The Magnificent Dead – review

Director: Shane Scott

Release date: 2010

Contains spoilers


Whilst I have seen online commentary with regards this film suggesting that it is a zombie film, it most definitely is not. Indeed a watch confirms that it is firmly in the vampire genre but chooses to depict its undead as rotting, unpleasant corpses rather than go down the romantic vampire line. This is a brave choice, especially for a budget film, but despite the fact that it is clearly on a budget this was an engaging Western and did much well whilst managing to maintain a level of originality.

Laura at camp

It starts with Laura (Alexis Celeste Elliott) asleep at her camp. Something causes her to awake and she is suddenly surrounded by dead men… she wakes up. The next day, as she is looking for her beaver traps, she comes across Jared (David Lampe) a local rancher who owns most of the land surrounding the local town. He has beaver pelts and she mentions her pelts being taken – he points out that the traps are on his land and these pelts are his.

the stranger

In the town of Rosewood, the Sheriff, Bill (Walt Roberts), has found a drunk outside the saloon despite the early hour. When they turn him over, however, he is bloodied and manages to say “They’re coming…” it is clear that he has been bitten. They take him to the jail and summon Sister Rose (Lavelle White), she suggest they wire for the doctor. Bill is summoned by the mayor (Rick Perkins) for a public meeting at which he informs the town that the railroad have decided to use the town as a stop and points out the money it will bring.

Walt Roberts as Bill

The local priest, Father Harold (Jack Wilson), cautions that they need to consider how Jared will feel and notes he is a resident as well. Jared comes in, with cowhands in tow, claiming he was not invited to the meeting and saying that he’ll never allow the railroad to come as it will cut through his grazing land. Tempers flare, guns are produced but Bill intervenes. Father Harold declares that he is leaving for a spell, the greed of the locals having got too much.

Lavelle White as Sister Rose

The injured man is brought food by Etta (Feliz Dia McDonald) but she cuts her hand and he attacks her and bites her before Bill can drag him off. The railroad men turn up that day also, as does a new priest Father Julian (Joseph Fotinos), who says he was sent by the diocese to help Father Harold. That night Jared lures the railroad men out and he and his cowhands kill them all – Bill being fatally shot in the process. Come the morning the injured man appears to have died, his eyes black, Etta is ill (the arrived doctor suggesting a form of rabies) and Father Julian tells the townsfolk about people who could help them.

the crates

He suggests that he met a group in nearby Thorne – a gang of gunmen who saved that town. They do not fear death, he says, because they are lepers. They have never lost a gunfight. He convinces the townfolk to allow him to get them and send a couple of emissaries with him. They arrive in Thorne at night but the town is deserted (a curfew they are told). The leader of the gang, Ambrose (Gil Austin) eventually agrees to help them after the priest says “Do you want their blood spilt in vain?” In the morning they return home, Father Julian with a cart full of boxes – their possessions, he suggests, they’ve gone ahead.

staked

So, you will guess that they are in the boxes… the boxes contain earth and they cannot come out during the day. Leprosy is a way of explaining their appearance. They are explicitly invited into town by the mayor (though it is not clear that they needed the invitation). Julian is their servant and he desecrates the church as holy symbols are apotropaic. They line up against Jared and his men, are shot down, get back up and kill them all before rounding up the townsfolk as a larder. Luckily Laura was suspicious and went to Thorne and discovered the strung-up townsfolk (including Father Harold). The dead can be destroyed through stake to the heart or beheading.

vampire Ambrose

The dead can produce fangs. Father Julian has a grooved and pronged knife that can be stabbed into an artery and the blood poured down the channels, through the handle and into receptacles. He fills bottles with blood this way. They claim they can turn others and certainly it seems that the injured man was infected. However, after he dies he plays no further role and we assume he remains dead. Etta is drained of blood and, again, the lack of further appearance in the film suggests that she is dead rather than undead.

victims in Thorne

The acting is fair enough for a budget film, the makeup not consistent but effective enough. I was impressed with the practical effects used in the gunfights – though the corruption of a dead vampire was a bit hinky as an effect. However the film, for all its budgetary constraints, entertained me and I think that this probably deserves 5.5 out of 10, floating just above average for entertainment reasons if nothing else.

The imdb page is here.

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On Demand @ Amazon UK