Adam Green is a director that from the first film I saw of his (which was Hatchet) he has brought satisfying film one after another.I always eagerly await his next film as soon as I hear of it, but oddly enough the film I have for review today is one that slipped right past me. Typically he does films that are in the classic film style, but for Digging Up The Marrow he has changed the style a bit and did this one in the form of a faux documentary. Now I have seen a few of these types of films and when done well they can be alot of fun and be actually good. One of my favorites in this style is a Canadian film called "Fubar". Anyways let's get into this autopsy and see what we have in store for us!
Digging Up The Marrow follows Adam Green who is contacted out of nowhere by a man named William Dekker (Ray Wise) who claims that monsters do really exsist and he wants to prove it. After many nights of what seems to be a waste of time, Adam goes with his collegue on a night without William to an entrance to the Marrow and their skepticism quickly fades when they have an encounter with what lies below in the Marrow. Will Adam survive his expedition into the world of monsters?!
Going in I really did not know that this film was going to be a faux documentary, after knowing it was I honestly got worried. That is due to it seeming like Adam Green was going the easy route and making just another crappy found footage film. So many have been made and most of them have failed. In this case I can say that I actually enjoyed what was brought to the table. First thing being the fact it's about monsters, I absolutely love monster films! The monsters that they do show are quite awesome looking. To top that point off they are not just crappy cgi, they actually use practical effects. One film I put this film on par with was the Norwegian film "Trollhunter". Both have great atmosphere and the overall film including characters are simply interesting to see. Also they did a good job of not showing the monsters too much and not in overly good detail.
Now that brings me to the characters. You have Adam Green who is of course himself, which he does a good job at playing himself of course. He also does a good job at convincing you that what is going on in the film could be real which I think could be hard for some directors to pull off. The absolute best actor in this film though was Ray Wise. He did an excellent job making his character come to life and make you forget that he is an actor. He brings a very mysterious presence to the film that keeps you wondering about his background and if he is really seeing these monsters or just crazy and delusional.
When it comes to the monsters they did an amazing job of taking some of them from a book in which the idea for the film came from and making them a reality. The good and bad part is that they are on screen a minimal amount of time, but being a monster fan I very much wanted to see them a bit more. Nonetheless I was very pleased and satisfied with the monsters.
Overall if you are a fan of both Adam Green and creature features then I recommend you check this film out! Also if you buy the Blu-ray or DVD of this film then I highly suggest you checkout the making of featurette, it's very informative on how the idea came about as well as the making of the film and monsters.
-Daniel Lee
Director: Adam Green
Lead Actor/Actress: Adam Green, Ray Wise
Genre: Horror
Blu-ray Release Year: 2015
Theatrical Release Year: n/a
Time Length: mins.
Rating: n/a
Region Code: A
Release Company Website: RLJ
