Beware the Djinn . . .
Okay I've got to be honest here folks, when I saw
Long Time Dead recorded on my DVR I didn't hold out much hope. But I have got to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Especially by the ending. It actually took me a few moments to get used to the British accents, but once I did I had no problems.
We start out the film with the three men of the house Rob (Joe Absolom), Liam (Alec Newman) and Webster (Lukas Haas) sitting around their flat smoking a little and watching some slides on the telly. Soon after they are joined by their flatmate, Stella (Lara Belmont). The boys leave Stella to get ready and all agree to meet their other friends at the club.
At one point they begin talking about what gives them the biggest rush and another of the group, Spencer (James Hillier) mentions that the weirdest thrill he ever got was from playing a Ouija board. So the silly kids go off to play.
Liam though has reservations and they are
right on the money. (In horror films, everyone should listen to their first instincts - they'd stay alive
much, much longer.) But against his better judgement he plays along. But even though they are warned by Lucy (Marsha Thomason - yes of Las Vegas fame) not to take their fingers off the glass they are using as a planchette until they have thoroughly closed the door on the spirit they are speaking with, Liam does just that. Of course anyone would when the board was telling them they would all die. They did at least get one good bit of information before Liam threw his little fit and that was that they were speaking with a Djinn. Of course, that didn't mean much at the time.
Later in the evening, the members of their little party start dying off one by one. Starting with Annie (Melanie Gutteridge), Liam's girlfriend. The odd thing they notice on her dying (other than the fact that she was seemingly thrown through a glass roof onto a bar below that is) was that she had strange burn marks on her neck. Lucy did a little research on the Djinn after she went back to her houseboat and freaked herself right out. So she and Spencer went to stay at the flat with the rest of the group - minus Annie of course.
In the course of the night, the power goes out and this leads to the revelation that Becker (Tom Bell), the owner of the flat, actually has a little shrine to Liam and his supposedly dead parents in his basement flat. Turns out that Liam isn't really who everyone thought he was.
As I said in the beginning of this review, I was really pleasantly surprised by Long Time Dead. The ending did not go in the direction I expected it to, but that was a good thing in this instance. I would definitely recommend a viewing of this film. It is by no means brilliant, but it ain't half bad!
Long Time Dead Movie Cast and Credits
Directed by
Marcus Adams
Writing credits
Marcus Adams story
Eitan Arrusi screenplay
Chris Baker screenplay
Daniel Bronzite screenplay
Daniel Bronzite story
Andy Day screenplay
James Gay-Rees story
Cast (in credits order)
Joe Absolom .... Rob
Lara Belmont .... Stella
Melanie Gutteridge .... Annie
Lukas Haas .... Webster
James Hillier .... Spencer
Alec Newman .... Liam
Mel Raido .... Joe
Marsha Thomason .... Lucy
Tom Bell .... Becker
Michael Feast .... Paul Brennan
Cyril Nri .... Dr. Wilson
Tameka Empson .... Girl student
Peter Gevisser .... Lucy's neighbour
Derek Lea .... Guard
Joel Pitts .... Young Liam
Pete Valente .... Djinn
Virginia Fanshawe .... Seance Woman 1
Anita Kelsey .... Seance Woman 2
Olivia Caffrey .... Seance Woman 3
Rodney Hart .... Seance Man 1
Mark Barratt .... Seance Man 2
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Lee .... Guard
Nicolas Chagrin .... Dr. Hall (uncredited)
More Reviews of Long Time Dead
Long Time Dead Movie Review at Tiscali.filmThe Film Asylum Review of Long Time Dead
