About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Splatter fans have a new opus; the rest of us, not so much.



Pros

• Loads of gore
• Good makeup effects

Cons

• Little else besides gore
• Terrible acting
• Ridiculous dialogue
• Misty Mundae remains clothed

Description

• Starring Andrew Divoff, Erin Brown (Misty Mundae), Ryan Hooks, Rachel Scheer, Sean Serino, Anthony Clark, Reggie Bannister
• Directed by Robert Kurtzman
• Rated R
• DVD Release Date: February 26, 2008

Guide Review - 'The Rage' DVD Review

The Movie

Robert Kurtzman is a renowned horror make-up and special effects guru who's worked on everything from Army of Darkness to Hostel. With The Rage, though, he takes control as director (having previously helmed Wishmaster), and it should come as no surprise that special effects take precedent over plot, acting and all conventions of hygiene.

The story is simple: a mad scientist creates a virus as revenge against the world for sweeping his cancer cure under the rug. The virus is essentially liquid rage, although unlike 28 Days Later, it mutates the carrier, like the zombies in Planet Terror.

Of course, any plot summary that starts with "a mad scientist" shouldn't be taken seriously, and The Rage is no exception. It's not the overt, ham-it-up camp of a Troma film, but in its attempt to create a splatter classic, it achieves a level of over-the-top humor. In its own way, The Rage is admirable for not trying to be anything deeper than it is.

Channeling the spirit of Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, this is the type of movie in which everyone has an axe "just in case," where even the bluntest object can impale someone, and where everything -- EVERYTHING -- oozes.

Taste is certainly optional; Kurtzman even casts his own young children...then dispatches them in grisly fashion. The action is fast and furious, but it has to be, because the acting and dialogue -- crammed with old-timey exclamations like "Let her go, you crazy madman!" and "You monster! How could you?!?" -- are so awful.

The Rage is sure to please splatter fans, but it all becomes too much after a while. By the last third of the film, the gore becomes numbingly mundane -- sort of like the nudity in Showgirls -- and there's little left to entertain.

The DVD

The special features include a feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary, stills and two music videos.

Movie: C+
DVD: C+