Archive for the ‘Film News & Reviews’ Category
One would think that being a grave robber was a hard enough career. But in writer-director Glenn McQuaid’s bumptious horror comedy, “I Sell the Dead,” it’s a one-way ticket to indentured servitude and terrifying encounters with the undead.
Set in a particularly fog-shrouded corner of 19th century Ireland, the film is a buddy story about a pair of no-luck grave robbers, crusty old drunk Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden in fully whiskered, slovenly oaf mode) and impish joker Arthur Blake (a particularly puckish Dominic Monaghan), who discover that successfully stealing corpses is the least of their concerns.
The result is smart, gruesome and inventive enough to more than please niche genre fans who are likely to spread the word to fellow admirers of gallows humor.
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Good news for those waiting to see this Dominic Monaghan-Ron Perlman horror-comedy I Sell the Dead. After touring festival for over a year and leaving their fans wanting, they’ve finally found US distribution, courtesy of IFC Films. IFC plans to release the film this August both theatrically and on Video on Demand services.
First, actor Dominic Monaghan was Beak, and now he’s Bolt — and finally, we get a good look at him in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
20th Century Fox raised some eyebrows when Monaghan was first announced in the role of Barnell “Beak” Bohusk in this week’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” A mutant who developed feathers and various other avian characteristics at an early age, Bohusk was criticized for his lack of heroic abilities — and was a strange addition to the film’s combat-minded cast of mutants. At some point in production, however, Monaghan’s role was changed to that of Chris Bradley, the electrical-powered mutant known as “Bolt.”
SPOILERS BEHIND THE CUT. DON’T CLICK IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED.
We updated the gallery over the weekend with screencaps of Dom’s performance in Spivs. Click here to view them all, including DVD production stills.
The joy behind this film is right there in the old-time, exploitation-tinged title. The grim undertakings of the storyline – about a pair of grave robbers whose trade turns more and more curious – is undercut by a devious irreverence. Irish writer-director Glenn McQuaid is out to make a horror comedy, in which the main players soon turn into bumbling bits of irony. Yet “I Sell the Dead” sports playful genre inventiveness, in which fans can delight and even outsiders can enjoy.
McQuaid fashions a flashback narrative structure, in which Father Duffy, played by Ron Perlman – that character actor who will inhabit offbeat historical roles forever – visits an imprisoned Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan), who awaits the guillotine for body snatching. While this confessional approach suggests the fatalism of something like “Double Indemnity,” the tone remains slight, thanks to light performances and a kitschy soundtrack.
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I Sell The Dead stars Dominic Monaghan as Arthur Blake, an 18th Century British graverobber. He’s been arrested for his crimes and is now locked up in prison awaiting his judgement, but before he faces the guillotine a priest (played by Ron Perlman) comes to talk to him. In the guise of confessing his sins Arthur brings us all back to when he was taught all about his morbid vocation by his cockney mentor/partner Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden) with whom he provided bodies for the local mad doctor, played by one Angus Scrimm.
I really don’t have to go on, do I? All the genre fans have already just run and bought tickets after reading that.
But it somehow gets better! Not only does this graverobbing duo have to deal with pissed-off relatives and competing body snatchers, they also live in a world populated by ghouls, vampires and zombies… among other things. This all makes their work a helluva lot more dangerous, but also a lot more profitable. After all, what scientist wouldn’t want to have their own Bub to perform tests on? Of course, things soon spiral out of control and our duo goes for one big job too many.
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We’ve already been told not to expect a shirtless Hugh on Sunday, but we refuse to give up all hope. So when we chatted with Jackman’s Wolverine costar Dominic Monaghan we pressed why exactly H.J. doesn’t just walk around naked all the time.
“Because he’s humble,” the cute, former Lostie dished. “I think he knows that he can make girls squirm, but he just is quite humble.”
That’s not the end of it.
So did you get a good look at Hugh’s bod during filming? He looks naked in every preview.
There would be scenes that he would just have to be! Just [Hugh] in his underwear. You can’t really help but check him out.
Did you like what you saw? Is his “sexy” title well deserved?
He actually is the sexiest man alive, and that’s coming from a heterosexual point of view. He’s the finest specimen of a male human I’ve ever seen in my life! I kept checking him out, and I was like, what is this muscle? How did that happen?
OK, then!
If we’ve learned anything from this chat it’s that you can count on us to purchase our Wolverine tickets in May. What better promotion is there than “Hugh Jackman” and “underwear” in one sentence? Still think Jack-doll would score much better Oscar ratings too if he showed a little bit of skin. Humble, shmumble.
ET has new details about a special three-night television event for Hugh Jackman’s eagerly anticpated new film ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine.’ Keep reading to find out more!
In the three-night, three-part event, viewers across the country will be able to watch one 60-second segment during FOX’s primetime line-up each night. The first part airs this Sunday (Feb. 15) during “Family Guy,” Monday’s (Feb. 16) will run during “House” and the final part will air on Tuesday (Feb. 17) during the telecast of “American Idol.”
Marking the first chapter in the ‘X-Men’ saga, the film weaves the origin tale of the adamantine-clawed Wolverine (Jackman) as he and other legendary mutants unite against powerful foes who are determined to eliminate their kind. This power-packed ‘X-Men’ prequel stars Liev Schreiber, Dominic Monaghan, will.i.am and Ryan Reynolds.
‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ claws its way into theaters May 1, 2009.
With a sub-million dollar budget, frames of comic book art and a cast full of character actors, the creators of “I Sell the Dead” seem to be gunning for a “cult classic” tag. This may very well happen thanks to the film’s stellar cinematography and actors’ enthusiastic performances.
The film centers around the misadventures of professional body snatchers Willis Grimes (B-movie producer/actor Larry Fessenden) and Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan), who begin to steal supernatural bodies at the behest of a sinister doctor (Angus Scrimm, best known as the Tall Man from “Phantasm”). Grimes is executed for his crimes in the opening of the movie and Blake has only hours before suffering the same fate, although he’s forced to undergo a pre-execution interview with a coarse-talking priest (Ron Perlman).
Director Glenn McQuaid adapted the idea from his short “The Resurrection Apprentice,” which showed at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival. The short was included in one of many vignettes culled from Blake’s colorful tales that he regales the priest. In fact, much of the movie is shown by flashback—and sometimes flashbacks within those flashbacks. Because of this, the story can feel little anecdotal, but the ghoulishly fantastic scenarios the hapless duo fall into keep the film fun.
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