20130922: Horror Review--Dylan Dog

Dylan Dog

1. Production Fundamentals; reception
1. American live action feature length film, horror, comedy, mystery, PG-13, 107 minutes, 2010.
2. IMDB: 5.1/10.0 from 10,368 users. Estimated budget, 20 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 8% on the meter; 30% liked it from 14,853 audience ratings.
4. Directed by Kevin Munroe; screenplay by Thomas Dean Donelly.
5. Starring: Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) as Dylan Dog, Anita Briem (The Tudors) as Elizabeth, Sam Huntington (Being Human, US version) as Marcus, Taye Diggs (Private Practice) as Vargas, Kurt Angle (River of Darkness) as Wolfgang, Peter Stormare (Fargo) as Gabriel.


2. Setup, Plot
1. In previous years, Dylan Dog was an arbiter of all issues among undead parties; he was respected by all, and he helped keep the peace.  Something went badly wrong, though, and now he is a private detective who investigates infidelity for the most part.


2. A killing by a werewolf draws him back into the fray.  The victim is Elizabeth's father, an importer (well, smuggler) of rare items.  He is rumoured to have an object of rare power which will change the balances among the undead factions.


3. Elizabeth hires Dylan to find her father's killer, but the movie is about Dylan trying to circumvent an all out war among the undead.  Along the way, we meet werewolves, vampires, zombies, and ghouls (humans who mainline on vampire blood for strength and youth).


4. Much of the action is about finding the Heart of Belial, which is sufficient to bring back Belial himself, a  demon of unsurpassed strength.  Vargas wants to use Belial to put down all the other undead factions.  Then again, so does someone else, which is an interesting twist.


3. Conclusions
1. The IMDB and RT ratings were impressively bad; see the technical scores below.
2. One line summary: This is an enjoyable supernatural action film if you don't read the comic first.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Always good.


2. Sound: 10/10 Fine. The actors were well-miked, and the incidental music was good.


3. Acting: 7/10 Anita Briem was really weak, but I enjoyed most of the other characters as played by Routh, Stormare, Angle, Huntington.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 The story has a well-defined beginning, a long middle, and a conclusive ending.  Exposition of motivation was fine.  I read other reviews after seeing the film, and I'm glad I never looked at the comic of the same name.  Most of the negative energy against the film seemed to arise from the fans of the comic.


5. Special Effects: 8/10 Mostly good.