The Place For The Latest Movie Reviews
Cast: Joan Cusack, Seth Green
He is called 'The Wolf', a spike-jawed serial killer responsible for the 'Red Riding Hood' murders of 15 young girls. Arrested by Detectives Elliott Carbon (John Rhys-Davies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Johnny Morgan (writer/director Andrew Cymek), he has been declared criminally insane and sentenced to the sanitarium of Dr. Parker (William B. Davis of ''The X-Files''). But now a massive power failure at the maximum-security facility has unlocked the cell doors and trapped Parker, Johnny and the hospital staff inside. Tonight, the inmates -- psychopaths, cannibals and The Wolf himself -- are running the asylum...and they are all hungry for vengeance.
"Medium Raw" certainly is a original take on the serial killer genre, it also has quite abit going for it but it also comes with a number of pitfalls as well. I really liked the whole wolf theme with the villain wearing an armored suit with an iron helmet shaped liked a wolves head, it was a very cool get up and even a bit disturbing. The film doesn't stop there though, the asylum is full of crazies who all end up being a part of the mayhem, so you can say there are multiple villains here each bringing something to the table. The story is mostly played straight but towards the end of the film the director decided to inject a little dark humor. The humor doesn't totally ruin the film but I think it would of been wise to leave it out since it really doesn't add anything either.
The cast here was a mixed bag and probably the film's weakest link, John Rhys-Davies does a good job but he is not the main character in the film and isn't in it the whole time either. Andrew Cymek who is the lead actor doesn't give a very good performance, I am not sure what went wrong but he played the lead without any emotion at all and it does hurt the film in the long run. Instead of taking on so many jobs in the film maybe he should of chosen a different lead actor. WWE superstar Jason 'Christian' Reso is also in the film as the lead's partner and he does a pretty decent job considering acting in movies isn't his main job. The film also has another WWE star in Andrew 'Test' Martin, to me he was one of the film's highlights. It is sad that Andrew died shortly after making this film but his performance was excellent.
The movie had such a great premise and it had so much potential but sadly it's flaws keep it from becoming something special. Still I found it different and creepy enough to be entertaining and I really enjoyed the whole idea behind it so it you like the genre I would still recommend checking it out. The DVD comes with Special Features that include:
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Actor Andrew Cymek
Alternate Ending
Deleted/Extended Scenes/Trailer
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
** 1/2 Out Of *****