Edges of Darkness

Distribution via Shoreline Entertainment

Web: http://www.shorelineentertainment.com

Web: http://www.edgesofdarkness.com

Edges of Darkness is a strange, even surreal series of interlocking horror tales set amidst the apocalypse when zombies roam the streets and society has collapsed into ruins. The first twenty minutes or so offers a bloody exploration of the zombie ridden state of the world with lots of flesh eating, limb tearing and general gore ridden madness. Then we focus in on a couple holed up in an apartment. They seem like a nice average couple under quite some stress from the zombie onslaught. They haven’t eaten in days and the husband Stan, promises wife Stellie, he will retrieve some food he has been able to get hold of and has stored in the car when he can. We then realize that the story is a little darker than we first thought, their food source is a young girl and we realize Stan and Stellie are vampires. However, as they feed on their young prey, it seems things are not as they seem and soon her captors are becoming weaker and weaker every time they feed.

Dean and Dana are a young married couple. However, they are not as happy as they once were. Dean is so obsessed with his writing (which strangely seems to mirror the stories which are unfolding), that he is cold to the death and destruction around him and is alienating his young wife. Indeed Dana has become so isolated that she talks to a zombie who visits her window and, in a rather surreal dream sequence, dreams of escaping with the undead to alleviate her boredom. Dean receives a new computer chip in the post and after installing it strange and mysterious things begin to occur. It seems that this processor can run without electricity by searching for any available life force and that includes, ultimately, Dean himself…

As the stories Intertwine, we meet Heather who is a true survivor; she has battled the zombies and learned to stay alive at any cost. She finds Shamika, a young mother and her young son Marcus in trouble and having lost her own son to zombies, saves them and takes them to her home. We soon learn that Marcus is actually the Anti-Christ and that the zombies are God's means of purifying the planet. (As Marcus so eloquently explains, he did it before with Noah and the Flood and is doing it again) Heather now decides to protect young Marcus from a strange cult of priests out to kill him in the hope to sustaining life on earth !

Edges of Darkness is clearly a low budget film but shows buckets loads of innovation and creativity. It packs in the blood and gore, looks excellent, has some truly superb sound effects (the cracking of bones and splintering of heads never sounded so good) and certainly sustains the action. Many low budget films have problems with wooden acting and questionable performances, no such hassle here, everyone is more than up to the job and there is actually some fairly impressive character development. The vampire couple, for example, are not just "vampires" but are fleshed out with their own unique personalities, follicles and dispositions.

The plot is intriguing and mixes together three different strange tales into the background zombie story. It is an unusual film which is a little hard categorize on as it mixes a high gore zombie film with a series of "Creepshow like tales". This makes it an odd yet very successful cult horror film.