DYLAN DOG: DEAD OF NIGHT

DYLAN DOG: DEAD OF NIGHT (2010)
US
Directed by Kevin Munroe

CAST:
Brandon Routh - Dylan Dog
Sam Huntington - Marcus
Peter Stormare - Gabriel

PLOT:
     The adventures of supernatural, penniless nightmare investigator, Dylan Dog, who seeks out the monsters of the Louisiana bayou in his signature red shirt, black jacket, and blue jeans.

REVIEW:
     I first heard about Dylan Dog when it was going into pre-production back in 2008 and it went by the title Dead of Night. It caught my interest just because it sounded like it could be a fun movie, and a throw back to movies from the late '80s and early '90s. Then it seemed like the movie got stuck in production hell. Then toward the beginning of last year a trailer popped up on line with a new title.  Bad part about that is that it just said coming soon and no date was attached to it hence more waiting unfortunately. Well my wait is over and the movie is out, now to see if it lives up to my expectations.

     I'll go ahead and say that I think that Brandon Routh is underrated as an actor. He plays things low key and always with a hint of self depredation. Even when he played Superman a couple years back, he played him more low key. And here he is again playing it more to the vest at the same time though more open. Routh is the best part of Dylan Dog hands down. If the movie could have used more of someone though it would have been more Peter Stormare's Gabriel. Anytime he shows up on screen, he steals it, overacting and all. Even Taye Diggs does wonderfully in his role as the head of the vampires, playfully smug yet at the same time menacingly. As for Sam Huntington, I have nothing against him as an actor, I just found his character in the movie as grating more than anything else and at times kills the movie all together.

     Now I want to talk about the big bad in the movie. I was let down completely by it. It didn't pose a threat as big as they said it would and to really end its reign of terror, all you really had to do was pull the damn cross out of it's back. Done and over with. Another thing that didn't help is the terrible CG effects added to the big bad, as is just made it look like a science fiction channel monster reject due to it was just a little above their standards.This isn't to say that the rest of the creature effects in the movie are bad, quite the opposite in fact. The zombies each have their own look about them, they age each time you see them, and the funny thing is that they have to keep on buying newer body parts to replace the old ones that get to ragged. The vampires though look like they came from the Buffy T.V. series as they get a reptilian look to them when they go full vamp. The really bright spot in the creature feature section is the rouge zombie. The thing looks like a tank on feet and acts like one as well they way it plows through minor characters.

     I'm not going to say that I loved the movie, cause I didn't love it. I thought it was okay. There was just way to many flaws that kept bugging me throughout the movie. I know that it is basically a low budget horror movie (once it's funding cuts got done with they had 8 million dollars only to make it), but that doesn't mean you cut the story with comedy to make up for it. Another problem is that even though the movie was shot in New Orleans, it didn't have the atmosphere that permeates other movies shot or centered around the area. I've read a little bit of the comic series this was based on, and I must say that even though I like the humor they put into the Dylan Dog character they should have kept the character more downtrodden. Also, I really miss seeing the Groucho Marx chacater pop up even though I understand why the film makers didn't put him into the movie (the Marx estate wanted 8 million to use the likeness of Groucho, which would have left the production nothing to spend). The truly bright spot in the movie is the noir aspect of the story even though the script writers ruin what ever they build up with it with by putting in a comedic side story for Sam Huntington instead of keeping the story and movie darker. The best way I can put this movie is it's a mess that has bright spots in it even though those spots are razed by feeble attempts to add humor to the story.

BEST DEATH:
     Lobby floor shootout of the vampire variety with magnesium flares.

BEST LINE:
     We don't eat them, they don't shoot our brain stems.

FUN FACTS:
     Dylan Dog exist in the same world as Francesco Dellamorte from Dellamorte Dellamore.

     Both Dylan Dog and Dellamorte Dellamore were created Tiziano Sclavi.

     Dylan Dog is the top selling comic in Italy.