Digging Up the Marrow (2015)

Truly Dreadful Film

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This was honestly a very different type of film. I am not very conversant with Adam Green's films (I surely PLAN to become that way though...) so I didn't really know what to expect.Since I usually look at movies from the standpoint of 'film making', I think that I can see what he was trying to do with this one. A very unusual approach indeed... I think what I liked about it (other than the bloody FANTASTIC Ray Wise, of course) is the change in tone as you watch it. At the beginning it actually is quite funny and as the 'Trivia' section mentions, the entire film was very carefully scripted, although it does NOT come across that way at all. So, with that in mind, I really appreciated the genuine and natural humour that he drew out of the movie, especially with many of his own reactions to what was being said by others. He is really funny. But, I liked that as you became more engrossed in the story and began to see Adam's interest in the reality of the stories he was being told have an effect on him, I really liked the change in tone as things got more serious. I very much liked that and thought that they did an excellent job in switching gears, as it were...Whether you suspend disbelief enough to become invested in the story or not, I truly found the film in it's entirety to be very entertaining. A LOT of the entertainment value come from Adam's own life and real friends and family being portrayed and his excellent interaction with them when talking about this 'Project'. Most of the rest of the entertainment value comes directly from the always awesome Ray Wise. He was frigg'n GREAT the whole way, in my lowly and wretched opinion. His VERY subtle turns at absolute DEADPAN humour were totally hilarious! And Adam's reaction to them was just as great. As far as the actual story being told and the 'Documentary' approach, sure, if you have an active imagination like I do, you can get caught up in that too...I think that people who automatically dismiss the film because Ray Wise, a very well known actor, is in it, are missing the point of the movie. As mentioned in the 'Trivia' section here, they REALLY agonized on whether to use someone well known as the main guy or not. But, after giving it a lot of thought and getting audience's reactions, they realized that to approach the movie as a fully genuine 'True' story and then LATER likely disappoint the audience or make them feel 'fooled' was something that they did not want to do, as some other 'Mockumentaries' have fallen victim to. So, this way, the audience KNOWS right from the start that it is fiction, but at the same time by cleverly using Adam and his family and friends as REAL people along with their choice of Ray Wise, they came up with a very unique and interesting balance for this kind of movie.So, this is quite honestly an EXTREMELY difficult film to recommend to people in general. As you can see from the many varied reviews here, that the reactions are truly all OVER the place. I personally think that if you are a film maker yourself, OR if you look at films from a film maker or director's perspective, OR if you have a real love and affection for the Horror Genre itself, THEN you will have a much greater chance at really enjoying this unique and entertaining film.

Any easy 7/10. A worthwhile view into the life of a horror film director. In the film, Green pays homage to horror greats, the likes of Mick Garris(The Stand, Masters Of Horror), Tom Holland(Child's Play), Don Coscarelli(Phantasm) and Stanley Lloyd Kaufman(The Toxic Avenger). Also we have Kane Hodder who has played a lot of monster type roles for example he played Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th Part VII, Jason X and Metalbeast in Project: Metalbeast and lastly Victor Crowley in the Hatchet films.Here Adam Green makes a documentary type film about a man who says he has determined the whereabouts of an underground society of monsters or mutants. The man William Dekker an retired private investigator, says he discovered the monsters accidentally, and from thereon, he developed a relationship or understanding between them. These monsters have spared Dekker's life under the condition that he reveals his secret to no one.He breaks this cardinal rule by telling Adam Green, who wants to capture one of these amazing creatures on film for the whole world to see. So one day, he and Dekker go by car to scout one of the locations where the creatures are to be seen. On the first occasion, Dekker spots a creature and immediately tells Green to look in that particular direction. However Green sees nothing. Later on, on a second attempt, they really capture a creature on film.He shows the footage to Kane Hodder. Hodder is skeptical an professes that it is just a normal person wearing special make-up. However Green does not agree, and wishes to further explore the creatures domain.Watch the film to find out what happens next! More Monster Films: Brain Damage 1988, Frankenhooker 1990, The Basket Case Trilogy(1982-1990-1991), The Relic 1997, Bad Moon 1996, Silver Bullet 1985, Graveyard Shift 1990, The Thing 1982, Shadowzone 1990, From Beyond 1986, Fright Night 1985, The Re-Animator Trilogy(1985-1989-2003), The Unamable Duology 1988-1992, Pumpkinhead Quadrilogy, Alien Quadrilogy, Predator 1-2, The Fly(original and remakes), Nightbreed, Nightflyers, Hellraiser Quadrilogy, Phantasm Quadrilogy, A Nightmare On Elm Street(1-6), Friday The 13th(1-10), Halloween(1-5). There are many more out there, I can't name them all...Phew! Thank you for reading this review, may you live long and prosper. And good luck to you Adam Green, may you continue to make great films for us.

This was.... OK even though it did seem like night breed by Clive barker. The acting I was surprised about, it was fairly good. I'm not normally the one to watch these "cam recorded" type films but this one actually did do justice in my books. It felt real.... Until the supposed "monsters" started to appear. The monsters kind of ruined it and I feel as though they could have done better with realism. I'm less inclined to believe the existence of a tentacle man with a potato sack over his head or.... A walking meatball that screams. I think this film is something that can only be watched once even though it is good for a cam film.

A documentary exploring genre based monster art takes an odd turn when the filmmakers are contacted by a man (Ray Wise) who claims he can prove that monsters are indeed real.At first, the concept of a monster documentary is good and the first few minutes are really enjoyable. The footage of asking convention guests about monsters seems genuine, and it could have been a story worth pursuing if a narrative could be built around the interviews.But once we shift, it becomes obvious that casting Ray Wise is the biggest mistake. Rue Morgue said it (and then let it slide). Aaron Christensen came down hard on Adam Green for this. I am somewhere between the two. I think the concept is really clever, and my admiration for Green lets me be a bit more open-minded. But there really is no getting around it: Wise, who is incredible in this role, simply cannot be anyone other than Ray Wise in a "documentary".We also learn that Mick Garris is a terrible actor. That should probably come as no surprise, but it is amusing to see that Garris cannot even play Mick Garris for less than five minutes without goofing it up.