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Released 3rd July 2009
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Being honest, when the synopsis for this low-budget horror first dropped into the inbox, there was an initial buzz of excitement of a possible 2009 UK version of Flatliners - minus the A-List cast, of course. Coupled with that was the knowledge that promising Shrooms director Paddy Breathnach was at the fore of the project - yes, here’s admitting that Shrooms wasn’t a bad little psychedelic chiller in a universally difficult film genre to succeed in, even though it ripped off Blair Witch quite unashamedly. Plus, Breathnach stayed close to his roots and located Shrooms in Ireland, a place full of superstition, folklore and the like. But fast-forward two years to Red Mist. It’s set in the States - somewhere, anywhere, which automatically sucks any originality out of it, and puts it in danger of being another generic campus horror bore. It’s enough to make the red mist form in front of your very eyes at the lost potential of what such a story could have been, particularly as it was shot in Belfast and part-funded locally.
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Sadly, there is absolutely nothing original to comment on. The comatose psycho is the usual social misfit with a shocking past called Kenneth (played by Yorkshireman Andrew Lee Potts with a dodgy American accent), a freak who gets off on cutting himself. The victims are the average young, nubile and attractive medical students with a clichéd Goth who just happens to be the token Brit, Liz Hurley lookalike - and just as bad at acting as her. Surprise, surprise, they don’t like Ken, so they pump him full of drugs to stop him telling the hospital powers-that-be about their secret, illegal stash of party-time pills. Ken falls into a coma (so do we), and what happens next has been seen and done before, including the CCTV shots of Ken’s gloomy ‘out of body’ shadowy self roaming the hospital corridors, trying to find a warm body to inhabit and take revenge on the ‘in crowd’. It’s like watching a poor relation of The Ring.
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Aside from the constant déjà vu movie moments, there are some (unintentional) laugh-out-loud funny scenarios, including lead character Catherine, the student with the conscience, played by The Uninvited’s Arielle Kebbel, who happens on a risky medical breakthrough, knows exactly what cocktail of drugs to administer, and manages to do so to embattled Ken in a futile attempt to bring him back, without a soul seeing her do it - until creepy Dr Harris (Stephen Dillane) does. In addition, Breathnach seems to have a ‘panic moment’ about the lack of titillating flesh on display in the dreary clinical environment, so places Catherine in a forest in her dirty undies in a confusing scene that makes no sense - except for an ogling opportunity at Kebbel in her dirty undies. Oh, and there is also a blonde ‘cheerleader type’ medical student, all-American Kim (Sarah Carter) in her smalls, too, in a nightclub - for those who prefer blondes. That said we do give Kebbel full marks for trying to squeeze every plausible element out of her character to carry the weak plot onward.
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Really not sure what Breathnach was trying to achieve with this bloody film, expect to show (and unoriginally) how he can make a US-centric teen thriller to impress (or not) US studio bosses, in a bid to move across the pond? He would have been far better accepting and cashing in on what this film is; a low-budget UK flick, by filling it full of interesting home-grown talent and exploring the plot and character development from that perspective. Now, his second and much-anticipated project looks like it should have ’straight to DVD’ stamped on it to be lost in the archives for Breathnach’s own sake.
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By Lisa Keddie
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Synopsis
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Set in an American teaching hospital, follows a trainee doctor who administers an untested cocktail of drugs to a coma victim, who then wreaks revenge on the careless medics.
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Film Facts
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Official site: http://www.redmist-themovie.com/
UK Release Date: 3rd July 2009
Director: Paddy Breathnach
Writer: Spence Wright
Cast: Arielle Kebbel (’Catherine Thomas’), Sarah Carter (’Kim’), Stephen Dillane (’Dr Harris’), Andrew Lee Potts (’Kenneth Chisholm’), Michael J Reynolds (’Dr Stegman’), MyAnna Buring (’Shelby Kinter’), Michael Jibson (’Steve Maddox’), Martin Compston (’Sean Goodrich’), Colin Stinton (’Detective Carter’), Alex Wyndham (’Jake Kessner’)
Distributor: Revolver Entertainment
Certificate: 18
Run-time: TBC
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Video on Real.com
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Trailer:
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TWO CLIPS:
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