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Starring: Bill Moseley, Pat Tallman, Navid Negahban
Directed By: Corbin Bernsen
Produced By: Chris Aronoff, Jesse Lawler, Corbin Bernsen
Written By: Kenneth Yakkel
Company: Antibody Films/Public Media Works Production
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review by: Yvette M. Kelley & Sean Kelley
“Dead Air” is the first film finished in a list of 6 films that Corbin Bernsen (Major League, The Dentist, TV’s Psych) is involved in for the next year. It is also the first of 2 films that has Corbin listed as Producer/Director/Actor. The 2nd is “Rust” which is in production right now. These films are the latest offerings from Team Cherokee, his production company (www.teamcherokeeproductions.com). The company is committed in the development, production, marketing and distribution of “tailor made” entertainment in both film and television for specifically targeted, “fan based” audiences and “Dead Air” is the companies first from their “horror” line.
For the last few years the horror genre has been making a change from the classic zombie styles of the George A. Romero’s “…The Dead” and “The Return of the Living Dead” series to the “28 Weeks” films and the “Resident Evil” franchise; the latter having a whole video game generation amongst their fans. “Dead Air” would position itself more within the second group of “zombie” series with its monsters having the “Rage” instead of just being re-animated corpses. To us zombies alone are usually good enough for a scare. However in this story they ad a twist, a modern times touch of “terrorism” to the mix and when you put those two things together then you just get your mind freaking out with bad case scenarios; just ask Yvette who must have screamed out loud at least 4 times during the viewing of the movie!
In “Dead Air”, Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects) is Logan Burnhardt; LA’s premier shock jock radio host on KCPB 102.6. He and his crew go on air one night, as they always do, to create mayhem over the airwaves. But on this night what they don’t know is that there is another kind of mayhem happening downtown. There has been a terrorist attack and a man made bio-weapon has begun turning every one in the area into flesh ripping maniacs. During the radio show the news of the event starts to filter in to the studio and Logan and his crew do what they can to stay on the air, broadcast and survive this nightmare.
The cast is filled with a number of solid actors such as Patricia Tallman (Babylon 5), Navid Negahban (Charlie Wilson’s War) and Anthony Ray Parker (The Marine), plus David Moscow – who played the young Tom Hanks in “BIG”. Every actor portrays their characters very well, enough so that you come to like them and feel for them and their situation very quickly. The “Heartburn” radio crew gelled incredibly well as a team.
Bill Moseley is known through out the horror world as one of those actors that gives you everything he’s got in his characters and boy has he played some characters. From Chop-Top in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, to Luigi Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera to none other than Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. His roles are usually insane and why not? Those are fun roles, the crazies; you can do just about anything with those! But in this film, he’s real. His performance is based solely on his acting. There’s no mind numbing special effects every 5 minutes that one can sometimes hide behind, this is a role that any actor worth their salt would love to sink their teeth into and Moseley does. In this film his acting is very, very, human. He runs the gamut of emotions and takes you along for the ride through out. Plus, the man has an incredible speaking voice! If he ever wanted to quit acting and do radio he’s there! If you’re a Bill Moseley fan you’re going to be impressed.
For the gore lovers out there, the action is there and is peppered through out the film and the special effects are well done, kudos to the F/X team. There are a couple of “Eww” moments and one that we’re not sure if we’d even seen before, which is always a good thing.
One thing that is a pet peeve of ours, in any film that has any action or fights is the fight choreography, we love to pick it apart. There are a few action scenes of such in the movie and there’s an especially good, quick scene in an elevator early on in the movie that was impressive in it’s realism. But that’s all we’re telling you about that, buy the movie if you want to see it.
The direction of the movie was very good and had a decent pace to it that doesn’t really have any areas that lag. Corbin kept things moving in a way that keeps you thinking “what’s going to happen next” the whole time as it unfolds; it grabs your attention from the start and doesn’t let go until the end. It runs a little over an hour and thirty minutes and keeps you entertained the whole time. This is a movie that can stand right next to any others in its genre, in any collection, on any shelf, proudly.
If “Dead Air” is any indication about the quality of films that are going to be coming out of Team Cherokee Productions and Antibody Films – then folks, we can expect some good things to come!
“Dead Air” will be available to purchase on DVD October 27th. You can go to the website (www.deadair-movie.com) to watch the trailer and to pre-order the movie and if you pre-order it you get free shipping and a free mini-poster autographed by Corbin with your purchase.
