KISS THE ABYSS (2010)

Studio:       Monarch Home Entertainment
Director:    Ken Winkler
Writer:       Ken Winkler, Eric Rucker
Producer:  Eric Rucker, Scott Mitchell Nelson, Ken Winkler
Stars:     Scott W. Wilson, Nicole Moore, James Mathers, Mark Craig, Douglas Bennett, Ronnie Gene Blevins

Review Score:

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Summary:

Following his wife’s tragic murder, a man realizes the bloodthirsty consequences of bringing the dead back to life. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Mark and his brother-in-law Stephen ride in a car driven by Mark’s father-in-law Harold. Mark’s wife/Harold’s daughter Lesley died tragically and the trio is en route to the desert where a man named Gus claims he can bring the dead back to life.

In flashbacks, Mark and Lesley are shown to be a young couple in love living next door to another couple, Bruce and Mary, with a proclivity for domestic squabbles. On a day when Bruce beats Mary outside, Mark intervenes. Later, Bruce comes to their home with an aluminum baseball bat. Bruce swings at Mark but hits Lesley instead, and she dies.

Mark, Harold, and Stephen meet Gus. Gus gives Mark a needle to inject into Lesley’s body. While Stephen and Harold hold her down, Gus injects a larger needle into Lesley’s neck. When she comes back to life, Mark puts the shot in her arm.

Mark and Harold argue about whether or not to tell Lesley the truth about her resurrection. She learns something is different when she bites Mark during sex, discovering that she now has a desire for blood. Mary later comes over to apologize for Bruce’s attack and Lesley subsequently devours Mary. Mark discovers what Lesley did and he buries Mary’s body in the water. He begins cutting himself regularly so that Lesley can feed from him. Her skin grows pale and veined if she is not fed blood.

A man named Garrett comes to Mark and Lesley’s house while investigating the disappearances of Bruce and Mary. It turns out that Garrett is working for Harold. Garrett later takes Mark to a factory where Harold has Bruce held hostage. When Mark refuses to kill Bruce, Garrett does it instead. Harold threatens that the same thing will happen to Mark if he does not leave Lesley. Meanwhile, Stephen and his other sister Alyssa take Lesley from her house and bring her back to the family home. Lesley tries to attack her sister Alyssa. Mark arrives at the house and the men subdue Lesley after she attacks Garrett. Mark gives Harold an injection.

Mark and Stephen bring Lesley back to Gus. Mark demands at gunpoint that Gus fix Lesley. Gus turns the tables and chokes out Mark. Stephen runs to Gus’ house where he is attacked by Gus’ resurrected overweight wife. Stephen eventually manages to kill her. Lesley comes to and discovers Mark, as well as a chained female creature in Gus’ back room. The creature seems to be some sort of fallen angel that is the source of the resurrection power. Gus later comes too close to the chained creature and she kills him. The creature then kisses Mark and resurrects him.

Stephen and Alyssa move out of Harold’s house. Garrett discovers the carnage at Gus’ home before the creature attacks him. Mark and Lesley then join the creature in devouring Garrett.

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Review:

Telling the first act of its tale through flashbacks fits “Kiss the Abyss” well.  Because if the story moved any slower, it would have been going backwards.

Mark and Lesley are a young couple very much in love.  Noisy neighbors and making ends meet constitute their daily tribulations, but their ample affection for each other helps them get by.  Until the day when their lives are shattered by Lesley’s murder.  Unable to let his wife go so soon, Mark enlists the help of his condescending but well-connected father-in-law Harold to undo Lesley’s death.  Harold brings Mark to a hillbilly witch doctor that claims he can bring Lesley back from the grave.

This being a horror movie, it is a safe bet that the resurrection will not go smoothly.  From “The Monkey’s Paw” to “Pet Sematary,” the genre has never waffled on the idea that death cannot be undone without severe penalties.  Any such attempt will most certainly result in more casualties, and usually something even worse.  Alas, none of the characters in “Kiss the Abyss” have ever seen “Re-Animator,” otherwise they might now this.  Unfortunately, the audience is forced to wait while the cast figures out what is already well known.

Lesley is not resurrected until almost 30 minutes into the film.  Various family members finally accept the problems of her rebirth and elect to do something about it a half hour after that.  This is far too long for the characters to catch up to the premise the audience knows is coming.  “Pet Sematary” occupied the time with undead cats and ghosts in dolphin shorts.  “Re-Animator” had headless corpses and Barbara Crampton (and another undead cat).  But “Kiss the Abyss” is content with just hitting the standard beats of a resurrection gone wrong and leaving it at that.

Moving the story between those beats is a group of characters behaving predictably and stereotypically.  When they are not preoccupied with shouting at or choking out each other, the white trash neighbors fill their hands with a cigarette, beer bottle, or both.  A mustached henchman carries out his rich employer’s orders without question.  Despite a wealthy father, Lesley and Mark live a life near the poverty level.  Not only determined to make it without daddy’s help, father clearly disapproves of the boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

And just as they were unwilling to accept that Lesley died, Mark and Harold partly ignore that she has returned from the dead with a thirst for blood.  Mark voluntarily wounds himself on a regular basis so his wife can feed and he employs extreme measures to help conceal her condition.  Harold barely tolerated his son-in-law in the first place.  Believing he is better positioned to care for a zombie, Harold uses the opportunity to deepen the rift between Mark and he by kidnapping Lesley and threatening to kill Mark.

It never makes sense when the tycoon father who condemns his daughter’s choice in husbands with questionable social status promises death for the son-in-law.  Can’t the son-in-law just tell his wife, “if I die, your father did it?”  Surely dad would not risk alienating his beloved daughter with the knowledge that he murdered the man she loved more than he.

The overall look of “Kiss the Abyss” is a step above homemade movie, but a step below full-fledged indie feature.  It is a decent first feature for director Ken Winkler, yet it is noticeably lacking the polished sheen of a more experienced production team.  Post-production ADR dialogue looping further weakens performances by giving the appearance of a 1980’s Italian giallo slasher (and not in a good way).  Some scenes appear not just confined to small rooms, but to just a corner of that room.  Exteriors fare better, but (presumably intentional) attempts at washed out color palettes flatten the lighting and create dull imagery to complement the dull pacing.

The “slow burn” approach can be incredibly effective for creating suspense.  But a lit flame is still required.  When the familiar plot is too predictable, “slow burn” ends up just being slow.  And with minimal production value shown onscreen, “Kiss the Abyss” struggles to capture and maintain attention, failing to accomplish either.

Review Score:  25

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