Review of The Revenant (2012) by Terry K — 31 Mar 2013

I was very hesitant about this movie: it sounded like a horror-comedy version of Bob Clark's classic Deathdream (aka Dead of Night) with a bit of Boondock Saints thrown in for good measure. And it is all of those things to one degree or another, but it rises above its influences to become something truly unique.

A hilarious, intelligent, and splatterific film, The Revenant combines elements of vampire and zombie mythology together in its story of a young soldier who is killed in Iraq. After being shipped home, embalmed, and buried, he eventually claws his way out of his grave.

Soon, he inadvertently becomes a vigilante who kills criminals in order to feed his blood lust. Dark, funny, twisted, and even somewhat unsettling, The Revenant's final twist and shot are masterful, and the film ultimately uses the vampire as a metaphor for the kind of warmongering that feeds on the blood of others.