The Plague (Writer Director's Cut) (2006) - By Duane L. Martin

Film Reviews: The Plague (Writer & Director's Cut) (2006) - By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Thursday, July 02, 2009 @ 01:13:02 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

This film is the writer & director's cut version of the actual DVD release of The Plague, which has Clive Barker's name attached to it even though he had nothing to do with the film other than putting up the money for it. This version isn't really supposed to be passed around or sold because it's not the official version released by the studio. So why is it being circulated here and there in sort of an underground way? Because, long story short, director Hal Masonberg basically had his film taken away from him in post, at which point it was chopped all to hell and totally screwed up. What resulted was an official cut (read: studio cut) of the film that bore little resemblance to Hal Masonberg and co-writer, Teal Minton's vision.

You can read all about in his Rogue Cinema interview from June 2009 here: http://www.roguecinema.com/article-1705--0-0.html

You can also go here: http://www.spreadingtheplague.com

That's the site all about this cut of the film and contains a petition you can sign to try to get Sony to stop being a bunch of douche bags and actually release the real version of the film. There's tons of info there on everything about this cut of the film.

Long story short, the general consensus is that the official DVD release from the studio is generally just...well, crappy, for lack of a better word. Why? Honestly, I couldn't really tell you since I've never seen the official release. I can tell you that after reading Hal's interview, it doesn't surprise me really that the official release ended up sucking. I think the biggest lesson in it all is this. If you're going to give a film maker money to make a film and go through the financial investments involved in distributing it, then trust them to make the damn thing their way. If you can't do that, then don't put up the money and don't give them a distribution contract. Sony Screen Gems released the official cut of the film, and as is so often the case with these big distributors, they force their own edits and what not on the film makers that they think will make the film more marketable. Honestly, if these distribution companies have no business forcing film makers to alter their films as a condition of release, and in this case, the film was basically confiscated and mutilated.

Anyway, here's the deal with the film. Every kid in the world nine years old and younger suddenly goes into a coma. A couple times a day they go into convulsions that last for a certain amount of time and then stop. It becomes apparent later that the convulsions had a purpose, and were used to work their muscles and keep their bodies physically strong for the time when they would all awaken. Unfortunately, no one realized this until it was too late. Ten years later, all the children, who had been taken care of all this time, suddenly awoke and started killing people.

At first they were rather like zombies, but as the film goes on, we discover that what's actually happening is that they're absorbing the souls of the people they kill, and gaining knowledge and behaviors from every soul that's absorbed. It's not until the main character in the film figures out from reading a minister's diary that the fear and other bad aspects of humanity are the reason these kids are doing this, and apparently it has some sort of a biblical aspect to it. Eventually, after all of the other survivors in their small group have been killed off except for Tom (James Van Der Beek) and his ex-wife Jean (Ivana Milicevic), Tom figures out the answer. As they're surrounded by the children, he releases himself of the fear and anger he's been feeling, and in a completely passive and mellow state, gives himself up to the children and allows them to absorb his soul in an effort to save Jean's life. The children, after having absorbed a soul without fear, finally become passive, which spreads to all of them as they seem to have some sort of a psychic link that allows them to share knowledge.

Sound confusing? Well, it is. I really didn't understand the ending all that well, and it's really hard to write a description of this film without really fully understanding it all, so I'm sorry my description is lacking.

I don't want to give the impression that the whole film was confusing though, as it wasn't really. Much of it was pretty straight forward. The only really confusing part to me was why it was all happening, what caused it and what the deal was with the ending. I'm sure it's one of those things that if someone told me the answers to all that, I'd be like, "Oh, I get it now!", but honestly it didn't really affect my enjoyment of the film because much of the rest of the story is pretty straight forward.

What I like about this version of the film is that the story moves along slowly and methodically. Now in most films that would have me reaching for the fast forward button, but this one was different. The way this cut of the film is laid out and the pacing of it really gives the characters a chance to develop and become three dimensonal rather than your typical cardboard cutout characters you get in so many other horror films. Allowing the characters to develop also allowed the story to develop and become deeper than it otherwise would have been. I think much of this was probably lost in the shorter, watered down official release. Even Dee Wallace, who played the sheriff's wife in this film said that this cut of the film is like a whole different film.

There are some genuinely creepy moments in this film, which is what a horror film should have. Again, so many horror films miss the boat on creepiness, prefering instead to settle for the cheap scares. Honestly, I'd prefer a movie that can creep me out to one that just goes for a jump scare once in a while. That gets boring, and does little to give any real satisfaction to the viewer. It's like...BOO! Ok now what? Oh, we watch for a while more and then...BOO! How boring is that? Being creeped out through large chunks of the film is far more preferable, to me anyway, because you feel like you're getting a lot more out of it. That's what this film does. One of the creepiest moments for me was when the kids started waking up. That was one of those moments where you kinda say to yourself, "Oh crap!". It's great when a movie can make you feel like that, and this one had several great moments like that. Moments...but each one adding to the overall blanket of creepiness that weaved its way throughout the film.

Where I think this film fails a bit is on the whole premise. If it was clearly explained at some point, I must have missed it, because I never really understood why all this stuff was going on and the reasons behind it. If you want to call me lazy, so be it, but I personally prefer films that actually spell everything out at some point during the story rather than leaving me to wonder about it. I like many people, don't watch films to think. I watch films to get away from all the thinking I have to do when I'm not watching films. When a film leaves me wondering at the end, I feel unsatisfied, like the story wasn't completely told. It's kinda like reading a whole mystery novel and then finding out that the last ten pages are missing. It's not the viewer's job to finish the story in their head. It's the film's job to tell the story in a complete way, or at least, if it's not going to give a complete explanation, give enough of one so that it's easy for the viewer to piece it together. Now I know there are some people out there who like to get deep and analyze everything in a plot in order to come to their own conclusions, but I would hazard to say that those types are in the minority.

Something else that didn't seem right about this film was that there were some inconsistencies in the kids. Some were harder to kill than others, some had extreme strength, etc... For example, one was shot several times and kept coming, while others would go down without much trouble. One girl snapped a guy's leg like a twig. Now I don't know if you've ever tried to break a bone, but it generally takes a hell of a lot more strength and effort than your average girl is able to put out. I don't care if they have been convulsing twice a day for ten years, there's just no way to do it the way she did it in the film. Friggin' Lou Ferrigno in his prime couldn't do that. These inconsistencies didn't really interfere with my enjoyment of the film in any real way, but they did bother me a bit when I'd see them.

Overall, this is a generally good horror film that doesn't really go all out for the splatter and gore, but rather a general sense of tension and fright that permeates every scene. It's not often you come across a film like that, so when you do it's worth checking out. I'm sure I'll get a few mails telling me what a tard I am for not "getting it" with regards to story, but whatever. I still enjoyed the film and I would sure as hell recommend this version over the one that was released, because I can totally see that one just sucking, especially considering how much shorter it is than this version. The reason this version worked is because it was longer and allowed everything to develop well. Without that, this film would lose so much, and at least for me, just wouldn't be worth watching.

So head on over to http://www.spreadingtheplague.com and get involved. Sign the petition, read the info, etc... Be sure to read the interview with Hal Masonberg too, because I think a lot of you will be angry about how bad this poor guy got screwed over.