THE PLOT THUS FAR
Mark Fisher disappeared from his home in a brilliant flash of blue light almost two years ago. His friend Seth Hampton was the last to see him alive. Now a string of grisly, violent murders leads Seth to believe that Mark is back, and something evil is inside of him.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“Almost Human” is a very awkward movie. I can’t tell if the creative team was trying to make a clever homage to the 80s possession horror films or if they wanted to pick it apart. However, I do dig most of the setup that leads to Mark being discovered naked in the woods. It’s just everything afterwards makes the Mark character feel more like a poorly conceived puppet than realized character. But, isn’t that a great staple of indie horror movies?
Possession movies are always hard to pull off. Whether it be The Manitou or Jack’s Back, nobody has ever really found a way to make possession scary in the modern age. Especially since the act of possession almost makes the killer not responsible for his actions and negates any sense of justice by the end. Horror fans love to either see the villain outright win or to see some evil vanquished. Possession doesn’t give you those easy outs and the director/writer doesn’t seem to have any answer for it. Awkward choices framed by even awkward plot devices leads me to believe that the movie could’ve stood one more draft polish before filming.
The DVD comes with two commentary tracks, featurettes, promo spots, short film and a photo gallery as the special features. The A/V Quality is pretty strong for a recent horror movie. The transfer plays a little too dark for my tastes. But, the Dolby 5.1 track is sick. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: 06/17/2014