Swanson’s Hungry man dinners
Living Death (2006): 5 out of 10: If you ever wondered what Body Heat 2 would look like if remade this year and having Kathleen Turner reprising her original role, this movie may clue one in? Kristy Swanson has spent little time on the big screen since the mid-nineties, and she looks like she has been eating a lot of her namesakes Hungry Man dinners. Don’t get me wrong she is attractive as a full-figured woman. It simply was a bit disconcerting after not seeing her for a dozen years or so. She certainly hasn’t spent that time fine tuning her thespian craft however as she is defiantly the acting weak point in this little drama.
The plot has Shannon Tweed/ Tim Matheson written all over it. Abusive do nothing playboy husband is killed by a suffering wife and his best friend/lawyer who is now her lover. Only problem is that they choose a poison that if given in the wrong dose only causes the person to appear dead. D’oh.
He comes back and gets revenge on everyone who wronged him. Sounds like your very standard except it isn’t.
There is no nudity and virtually no sex. The only bondage is the decidedly non-erotic leg breaking kind. This is a straight up horror movie and it puts the pedal to the metal.
Main lead Greg Bryk captures our evil protagonist’s hedonism perfectly. (The scene where he snorts coke while playing video games would be a classic in a better film) The revenge isn’t fair, or just it is bloody and cruel.
This creates a great vibe in the film, as the only guy to root for is a remarkably unlikable rogue. In fact, the film has virtually not one likable hero style character giving an almost Bad Santa feel to the proceedings.
Living Death picks up the pace about halfway through and never lets go. Not a great film or a genre classic by any means, but certainly an entertaining horror film.