Beyond the Grave (Porto dos Mortos) (2015)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Rafael Tombini, Alvaro Rosa Costa, Ricardo Seffner
Directed by Davi de Oliviera Pinheiro
Available on Hulu
The line between decipherable and indecipherable can be a wide one. In fact, with some films, regardless of how intently you’ve affixed your eyes upon the product laid out in front of you, the act of scratching your head and muttering things like a wandering mental patient isn’t that far of a stretch. Upon settling in to check out Beyond the Grave (Porto dos Mortos) from director Davi de Oliviera Pinheiro, the setting of “post-apocalyptic wasteland” intrigued me almost as much as “hero cop searches for body-switching demonic entity.”
Yeah, so let me tell you about THIS one…
Set in the formerly scenic outskirts of Brazil, the movie goes over-the-shoulder of our unnamed lead (Tombini), a police officer who still feels the need to commit to his former duties of protecting the public, even after a cataclysmic zombie apocalypse. He is straightforward in his approach and dispenses justice (or what’s left of it) rather swiftly and violently. In his travels he attends to the needs of the forgotten, all the while chasing a hellaciously powerful enemy only known as “The Dark Rider” – this bad-ass possesses the ability to jump into bodies at the drop of a hat, making his capture all the more difficult.
The current unfortunate soul that is under The Dark Rider’s control is that of a beautiful cowgirl, who has a couple of mind-controlled lackeys at her disposal to complicate things for our daunting hero. A collision that will shape the remainder of the world’s severely damaged existence is on the horizon, and if you hop out of your seat for a beer or a potty break, you’d better hit the pause button because believe me… if you miss a moment, you’ll find yourself backing this one up to figure out what the hell just happened.
The movie’s presentation is nothing short of a creaky, crawling, distorted heap of celluloid, intently shot with the purpose of misdirecting the audience into some kind of hallucinatory state. Picture the grittiest grindhouse feature this side of exploitation-ville, shove it deep into the most foul dumpster swill you’ve ever set your nose to, and push “play.” While the prior description will set some people’s minds to take a pass on the film, fans of the deranged, clunky way of shooting a gruff spaghetti-styled action flick should be mildly pleased with this one.
Let’s face it… if you have a hankerin’ for a boatload of zombies, demons, beefed-up muscle cars, and enough shaky-cam footage to make you lose your lunch from last week, then by all means Beyond the Grave is right up your darkened alley; but for this urban cowboy, one peek at the end of the world is enough for me.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
