Fading of the Cries is a muddled mix of genres and intentions, a low-budget vanity shoot of special effects more appropriate for YouTube than a feature film, held together by the wonderful Brad Dourif, who, I swear, doesn't even read scripts anymore. So long as he gets to glower and wear a black cape he's fine.
But at least it's not boring. Two storylines are going on here. First is that of a writer (Thomas Ian Nicholas) who moves into the baffling Victorian house in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, a house where an evil necromancer, I mean necromincer, I mean necromizer, once lived. He uncovers a book from under the floorboards, a Necronomicon. I mean, Necromizercon. The writer of course starts toying with powers that he shouldn't be toying with, and resurrects the necromancer, I mean necromizer, I mean Brad Dourif.
The second storyline takes place fourteen years later, when the writer's teenage niece Sarah puts on her uncle's Amulet of Plot Device. After a solid ten minutes of characterization, she's immediately attacked by hordes of zombies and is only saved by the dashing Jacob (Jordan Matthews), a blank-looking teenager with a samurai sword and a long black coat that looks suspiciously like it was purchased at JCPenney's. Jacob seems to have studied acting from the book of Keanu Reeves, and he stares, rather than acts, through the movie, only stopping to slice at zombies.
Wait, you say. A samurai sword in a zombie movie? An "ancient curse" which has been around for all of fourteen years? Ancient caverns built under a modern California suburb? Keanu Reeves? None of it makes sense. Sets and plots are moved between without the pretense of transition, a zombie movie walks into a Victorian horror walks into the Evil Dead (sans whimsy), and no one bothers to shut the door behind them.
Which, in its own giddy way, is kind of fun, once you get over the suburban scenes and low-budget CGI. The movie is certainly better when it's straight-up silly fantasy rather than a suburban zombie horror (we certainly don't need any more of those.) There are piles of bodies, a lot of green screen, and a few memorable baddies (the Clive Barker-looking Malyhne needs her own movie, for real).
Plus, Dourif has a long history of glowering majestically, and he does not disappoint. He spends his scenes decked out like Aleister Crowley, delivering silly lines with utmost professionalism, as if he were the only one this seriously, and is wondering why everyone's laughing. Really the only person able to stay in the same room as Dourif without being upstaged is the sassy younger sister Jill (Mackenzie Rosman, 7th Heaven).
Clearly Jill is the real heroine. Screw you, Sarah. I hope you get eaten by zombies.
DVD Bonus Features
A standard 15-minute behind the scenes featurette, where Dourif talks at length about the movie as if he read the script beforehand. Also some trailers.
"Fading of the Cries" is on sale November 15, 2011 and is rated R. Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Indie. Directed by Brian A Metcalf. Written by Brian A. Metcalf. Starring Brad Dourif, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Mackenzie Rosman, Elaine Hendrix, Jordan Matthews.
