Check out Andrew's review of the upcoming Fire City!!!
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| "I am Groot." |
Continuing with the impetus established by Harbinger Down, practical special
effects make up company Amalgamated Dynamics is back with another unique
demonstration of their gifts for bringing horror movie monsters to vivid bloody
life!
Co-founder and CEO Tom Woodruff, Jr. (best known as
the Xenomorph in Alien 3) directs
what is essentially a cross between the noir cityscape of Sin City populated by the creatures in Nightbreed with his new film Fire
City: End of Days. While you could
immediately slap Fire City’s makers
on the wrist for stealing its
subtitle from the equally demonic Peter Hyams directed Arnold Schwarzenegger
vehicle End of Days, this is
otherwise a cool bit of anthropomorphic creature feature storytelling about a
demon in a sleazy and violent underworld who may have a bit more compassion in
his blood than his next of kin. Think of
an ensemble piece with many demons disguised as humans who thrive on human
misery as the premise with our observation of their interpersonal problems not
unlike our own as the narrative hook.
They might be inhuman monsters but their concerns and ways of life have
more in common with human frailties than first glance would lead us to believe.
As a movie, Fire
City isn’t so much a horror film or a standard thriller but rather a
character study of a demon experiencing internal conflict with
self-actualization. Episodic in form and
largely confined to the interior mazelike canals of the apartment complex
housing the film’s characters, think of Michael Radford’s Dancing at the Blue Iguana with demons instead of strippers. While the dour and dimly lit audiovisual tone
of Fire City is closer to Peter
Hyams’ aforementioned thriller than Blue
Iguana, it shares that film’s plotless structure in an attempt to exemplify
the similarities between the outsiders’ way of life and our own. It’s a little bit slow in pacing as a result
but then again I couldn’t get enough of scenes where the demons introspect on
their own inescapable alienation from the human race they prey on.
Much like Nightbreed,
it depicts a gang of inhuman misfits whose survival is threatened by human
forces and shows off a remarkable feat in special effects makeup
technology. In between shots, the demons
remove their human disguises so we can see all of their unholy physical
features, allowing viewers the chance to see the characters as their fellow
humans see them and as they are. Playing
with notions of Beauty and the Beast as
well as The Ugly Duckling and subtle
hints of Hellboy, Fire City uses the supernatural horror
premise to make a point about internal beauty as opposed to outward physical
appearances. It’s an age old premise
bordering on cliché but it still works effectively here thanks to Amalgamated
Dynamics’ effects team. Of course the
makeup effects work wouldn’t hold up if not for the actors who have to act
through layers upon layers of make-up and manage to overcome the obstacle of
displaying human emotions through all that latex and rubber. The first time we see the film’s loose
protagonist Vine, adorned with antler-like horns and demonic facial features,
we fear him. But by the time we’re
caught up in his story and see his human vulnerabilities, we’ve learned to see
past his intimidating appearance and there’s a wonderful moment where a little
girl sees him for what he is for the first time and displays affection instead
of terror.
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| "Look into my eyes......" |
Much like Harbinger
Down, Fire City is a tad
derivative and therefore not an original masterpiece. There are times when its budgetary limitations
result in bad CGI transitions such as a gaudy looking effect of a demon opening
its wings, offsetting the far more impressive physical effects work. As previously mentioned, the makeup for the
humanoid demons is technically stunning save for one creature that’s half-human
half-boar with mouth and jaw movements that make the dated animatronics in The NeverEnding Story look stronger by
comparison. Outside of the shortcomings,
Fire City is a cool watch populated
by characters you learn to care about and continues to prove Amalgamated
Dynamics’ point that there are no visual effects out there quite like practical
effects.
-Andrew Kotwicki
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