I recognize this is low budget horror, but Grandma’s house just isn’t suitable for a rough looking fried-haired photographer who is more reminiscent of a biker chick than the love interest of a priest.
The acting was shaky across the board in Emerging Past, with the exception of the non-speaking creepy characters who were all great. There weren’t any speaking characters that I was buying though. Some of it was the script, but these folks didn’t seem to remember their lines very well and ad-libbing is not their forte. I was longing to hear someone say something in a way that a human being might actually say something. But alas, I was denied.
The result of all of this is a film that has so much promise, and likely markets very well, yet fails when it gets to the brass tacks of telling a story in an entertaining, scary and compelling way. Very good in theory, but not in practice, that’s Emerging Past.
Questions or comments about Emerging Past? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
Horror Movie Freaks is the FREE eZine from Best-Horror-Movies.com that will give you the new horror releases, the new horror news and the new horror reviews that you CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT!!
Subscribing is easy, painless and free.
Do it NOW!!
