B-MOVIE HORROR REVIEW SERIES #3: LONG TIME DEAD (2002)

[This is my 3rd of 3 blog posts on B-Movie Horror Flicks]

Long Time Dead (2002. Directed by Marcus Adams)

This little gem of a find is a low-budget UK horror film. The short and sweet of the plot, is after 8 crazy college friends mess with a Ouija board, they realize they’ve released a djinn (an Arabic hellish fire demon). This demon, having possessed one of the 8 friends, is now killing them off one by one. Only when they are all dead, can the djinn be set free. I won’t go too deeply into the plot, or give too much of a synopsis, as I don’t want to spoil too much for you.

Sounds like an unoriginal, run-of-the-mill slasher flick, right? Well yes, and no. While it does not fail to deliver the obvious clichéd horror aspects, I felt the director really made it fresh and so enjoyable to watch. This movie was at risk to go down the road of a disastrously cheesy film, but it was extremely engaging and suspenseful.

I was wonderfully surprised that the acting was really top notch and believable, with perhaps 1 or 2 slight exceptions. The cast had great chemistry together, and I found myself rooting for some of the characters. The major exception for me would be the American. I love how in every film and in every group of pals, there’s got to be that one git who is nothing like the rest of the crew. In this film, it was the random American bloke they had hanging around. Lulz.

I was intrigued by the gore/death sequences presented. Out of all of the deaths, the film only actually showed a few. The rest of the deaths were signified by blood, and perhaps a body found later. The first death is shown, and it was an intense way to set the tone. The second death was not actually shown (fully). This sort of annoyed me at first. I wanted to see some badass murder! When they continued with this theme, it began to grow on me. My mind started reeling with the possibilities of what could have happened to the character, and how the death played out exactly (and if you’ve got a twisted mind like mine, the death’s begin to get really imaginative!). There was also minimal gore, and the gore the film did show was tasteful (can gore be tasteful?) and not in your face. The deaths were also quite paced and spread out. We do get the first death in the first 10 minutes of the film, but the next one doesn’t come until close to 30 minutes later. This really built the tension for me. In between that time, there were multiple occasions where a character would be alone, wandering around some darkened place, and I was just WAITING for them to get it. It kept the suspense throughout.

I can firmly say I did not know who the person was possessed by the djinn. Obviously, the film has to heavily play up one character to seem like a candidate, but it’s never them! I changed my mind 3 times about who it was. Then I finally firmly said, “IT IS ______!” …2 minutes later ______ got owned. I loved that the movie fooled me with a twist. And speaking of twists, don’t dismiss this film until the very end. You may think the action is over, but it ain’t until those credits roll!

The lighting was great as well. A lot of the scenes were, obviously, dark and shadowy. The use of low lighting and of fire (a theme throughout the film) worked great. They played around with a number of camera angles, and some interesting POV angles, as well as flashbacks. Those were done quite well.

My last praise, which really made me so happy, was that this film was not glamorous in any way. You know how in most slasher moves, there’s always some chick with big tits who gets naked and gets killed in some horribly gory way? There is none of that. The girls in this movie were all extremely real and down to earth. There was no pervy attempt to get some glamour points, which so many horror films (especially b-movie horror films) do. It’s gritty and raw and realistic.

There are obviously a great many flaws of the film. While some of the music in the film was good (shout out to “In the Waiting Line” by Zero 7), they had the really annoying score playing during those JUMP scenes to intensify every moment. It got a little screechy and was overemphasized. Speaking of the jump scenes, there were MAYBE too many. Cheap scares here and there are appreciated, but let’s not overdo it! There were a few plot holes as well, but they weren’t a distraction from the film.

This is by no means a solid or perfect horror flick, but it exemplifies a really great B-Movie Horror. I love torturing myself by watching as many random, low-budget horrors, and as expected, few rarely stand out to me as a quality watch. What I want out of a B-Movie Horror are the following:

Are the characters likeable and actors believable?

Is the suspense carried throughout the film?

Is the plot easy to follow and well paced?

Is the gore/death tasteful?

Are the deaths/reason for murder justified by the end?

Does it throw me for a curveball?

I can firmly answer yes to all of these questions. I was thoroughly interested throughout the film, and enjoyed it. I would say that this is the perfect movie for a late night with a bowl of popcorn. It’s definitively a great date movie. Plenty of opportunities to console a date! It’s the perfect amount of scare and thrill to get a jolt, but not have nightmares after. I recommend this for a fun watch!