Deuces are wild- and bloodthirsty
Zombies of “2” will infect Biddeford Sunday night.
Review by Joseph Mauro- Entertainment Writer
BIDDEFORD- Director Andy Davis, 31 is an articulate, creative film artist who enjoys talking about his work. But on Saturday evening at City Theater, during the reception after the premiere of his movie “2,” he will have an opportunity to listen, as audience members tell him their impressions, interpretations and reactions.
“2” is most immediately a terrifying, mystifying story of a town, a world suddenly conquered and occupied by zombie-like creatures, who pursue a young couple to make their victory, or their own survival, complete, by forcibly absorbing the couple into their primordial, wounded carnivorous species.
The film is complex, a visual and auditory cinematic experience that is capable of exegesis on several levels, and from several perspectives.
But “2” is obviously much more than a horror story-“2” is about both death and the simultaneous possibility of death, the ghastly ordeal of existence on a bestial, cannibalistic level, the futility of theory and purposelessness of explanation for life’s suffering.
Numerous visual and auditory effects, symbols and references in the concise script impart clues to the various levels of interpretation, which allow the movie to be experienced and understood, or at least approached, on all these levels.
And 2 is also a social, political commentary, a statement of an artist’s creative response to his contemporary national and international world.
The film begins with abrupt violence and mystery; David (C. James Roberts) is driving his car when a sudden lurch and thump stop the vehicle. He looks in his back seat to a horrible discovery and then escapes from the car, running down the street.
He passes zombies in bio-suits, their faces bloody, indicating that they have suffered through the trauma that has befallen the world just moments before we witness the action. The bio-suits are a visual clue to the disaster, which is never explicitly confirmed; later dialogue includes the terms: plague, epidemic, disease as words of explanation, but no known disease has anything like the grotesque, scarred, bloody, disfigured symptoms we see on the 200 plus zombies in the film.
Molly W.B. Roberts plays Sara, David’s wife. The couple attempts to hide, but zombies find them, forcing them to flee. They find refuge in the Riverdam Mills, in an apartment, where they talk. Whatever the cause of the disaster, amnesia is a result. “I’m just blank,” says Sara.
“2” has very effective sound and visual effects: Music is by Portland band “Covered in Bees,” which provides dramatic, insistent chords of suspense and dissonance. Director Davis, does the sound effects, which include percussive heartbeats, labored breathing, and pounding feet during chase scenes.
Camera work is done by Davis and Producer Olin Smith; facial close-ups make us feel the actor’s emotions as if they are our own. Both James and Molly Roberts are excellent actors, conveying their sorrow, suffering, anger and horror throughout the ordeal.
“2” is full of visuals that create a level of allegory, with the intent of treating one subject under the guise of another; we see the cupola of Biddeford’s City Hall, cracked and leaning (Davis achieved this effect with photoshop); in the mills, we see cross-beams which look very much like a cross, and we see another cross in the apartment. The spiritual implication is there to be pondered.
Most of the action takes place in Winter, with snow drifts everywhere. The final few scenes are in Summer and the contrast is striking. The action and future are traumatic, bleak and depressing even with sunshine and flowers, and leaves in full color.
Death as we know it seems not to be a possibility in the world of “2”. The title implies that David and Sara are the two survivors of the apocalypse, but the zombies are not really dead.
As originally conceived in Haiti’s legends and folklore, and as they appeared in movies from the 40’s, the zombies are known as the living dead. And the zombies in “2” are not of superhuman strength. Both David and Sara are able to repulse their attacks with fists, shoves and sticks.
The tragedy and futility of their lives are further explored and deepened when Sara announces she is pregnant, and at the same time she is afflicted with the unnamed physical-physic ailment rampant in the world. David finds his own mother- she is now a zombie, crouched, snarling, rasping, threatening. He picks her up over his shoulders and carries her to help in the child’s birth. The outcome of that effort is violent and bloody, and also horrific proof of David’s deteriorating condition. No one is exempt.
A scene of somewhat curious, direct exposition occurs when David and Sara have a meeting with mother (Diane Dupris) and King Zombie (Al Lamanda). They talk about fighting enemies, the need for a guide, and yet they betray their confusion by the numerous repetitions of Yes and No in their dialogue. Shortly after, David points a plastic gun at his temple, pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. Still, David’s ordeals are not over and much blood and gore ensure.
andy