JohnoftheDead

I remember being pretty stoked when I first read about Rites of Spring, and that was because it involved one of my favorite story elements: criminals committing a crime and coming across horrors they never saw coming. This effort marks writer/director Padraig Reynolds’ first feature and full-length film, and he accomplishes this feat with good results. The story is simple but provides enough horror and conflict to keep the viewer engaged throughout this short 80 minute experience. Reynolds’ comes off as a veteran director and compliments the story with live-action FX and a sweet looking antagonist to provide the goods, making for an experience I enjoyed more than I expected to.

My thirst for a creature feature lead me to this 90s effort, DNA. I honestly did not expect much going into this piece, and for obvious reasons: it has a really low budget, is virtually unknown aside from those who see it on the discount rack at your family-owned video rental store, and contains no actors I have ever heard of. On top of that, the director is not known as a director and the writer has some very low-rated films tied to his name – all things that normally equate to a film you should stay away from. Well, I was glad to see that the film exceeded my low expectations and wound up giving me a pretty fun experience in the end despite its flaws. This is not a great creature feature but it gives enough positive action to warrant a borderline-positive review, and goes to show that you never really know when a “bad” film will turn out to be an enjoyable one.