"Dead Above Ground" is a clichéd and rather dry but entertaining slasher.
**SPOILERS**
As a new school-year starts, students Jeffrey Lucas, (Josh Hammond) Darcy Peters, (Lauren German) Dillon Johnson, (Charlie Weber) Kelly Britton, (Keri Lynn Pratt) Latrisha McDermont, (Regan Gomez-Preston) Bobby Mooley, (Tony Denman) Jason Johnson, (Craig Kirkwood) and Zara Light, (Adria Dawn) gather together with Principal Hadden, (Stephen J. Cannell) for a screening of their film projects. When Jeff's is laughed at, he vows revenge before accidentally killing himself. A year later, when the next year starts, new student Chip Palmer, (Adam Frost) arrives and soon afterward, a vicious murder spree starts throughout the school, targeting the ones who had been marked for vengeance. Going through a séance to try to stop him, it only results in the murders occurring more rapidly. Racing to save the remaining friends, they find the reason behind the murders and the actual identity of the killings.
The Good News: This was a pleasingly decent slasher film. The best part is that this manages to stay watchable when there isn't that much slashing going on. Including the different police investigations and double-crossing with each other included within means that it's always twisting and turning, especially as the one who is set up through the crosses is one that couldn't have done it. That the evidence seemingly comes in against them is quite ingenious and does throw the trail off slightly is a nice surprise. When it decides to forego the detective stuff and go for the stalking, it's not that bad. The long black trench-coat and propensity for an ax as the central weapon make it a pretty imposing one, and the later mask used, which is burned and red and scarred, and it does have some creepiness to it. The first victim is the most interesting death of them all. The victim sits in his van, smoking pot and hears someone outside. Going out to check who's there, but in a real surprise, a vicious crow appears from out of nowhere and attacks him. He jumps back into the van but the crow is vicious and follows him into the van. With many bloody pick-bruises, he manages to escape the van but the killer is standing there ready to put an ax in his stomach. Another kill, where the killer traps a man inside his large Gothic mansion and eventually trapping him inside a closet. Hearing noises, he stabs a knife through the door in self-defense, and after seeing blood, he comes out to see he has accidentally stabbed his wife, and the killer then reemerges and viciously hacks him up with an ax. Sure, it's a cliché scene, but it's done nicely. All the others aren't that bad, as a victim gets a sword through the stomach, another gets his throat slit and a guy gets an ax in his stomach. Pretty average, but good enough for this one. This here has it's moments of potential.
The Bad News: For all it gets right, there's some things that don't really work. One of the main problems is that it's really slow pace. It's such a long time after the accident before the killings start happening with any frequency, with the majority of the middle section devoted to the police's investigation. Had it been broken up by a couple more kills to break up the monotonous yet entertaining police entertaining. It has an ability to seem boring and slow, and is a problem that can be hard to get through. Another problem is that there's a real dearth in the body count and gore. There's only a few deaths in the film, and most of them are just unspectacular as well. It barely registers as a half-dozen kills, and considering that there's a good dozen or more main characters in here, this lack of deaths is troubling. This means that, due to the unspectacular deaths and the similarity to many of them, this makes it way to light for being a slasher film. The unoriginality of it is another problem, as there's been tons of times that an outside has sworn vengeance on a group of individuals and soon after a mysterious accident, the group is soon slaughtered one-by-one by a sinister force with a connection to the original spurned person. It's been done to death and doesn't have any more new stuff to bring up. With a little more creativity, this could've been a halfway decent slasher film.
The Final Verdict: With some really big problems that might move this one down on most people's lists, this is instead a really decent one that will mainly appeal to the hardcore slasher enthusiasts. Otherwise, there's better ones out there in this particular genre that are better off being seen.
Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence
**SPOILERS**
As a new school-year starts, students Jeffrey Lucas, (Josh Hammond) Darcy Peters, (Lauren German) Dillon Johnson, (Charlie Weber) Kelly Britton, (Keri Lynn Pratt) Latrisha McDermont, (Regan Gomez-Preston) Bobby Mooley, (Tony Denman) Jason Johnson, (Craig Kirkwood) and Zara Light, (Adria Dawn) gather together with Principal Hadden, (Stephen J. Cannell) for a screening of their film projects. When Jeff's is laughed at, he vows revenge before accidentally killing himself. A year later, when the next year starts, new student Chip Palmer, (Adam Frost) arrives and soon afterward, a vicious murder spree starts throughout the school, targeting the ones who had been marked for vengeance. Going through a séance to try to stop him, it only results in the murders occurring more rapidly. Racing to save the remaining friends, they find the reason behind the murders and the actual identity of the killings.
The Good News: This was a pleasingly decent slasher film. The best part is that this manages to stay watchable when there isn't that much slashing going on. Including the different police investigations and double-crossing with each other included within means that it's always twisting and turning, especially as the one who is set up through the crosses is one that couldn't have done it. That the evidence seemingly comes in against them is quite ingenious and does throw the trail off slightly is a nice surprise. When it decides to forego the detective stuff and go for the stalking, it's not that bad. The long black trench-coat and propensity for an ax as the central weapon make it a pretty imposing one, and the later mask used, which is burned and red and scarred, and it does have some creepiness to it. The first victim is the most interesting death of them all. The victim sits in his van, smoking pot and hears someone outside. Going out to check who's there, but in a real surprise, a vicious crow appears from out of nowhere and attacks him. He jumps back into the van but the crow is vicious and follows him into the van. With many bloody pick-bruises, he manages to escape the van but the killer is standing there ready to put an ax in his stomach. Another kill, where the killer traps a man inside his large Gothic mansion and eventually trapping him inside a closet. Hearing noises, he stabs a knife through the door in self-defense, and after seeing blood, he comes out to see he has accidentally stabbed his wife, and the killer then reemerges and viciously hacks him up with an ax. Sure, it's a cliché scene, but it's done nicely. All the others aren't that bad, as a victim gets a sword through the stomach, another gets his throat slit and a guy gets an ax in his stomach. Pretty average, but good enough for this one. This here has it's moments of potential.
The Bad News: For all it gets right, there's some things that don't really work. One of the main problems is that it's really slow pace. It's such a long time after the accident before the killings start happening with any frequency, with the majority of the middle section devoted to the police's investigation. Had it been broken up by a couple more kills to break up the monotonous yet entertaining police entertaining. It has an ability to seem boring and slow, and is a problem that can be hard to get through. Another problem is that there's a real dearth in the body count and gore. There's only a few deaths in the film, and most of them are just unspectacular as well. It barely registers as a half-dozen kills, and considering that there's a good dozen or more main characters in here, this lack of deaths is troubling. This means that, due to the unspectacular deaths and the similarity to many of them, this makes it way to light for being a slasher film. The unoriginality of it is another problem, as there's been tons of times that an outside has sworn vengeance on a group of individuals and soon after a mysterious accident, the group is soon slaughtered one-by-one by a sinister force with a connection to the original spurned person. It's been done to death and doesn't have any more new stuff to bring up. With a little more creativity, this could've been a halfway decent slasher film.
The Final Verdict: With some really big problems that might move this one down on most people's lists, this is instead a really decent one that will mainly appeal to the hardcore slasher enthusiasts. Otherwise, there's better ones out there in this particular genre that are better off being seen.
Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence