Available at Amazon.com
Written and Directed by
Jake Kennedy
Cast
Tom Eplin ………. Chad
Sabrina Gennarino ………. Lin
Travis Brorsen ………. Steve
Roshelle Pattison ………. Mimi
John Lee Ames ………. Trent
Bryan Rasmussen ………. Slasher
Eric Stuart ………. DJ
Chris Ivan Cevic ………. Simon
Marian Tomas Griffin ………. Kylie
Ashley Elizabeth Pierce ……….. Jane
William Cannon ……….. Herbert
Run Time: 85 minutes
Rated R
DVD Release date: January 8, 2008
If you like traditionally “good” movies, then Days of Darkness is not for you. The acting is rough around the edges. There aren’t any recognizable actors, though one does resemble DJ Qualls. The dialogue is awkward. The movie puts on a clinic on “how not to film an action sequence.” The plot doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. There is a car salesman character named Slasher. You get the idea. It’s not Oscar bait, but if you are a fan of the grindhouse, ’70s drive-in movies, or general zombie shenanigans, Days of Darkness will have a certain appeal. I mean, you have to appreciate a zombie movie that only has 2 minutes of backstory before the zombies show up.
Days of Darkness takes the time to set up it’s own zombie rules. Generally, the zombies we find in movies are the result of some sort of simple virus or bacteria. Infection is often spread through bites. In this film, however, a more complicated organism is responsible: a parasite released from a comet’s collision with earth. We never really see how new zombies are made or how the infection spreads apart from a vague notion of breathing zombie-comet dust. We do know a bit about the parasite, though. This parasite works in humans in a manner similar to how the barnacle Sacculina works in crabs. That is, to say, the parasite castrates a male zombie and makes him grow a parasitic embryo in place of his genitalia. Unlike Sacculina, this parasite seems to cause its female victims, at least on occasion, to sprout giant man-raping penises.
So, I’m not really sure whether writer/director Jake Kennedy has never read Freud, or has read way too much Freud. Aside from parasites blending gender roles, the film seems more sexually aware than other horror flicks. In these sorts of movies can often diminish female sexual roles to that of virgins and whores, while not acknowledging anything else or any male sexuality. This film doesn’t seem content to stay within these boundaries. Here are our 11 main characters:
-Sexually frustrated man
-His virginal girlfriend who, despite staving off sex until engagement, seems pregnant
-Sexually ambivalent bible spouter
-Muscular black man who was at a strip club when the zombies started showing up, and who is forced to wear a woman’s shirt
-Slasher, who was also at the strip club
-A retired porn star, who won’t stop talking about all the porn she’s done, including bestiality
-Porn star’s virgin daughter who wears a fetish schoolgirl outfit
-A macho, machete-wielding, homosexual mourning the loss of his partner and daughter
-An aged action movie star, who wields a large gun, but who just can’t seem to use it well
-A macho woman with “military training” who just can’t seem to find a boyfriend
-A zombie chained up in the basement whose penis has fallen off.
So draw your own conclusions there.
The DVD
Audio and Visual
The movie looks and sounds fine.
The Extras
There are subtitles, and a bunch of trailers for movies like Haunted Forest.
