Movie Reviews this week looks at the dark drama As Good As Dead. This is a very surreal movie starring Cary Elwes (Liar Liar) and the much loved Andie Macdowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) as Ethan Belfrage and Helen Kalahan respectively, it also stars the stalwart Brian Cox (X-Men 2) as Reverend Kalahan.
We join the movie as Reverend Kalahan preaches to his congregation, at first glance it seems just like a normal church service, with the preacher speaking to his congregation about becoming shepherds, but as the camera pans across the audience and the surroundings in the church, you notice Swastikas, and Nazi symbols, not to mention some of the congregation could easily be taken for Neo-Nazis. As Kalahan continues to preach, it pans to his wife, who is looking on admirably, as Kalahan speaks; a member of the congregation gets up, as if the words of Kalahan had triggered something in him, we find out later that he went off and killed several immigrants in a bus, in an unprovoked rampage before shooting himself.
We move forward several years, to Ethan who is entertaining his lovely daughter Sarah played by the adorable Emma Kantor; before being whisked away by her mother Kate, played by Nicole Ansari-Cox. Ethan is facing some problems with his landlord who is trying to evict him, so he can build a new lucrative residential property, but Ethan is determined not to move, and he is prepared for any tactic his landlord will try. Soon after the initial confrontation with his landlord he is paid a visit by two men, he assumes they are with his landlord and doesn't open the door, they come back later and trap Ethan in his flat. They proceed to torture him, while asking him to confess, he desperately tells them he doesn't know what they are talking about, all the while he assumes that his landlord had sent them to force him to relinquish his flat, but it turns out Kalahan, the preacher at the beginning had been killed, soon after the unprovoked rampage by a member of his flock, and these two men; one Jake played by Matt Dallas (The Indian) and the other Aaron (played brilliantly even down to the Southern accent) by Frank Whaley (Swimming with Sharks); are out for revenge, ordered so by Helen, who joins all of them later on.
Ethan is adamant he doesn't know what they are talking about and despite their torture he doesn't deviate from his story, the audience will no doubt feel this is a case of mistaken identity that is about to go horribly wrong, especially when Ethan's lovely next door neighbour Amy played by Jess Weixler is equally bundled in to the shenanigans, and is used as a guinea pig to get Ethan to confess to all that his torturers would like him to confess to, while frighteningly for Ethan his wife and daughter are wondering why he hasn't showed up and may just come to his flat to investigate.
As Good As Dead is a very dark movie, and many will be impressed by the acting abilities of all involved.
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