Customer Reviews

The Dead Matter: 3-Disc Deluxe Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoyed Midnight Syndicate's new movie The Dead Matter. It's horror with a twist. It has scary stuff, humor, and twists and turns where the unexpected happens. It's not predictable in any way. Just when you are getting comfortable something weird happens that kind of catches you off guard.

The actors gave good performances on the whole. My favorite actor in this actually had a very small role -- Tom Savini, who played Sebed, a vampire lord. I agree with another reviewer that the movie isn't very scary but it does have some moments. The music that plays throughout adds a nice touch of creepiness. The lighter moments make this a rather unique horror film.

I like the extras on this dvd, they will certainly entertain you for hours.

I love horror movies. I am espeically fond of scary, slapstick ones. This one fits the bill perfectly. I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion with Edward Douglas (Midnight Syndicate) and Jason Carter at Dragon Con for a special screening of The Dead Matter. It was fantastic. Even Edward, the creator behind the film, stated that certain parts were meant to be funny.

My four year old and I are also big zombie movie girls and this fit the bill perfectly. Not to mention, it has Jason Carter in it from the television series Babylon 5.

I recently viewed The Dead Matter and genuinely enjoyed it. For a low budget movie, I think the makers got maximum bang for their buck. The movie is entertaining, funny at times, and overall very solid. I have watched it a couple more times and like it even more.

I like the night scenes out in the woods the best. Best character? The vampire hunter played by Jason Carter. He's a good actor.

The music on the Dead Matter Cemetery Gates disc appears throughout the movie. Fragments of some songs from that disc were used during the entire movie. It adds to the creepiness.

The movie overall is good and most of all, it's entertaining. The fun aspect of the plot adds another dimension to the horror.

I'm not a vampire (except Twilight!) or scary movie type of person. Actually, I usually don't care for them at all. But I saw this movie with some friends and was very pleasantly surprised - it's got some funny stuff! The gotcha and scary scenes aren't too overboard making me want to look away or turn it off. It was a very fun and entertaining flick!

I went to "The Dead Matter" world premiere on Sat. Oct. 3rd 2009 at "Tower City Ctr." in Cleveland, OH., I'll tell you what this movie was well done and may become a Cult favorite down the road. Edward Douglas really knows how to make a good movie, He originally made this movie in 1996 on a minimal budget, Douglas was never really happy with the final results of This film. In 2007 he was given an estimated $2,000,000 to re-do the film the way he had intended, The whole film was shot from August 6th through Sept. 1st 2007. This just shows how Douglas and His Crew can make a Very Good movie when you have the Budget to do so. Also the music by "Midnight Syndicate" flowed so smoothly through out the movie, It just made the movie even more enjoyable to watch. It's a different type of Horror movie, with a twist and not a lot of gore. I don't know when this movie will be released domestically, but if you do get a chance to see it - DO NOT MISS IT!

If your tired of Hollywood horror that do not deliver then this is a movie for you. It has blood, guts, zombies, vampires, glowing amulet, spells and so much more. If you love old school horror from the 80's then you need to buy this movie.

I loved this movie. Filmed at the Mansfield Reformatory added a super huge dose of creepiness to this flick. Special effects kicked butt, the score was super eerie and the writting was just DAMN good. Thinks 80s horror satire. And, with Tom Savini, you can't go wrong. Cheesy B-tastic movie! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

"The Dead Matter" has raised the bar for independent horror movies big time! The production values (direction, photography, music, lighting, sound) are of Hollywood quality, but unlike Hollywood (fortunately!) "The Dead Matter" has a unique and engaging story that unfolds throughout the film's entire run-time. In fact, it isn't really fair to call "The Dead Matter" a horror movie - it's much more than that - it's a supernatural movie.

Most Hollywood horror movies these days are remakes or are so 'by-the-numbers' you pretty much know everything that is going to happen after the first 5-10 minutes. "The Dead Matter" follows multiple stories that converge in the final frantic 20 minutes. The plot melds so many different supernatural elements that it's reminiscent of the creativity the old Shaw Brother's horror movies used to exhibit in the 1980s. Those movies, like "The Dead Matter" didn't follow the rules of horror genres; they created their own supernatural mythologies.

This review wouldn't be complete without mentioning the excellent actors assembled for this movie, including b-movie favorites Tom Savini and Jim O'Rear, but it is the welcome return of Jason Carter that really sets this one apart from its indie contemporaries. Jason Carter may be best known for his role on the TV series Babylon-5, but he really shines in "The Dead Matter". I hope this film re-energizes his career so we see him in more horror and sci-fi films.

If you're looking for something engagingly-different with Hollywood production values, "The Dead Matter" is for you!

[...]

If you're a regular visitor of NightmaRevue... hell, if you're an irregular visitor (I'm talking the OTHER definition, not the "I need some Ex-Lax" type of irregular), or if you've never seen the site at all, if you're into the dark and spooky odds are you're aware of Midnight Syndicate. The duo, comprised of Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka, has been crafting elegantly moody music since 1995. If you visit Hot Topic or one of the annual Halloween specialty shops that tend to pop up these days, odds are you've seen their CDs for retail (and, hopefully, found a place in your CD collection for some of their offerings).

Way back in 1995, our kindly Mr. Douglas made a film called The Dead Matter for two grand. Now, with co-production from Robert Kurtzman (for whom Midnight Syndicate wrote and recorded the score for his film The Rage) and Gary Jones teamed up with Midnight Syndicate Films, Edward's been able to remake his vision on a much grander scale...


The Dead Matter has two two main parallel storylines that converge every now and then until coming into direct conflict in the film's final half hour. One of these is focused on Gretchen (Sean Serino), a young woman troubled by the recent death of her brother. To the unease of her boyfriend Mike (Tom Nagel) Gretchen has obsessively turned more and more to the occult in attempts to contact her deceased sibling, including recruiting the talents of Jill (C.B. Spencer), a dabbler in supernaturalism herself who, when we first see her, is carrying a grimoire of her own. Mike's buddy Frank (Christopher Robichaud) who works in a commercial laboratory developing weight-loss products tags along for the "what the hell, why not?" factor and ends up falling in love with Jill along the way. Scientist and spiritualist, two great tastes that go great together.

On a night's gathering for a seance, our four intrepid spookseekers find a peculiar scarab amulet on the ground in the forest. Gretchen keeps it, puts it on, and is delighted when, during the seance, it seems to somehow call up or activate spirits that zip through the air around and through our now surprised foursome. Gretchen soon discovers that the scarab gives her the power to command the dead, a skill that becomes only too apparent when a single silent, roughed-up zombie shows up at her beck and call.

Our second major plotline follows an intense vampire of the old school badass variety who goes by the name of Vellich (Andrew Divoff, from Wishmaster and Lost). He recently had the scarab amulet himself and had been using it to cause havoc and horror with an undead army until vampire hunter McCallister (Jason Carter of Babylon 5 fame) showed up and wrecked his plans. He begins a new search for the artifact and comes into conflict with an enclave of vampires led by the sarcastic and insulting Sebed (horror genre stalwart Tom Savini). Sebed, who seems to use drug traffic as his reins of power over his fellow vampires, favors a more modern outlook on vampirism than the ye olde world style of Vellich, and the two have a strong, unhidden contempt for each other.

So... "good guys" versus "bad guys" you think, right? Not entirely. Once the character I found myself thinking of as "servitor zombie" - a partner of McCallister's who died earlier in the film at Vellich's capable, savage hands - is introduced, the film takes some interesting time to show how our human foursome react to the sudden intrusion of the macabre into their world. Poor Gretchen falls deeper into her obsession with making contact with her dead brother, Jill is horrified at the abomination Gretchen's new bauble has wrought, and Frank, ever the scientist, ignores matters of spiritual morality and goes straight into obsessing about getting the walking cadaver into the lab for rigorous study. Gretchen's poor boyfriend is left in a doubting but hopeful stance as his instincts tell him Gretchen's wrong yet he wants to do what he can to support her and help her with her pain.

In general, the majority of your straightforward horror films present the monsters - if such a film should HAVE a monster - as a threatening OUTSIDER. We occasionally get glimpses from its point of view sometimes, at least in a physical sense, usually to build tension, but the story is never related from that monster's point of view. In such films monster is a chaotic, destructive element that afflicts our protagonists and their world, and, well, that's about it until its Achilles' Heel is discovered, the protagonists escape, or the protagonists themselves succumb. You don't look in Hannibal Lector's head, watch Dracula hatch his schemes and discuss them over with the house vampiresses, or get to understand the natural hunting proclivities of the Wolf Man. These creatures are the threats to the people we're SUPPOSED to identify with, the characters they present a clear and present danger toward.

The Dead Matter is of a school of genre film that has extended the perception box's dimensions out enough that the monsters themselves take on more aspect of fully developed characterization, perhaps even humanization. It becomes less about an outside threat and more about a consistent universe in which all of these entities coexist and come into conflict for various reasons. It's horror fantasy, really. In the past Midnight Syndicate has written and recorded music inspired by and aimed at fans of fantasy roleplaying with a licensed Dungeons and Dragons themed album. Those familiar with TSR's old 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Ravenloft campaign setting products will feel a nostalgic pang of memory deep in their twisted, black hearts, because, aside from the modern setting, it's contextually very similar to the sort of gaming one might have on the central nations of Barovia (Dracula-based) or Darkon (armies of undead rising on a commander's whim) in the game world's core. It's still horror - terrible, frightening, and revolting things happen - but the scope has been pulled out enough to allow monsters to be true gothic villains and our heroes to have all-too-tragic flaws. Throw in a heaping helping of "Powers beyond the scope and understanding of humanity" as the scarab's effects on not just the world and the dead but on Gretchen herself become more powerful and potent, and you've got The Dead Matter to a "T."

Its melding of horror and fantasy elements aside, The Dead Matter has a lot going for it. The makeup effects are, as would be expected from a person of Kurtzman's history - excellent - and the film's decision to use purple as its supernatural accentuation color as opposed to the usual tropes of, say, red or that X-Files reminiscent neon green, is a welcome change and nice to see as a Midnight Syndicate fan because it's so often incorporated in the group's album art. If they have a signature color, purple is it, and it just adds the right Midnight Syndicate feel to the proceedings. Digital effects work seems to be have been kept to a minimum such as when there's no other physical effects option that can precisely illustrate what needs to happen onscreen. When they happen, they aren't WETA quality, but they're not budget basement Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie dreck, either. Acting and writing are solid for the most part with the occasional rocky moment here or there, but nothing that'll come close to sinking the ship as a whole. The music, also the work of Edward Douglas, is another exemplary addition to the Midnight Syndicate catalog.

Do I have any stronger criticisms of the film that I haven't mentioned? Yes. A subplot detailing potential vampiric involvement in Frank's pharmaceutical place of employment appears almost too suddenly with too few threads tying it to the main plot. It would have been nice to have had this interesting connection elaborated on some more. Likewise, I personally would have enjoyed more depth to the Vellich/Sebed relationship - not different, but more. But, again, none of this sinks the film.

The sort of blending of Fantasy and Horror that you see with The Dead Matter just isn't something you see much. The Underworld films are too action-and-effects-centric, the Twilight films are juvenile in aim and lack any real horror, and Interview with the Vampire seemed almost as if I'd somehow come across a Highlander sequel with vampires instead of immortals or whatever the hell McCloud's race call themselves. The Blade films lack the subtlety and all of the above lack the morbidity.

As a first commercial release in the independent horror film market, The Dead Matter is a solid entry for Edward Douglas and Midnight Syndicate. It aims to do a little bit of everything and is actually able to succeed. Plus, they've thrown in a feature-length making of documentary and a number of Midnight Syndicate music videos to keep the fans satisfied. Hopefully with this one out of the way Edward and crew will find themselves soon in position to take what they learned on this production and bring us even more visual goodness from the Midnight Syndicate label.

An unexpected arrival just recently, is this triple feature compendium of the film 'The Dead Matter' with soundtrack, and the Halloween music collection, which is essentially a "best of Midnight Syndicate" release, intended for Halloween spookshows and even personal celebrations. Having appreciated the compositions of Midnight Syndicate since discovering them at a Halloween shoppe circa Realm of Shadows, and then on through The 13th Hour, it is a pleasing surprise.

The Dead Matter {film & soundtrack}

Plotline 1: Two Vampire Warlords argue about the so-called "new way" and the "old ways". Tom Savini plays a mafia-like character named Sebed, to Andrew Divoff's more traditional vampire role as Vellich, although both register as "evil" personalities. Sebed prefers plasma injections versus the cinematically common blood ingestion of Vellich, who has a trick or two up his sleeve, granting him the advantage after all.

Plotline 2: A group of friends find an Egyptian scarab medallion in the woods, so predictably, just like with Ouija boards, one of the girls named Gretchen {reminiscent of Queen of The Damned} decides to play around with The Occult and have a seance to call forth her recently deceased brother. They take on more than they can handle*, and end up with a zombie, rotting away, but following her every instruction. She familiarizes herself with the relic's basic possibilities a bit, but it is not until the end when she becomes 'possessed' by a Necromantic entity that its full potential is unleashed.

Plotline 3: Besides the vampire vs. vampire scenario, there is also a "Van Helsing"-like vampire hunter named McCallister, who actually 'crosses' the line between battling the nosferatu, quelling the zombie, and providing ritualistic advice to the obsessed / possessed Gretchen.

Apparently made on a condensed budget, this film has a rather 'made for TV' vibe to it, probably due to the fact that this was obviously recorded on videotape instead of film grade, but the production value really makes up for it in the above average acting, special effects, soundtrack, and intriguing dual plot, where it really counts. A fun little movie one may encounter during a late-night Halloween season broadcast.

Special features include a blooper reel, a making of featurette with interviews, film commentary, behind the scenes footage, and music videos by Midnight Syndicate {one of which gives the impression of the 'Goosebumps' theme}, as well as three rather impressive fan-made creations.

The soundtrack is appreciated for what it is, with dramatic action-adventure / horror / thriller orchestrations to accentuate scenes, characters, and activity, but can very well stand on its own, though not quite comparable to an individual opus.

Film: 3.5/5 | Soundtrack: 4/5.

Halloween Music collection

Contains 22 selections from Gates of Delirium, Realm of Shadows, Vampyre, The 13th Hour, "Out of The Darkness", & "Cemetery Gates", the latter which is the first recording since The 13th Hour; although in My estimation, that and the previous releases are the absolute best from Midnight Syndicate, and along with Nox Arcana (personal favorite), are ideal for Halloween festivities.

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* The warning on the back cover of Necronomicon comes to mind: "...these rites may expose you to psychological forces of which you may not be able to cope!"