Directed by Whit Whitman from a screenplay he crafted with Don Perrin, the horror film Unnatural takes us back to a version of the Old West that’s populated with ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night. Professional wrestler Al Snow stars as Dan Remington, a man who once had to perform an exorcism on his own wife... and sadly, the love of his life did not survive that ordeal. Once the demonic spirit that was possessing her exited her body, she died. And their neighbors and family blamed Dan for her death, accusing him of murder. Dan was hanged for this crime he didn’t commit. But he survived. And now, guided by the ghost of his wife, he has become a monster hunter.
That’s all back story we’ll come to learn as the movie goes on, but it starts with Dan arriving at the home of his estranged son too late to save his son or his daughter-in-law from a werewolf – but he does manage to kill the creature in time to save the grandchildren who never knew about him, young teens Jessie Remington (Charlee Carmicle), who has the ability to see ghosts, and therefore can see her grandmother’s spirit hanging around Dan, and Junior Remington (Samuel Wilson), who is highly intelligent and can fix or build pretty much anything. Although none of the surviving Remingtons seem to have been emotionally impacted by the murder of the loved ones by the werewolf, Jessie and Junior are able to convince Dan to take them with him when he leaves. Soon enough, grandma’s spirit has given Dan another mission to carry out: he needs to go to a town called Possum Trot, which is allegedly infested with vampires.
Problem is, the sheriff of Possum Trot – a town that has outlawed guns, doesn’t allow children to hang around after dark, and makes every visitor check in at the sheriff’s office – is extremely resistant to the idea of a vampire hunter wanting to come in and clean up his town. This is, of course, because the sheriff is at least in league with the vampires, if not a vampire himself. But Dan isn’t going to let this complication deter him from wiping out some bloodsuckers.
I have said it many times that horror and Westerns are two genres I love to see get mixed together, from Tremors 4: The Legend Begins to Bone Tomahawk, so I was interested in Unnatural from the moment it was brought to my attention. As I hoped, given the mixture of genres at work here, it turned out to be an enjoyable watch, even if I felt that it could have been trimmed down a bit from its 103 minute running time.
The scenes with the gruff and unemotional Dan bonding with the grandchildren who weren’t aware he existed are fun and charming, and they’re so entertaining to watch that you actually feel their absence when the film cuts away to spend time with other characters who aren’t as interesting as they are. So some of the scenes without the Remingtons feel like they go on too long – and honestly, the movie is so packed with dialogue, there are scenes that involve the Remingtons that make the movie feel like it’s dragging at times. It is very chatty, with long stretches going by without any sort of action.
Things get off to an impressive start with that werewolf attack, which even puts the werewolf on screen (something other low budget movies would have avoided), but don’t let that give you the idea that Unnatural is going to be action packed. Action only flares up a few times after that – but there is a cool sequence where Dan participates in a shootout with the assistance of his ghostly wife while an instrumental version of “Amazing Grace” plays on the soundtrack.
Unnatural has its down sides, including the fact that some scenes were so dark that I struggled to see anything on the screen, but I had a good time watching it overall. It’s also worth noting that the movie has a strong Christian religious element, which could make it play with faith-based audiences, although it also has harsh language that some members of those audiences would object to.
Unnatural ends with the promise that the Remington family will return in a sequel called Gates of Hell, and I look forward to it. I’m definitely interested in watching these characters take on more supernatural threats in a further adventure.
In the meantime, Unnatural is set to receive a streaming release on October 29th.
No comments:
Post a Comment