The Dead Inside

The Dead Inside

2005/ Released 2009

Canada

Supernatural suspense

Frontline Films

Written, directed, produced, edited by Brian Clement

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

John Katzen and Lola Morgandy are detectives who specialise in paranormal events. The owner of a house has asked them to examine it, as he is having trouble renting it. Past tenants have disappeared, others have left after only a few days. They have reported nightmares and strange appearances. There is even a spot in the attic where gravity appears to work backwards. What the detectives find is far more sinister than a haunted house.

A previous tenant has been experimenting with interdimensional travel. It looks like he may have partly succeeded and part of our dimension has entered another one. The occupants of that dimension are trying to come through. They are “feeding” off the memories of the people in the house and substituting nightmares and memories that may or may not be real. Eventually they take control of the weakened minds of the tenants. If the tenants can’t leave the house before that happens they disappear into the other dimension. Entire families have been swallowed up.

Katzen and Morgandy enlist the help of Professor Fallstead, an astrophysicist, to try to sort out the problem. A rogue scientist Dr Koeppler is also in the house. He was experimenting in the same area of physics as the missing scientist and his wife disappeared during the experiment. This rather unprepared group must find a way to close the gap into the other dimension before its occupants finally become powerful enough to break through.

Despite being a low-budget one-man show, this is no amateur-looking film. The Dead Inside is very well crafted and beautifully filmed. The plot is more intelligent than the usual gorefest and the actors are very good in their parts. Chuck DePape (Katzen) particularly gets a part where he can show more character than the average hero of a film of this type and Bronwyn Lee (Morgandy) gives a great performance as his tough, unflappable sidekick. Jason Ward’s special makeup effects are skilful and not over the top. Even in the nightmare battle scenes he does not get carried away.

The film is set in the 1940s and the period look is well managed. Somehow the period seems just right for the film, yet it is suggested almost entirely by the cast’s costumes. This is a real tribute to the set dressers and costume directors.

It takes a little while for the plot to settle down and until then the viewer will be as mystified as Katzen and Morgandy. After that as the tension rises, the ominous feeling grows stronger as the players realise that they are being hunted themselves.

Brian Clement has departed a little from his earlier zombie films (the Meat Market films, Exhumed) and this film shows he has the talent to produce a good serious piece rather than just a me-too zombie flick. The Dead Inside has been selected for showing at a number of film festivals but seems little known outside this area. Hopefully this DVD release will correct that.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.5 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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