Lornographic Material

I like Adam Green. He makes great cheese. His horror movies are horror movies for horror movie fans. This? This didn't feel like that. It felt like a horror movie for fans of Adam Green horror movies. I'm pretty sure that was intended.

It's been a long time since I've watched such a middle-of-the-road film. 2.5 stars is all this movie deserves, but it earns all 2.5. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if Adam Green was shooting for mediocrity, he fucking nailed it.

Digging Up the Marrow is another found-footage horror film. It does absolutely nothing new. The coolest part about the entire film are the drawings Ray Wise shows during the numerous (and mostly yawn-inducing) interviews. The character designs are great, but the actual special FX makeup and CGI is horrible. Nowhere is this more obvious than with the multi-armed thing that attacks them in the car. The last time I saw a computer-generated gaping mouth that bad was while playing Pac-Man in the 80s.

Back to Ray Wise for a moment. I hate that he was in this. He's a terrific actor, but he's an actor. A well-known actor. You know he's an actor. I know he's an actor. Adam Green plays himself, so it's weird that Ray Wise plays this Dekker character. The whole movie I'm saying to myself, "You're not Dekker. You're Ray Wise." 

The plot of the movie is ripped directly from Clive Barker's Cabal, or if you will, his film, Nightbreed. It's a pretty blatant theft too. There's this city underground where only monsters live. But the monsters aren't really evil. They just want to be left alone. Man is the truly evil one for wanting to disturb them... blah blah blah. The premise is stolen, and that's all you really need to know. 

The only way this movie really works is as a comedy, but only a handful of the gags and jokes are actually funny. Adam Green tries too hard with the "Oh lordy, this guy is crazy so I should whisper to the camera and roll my eyes constantly!" ala The Office. Adam Green's not a terrible actor, he's not a bad director either, but he sure as shit is not funny. 

In summation: Digging Up the Marrow isn't fucking terrible, but it isn't fucking great either. It's right in the middle. It's serviceable as a film. You will have watched a full movie if you finish this movie. I don't know what else to tell you. 

Final Judgment: On par with the really good short films you can find on YouTube and commercials for Halloween-themed cereal.