MovieChat Forums > Dark Moon Rising (2009) Discussion > Watched this last night. (Mini Review)

Watched this last night. (Mini Review)

posted 14 years ago by Majin
3 replies | jump to latest

It's available on Comcast On Demand under movies. Cost some money but I figured why not.

In short...it's not that good. I can see what the filmmakers were trying to do and it's shot well and has good special effects, but the movie is WAY too long. It's over two hours, and with some of the dialogue and acting the film has, it should not've been that long. There are scenes that don't make any sense and need to be edited out of the movie. The performances are a mixed bag, with Max Ryan, Billy Drago, and Sid Haig being the best of the bunch. Chris Mulkey and Ginny Weirick are good with what they have, and Chris Divecchio has mixed moments. But Maria Conchito Alonso was cringe-worthy to me, I mean, seriously, everytime she opened her mouth I muted the movie.

All in all it'd be better if they trimmed about a half hour out of the movie, and they'd easily be able to, I think. As is it's a passable monster flick that could've been alot better.

"IMDB: Where Intelligent Film Discussion Goes To Die" - Scott 'The Foywonder' Foy; Dreadcentral.com

[–] Hantise 14 years ago

I watched it last night and have to agree with pretty much everything you said. It could have been way shorter, given the subject matter and the pacing of the story. I didn't find Maria Conchita Alonso that bad, but she seemed like she didn't want to be there and her performance suffered for it. The two new actors weren't bad. Like you said they were good for what they had. I do think Drago, Haig and Lin Shaye carried the movie. I liked Max Ryan but he seemed too hammy to me a lot of the time. Maybe if he just pulled back a little I would have liked him better. Lin Shaye needed more screen time I think. The special effects were good and I liked the desert landscape.
One thing I was wondering about was the jail scene between Drago and Ryan. When Drago is flashing back to an earlier time when he was interrogating Ryan. Was my cable glitching or did yours have that entire scene filled with static in the background? I'm kind of hoping it was the cable and not them going for some arthouse effect. Did yours play that way too?
You're right, it's good for what it is, but could be much better with some editing fixes. For the guys first movie, it's not bad.

[–] Majin 14 years ago

That was not your TV, that was indeed an art house effect to make it seem more 'flashback-like.'

And I never really thought Max Ryan was hammy. He was actually far more low-key than I thought he was going to be.

The other thing that drove me crazy was the werewolf effects. They looked exactly the same as one another when transformed so the finale was incredibly confusing. And why was Chris just standing there after changing and letting Max go after everyone? He waits like five minutes to fight him. o_O

"IMDB: Where Intelligent Film Discussion Goes To Die" - Scott 'The Foywonder' Foy; Dreadcentral.com

[–] Hantise 14 years ago

Oh no. I was really hoping it was my cable glitching. That static drove me crazy! I agree about the werewolves looking the same and it did make it confusing on who to root for in the finale. Can't answer you on why he waited to go after Max. Seemed like maybe he was making sure the girl was safe, but hard to be sure.
I just wish they would have taken more time and care to make sure all those editing goofs were gone, especially with the guns. Did you notice how sometimes the gunshots had a flash to them and sometimes they didn't? That was a little annoying and could have easily been fixed I would think.
All things considered it could have been much worse. Just think if Ulli Lommel did it. We'd have 40 minutes of dancing, giggling werwolves!