The film focuses on Second Lieutenant Bart Gregory (David Anders) who has been killed under mysterious circumstances in Iraq.[1] After his friends and girlfriend Janet (Louise Griffiths) attend his funeral, Bart awakens in his grave.[2] Enlisting the help of his best friend, Joey Leubner (Chris Wylde), Bart begins to understand and learn how to deal with his new undead state; mainly, the fact that Bart needs blood to hold back decomposition and that he returns to a state of in-animation during daylight hours. Joey does research online to find out what Bart is and seems to be stuck between a Zombie and Vampire, finally stating that Bart is a Revenant.
While buying beer from a small store in Koreatown, Bart and Joey become vigilantes when Bart both kills and feeds off of a gangster who is holding up the store. They enjoy the media coverage of the incident, and Joey asks Bart to bestow him with the "dark gift". Bart refuses to do so and laughs the idea off. However, after a subsequent attempt at vigilantism goes wrong and Joey is fatally wounded, Bart is forced to drink Joey's blood in order to save him.
The two continue their vigilante killing spree for a while, until Mathilda (Jacy King), a friend of Janet who dislikes both Bart and Joey, follows them and threatens to reveal their activities to the world, especially Janet. Joey shoots Mathilda through the chest, but before she dies, she is able to send the information to Janet.
Fearing they will be caught, Joey tells Bart to meet him back at the apartment with a packed bag in half an hour, then drives away mysteriously. Bart meets a teary Janet at the apartment, who forces him to explain the fact that he requires blood to stay stable. She then begs him to feed off of her instead, so that he will no longer need to kill. Bart loses control and drains her until she dies.
Joey returns to the apartment with a "pimped out" hearse for the two to use, and suggests that they go to Las Vegas to continue their reign. However, after Bart shows him Janet's corpse, the two begin to fight, and proceed to shoot each other repeatedly, although this is insufficient to kill either of them. Joey storms out and states that he will continue on to Vegas alone. Bart decapitates Janet in order to ensure her death, then drops her remains over the bridge where he and Joey usually disposed of their corpses. Bart is captured by SWAT teams and taken to jail, where, come dawn, he collapses in his cell. Upon nightfall, Bart reawakens in the morgue and escapes, returning to the apartment. Inside is a package containing Joey's severed head.
Since he was decapitated at night, Joey is still "alive", and Bart uses a vibrating dildo to enable Joey's head to talk. Joey warns Bart that a gangbanger who was their first kill is after him for revenge, and then requests that Bart kill him for good. Bart crushes Joey's head underneath a bulldozer, and then tries to find a way to kill himself.
Against normal convention, a bullet through the brain does not have the desired effect, and neither does hanging himself with Christmas lights. He even throws himself in front of the subway train, but only succeeds in severing his arm. Bart then boards a train, where he finds and reads a letter that Janet left in his uniform's pocket at his funeral. He breaks down and attacks the only other passenger. He is caught and flees into the station where more SWAT teams attempt to catch him.
He finally escapes to a hilltop and at dawn collapses once more, while he is being surrounded by men in hazmat suits.
The film then cuts to a tour of sorts, where various military personnel are being shown revenants in glass containers, including Bart. A General asks Bart if he was a soldier, and then states that this fact may give him an advantage.
Bart is then shown in a large canister being airdropped into Khūzestān Province, Iran, along with the other revenants, where the canister opens upon landing, releasing him on the country.
Cast
David Anders as Barthenoy (Bart) Gregory: Having come back from death as a revenant, Bart must deal with his new condition, a potential for a second chance on life, and trying to come to terms with the girlfriend that he had left behind.
Chris Wylde as Joey Leubner: As Bart's best friend, Joey acts as a partner and sidekick to Bart, providing him background of Bart's deteriorating condition, and encouraging him to act on his darker impulses in order to survive.
Louise Griffiths as Janet: Bart's love interest who is devastated after Bart's unexpected death.
Jacy King as Mathilda (Matty): A Wiccan nurse who is close friend to Janet, Matty acts as the voice of reason.
The Revenant was written, directed, and produced by Kerry Prior, who also supervised the visual effects on the film. Liam Finn and Jacques Thelemaque were co-producers. The film was edited by Kerry Prior, though the opening credits state "image juxtaposition designer Walter Montague Urch".
"Walter Montague Urch" could be a reference to Walter Map and Montague Summers, who have written about revenants and men who have returned from the dead.
Filming
Filming for The Revenant began in April 2008 in Los Angeles, California. The film is presented in 4K digital cinema with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 spherical.
Reception
The Revenant received positive feedback from several film reviewers and the horror film community. A post-screening review from DreadCentral.com declared it is "sure to become a cult classic."[3]
The film won the Audience Award for "Best Narrative Feature" at the 2009 CineVegas Film Festival, in Las Vegas. Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News wrote an early review, calling it "a great little genre film that gets exactly as nuts as one would hope a violent buddy flick can get with the undead."[4]
Aaron Morgan from Fantastic Fest commented that "Overall this movie is a real gem and deserves a wide release here in the states to shake us out of this remake/retread horror trend."
Toronto After Dark listed The Revenant as one of the "10 Movies To See Before You Die".[citation needed]
Awards
Since its debut on the film festival circuit, The Revenant has won the following awards:
Xanadu Sci Fi and Horror Convention 2009: "Best Feature Film"
Zompire, The Undead Film Festival 2009: "Best Feature," "Best Director" Kerry Prior; "Audience Award"
CineVegas 2009: "Audience Award, Best Narrative Feature"
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2009: "Feature Film, Silver"
ScreamFest, Los Angeles 2009: "Best Make Up," "Best Special FX"
Vampire Film Festival, New Orleans 2009: "Outstanding Vampire Film" (1st Place)
Falstaff International Film Festival 2009: "Best of the Festival Award"
New York City Horror Film Festival 2009: "Best Picture," Kerry Prior; "Best Director," "Best Actor" (Tie: Chris Wylde, and David Anders), "Audience Choice"[6]
Omaha Film Festival 2010: "Best Off the Edge Film"
A Night of Horror International Film Festival 2010: "Best Film", Best Director" (Kerry Prior)
Celluloid Screams: Sheffield Horror Film Festival 2010 "Audience Award: Best Feature Film"
The film was also an "Official Selection" of the following film festivals:
Sitges 42nd International Film Festival 2009 (10/09)
Chicago International Film Festival 2009 (10/09)
Grimm Up North- UK 2009 (10/09)
Mar del Plata International Film Festival 2009 (11/09)
Leeds International Film Festival - UK 2009 (11/09)
Starz Denver International Film Festival 2009 (11/09)
Stockholm International Film Festival 2009 (11/09)
Related Research Articles
Léon: The Professional is a 1994 English-language French action-thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson. It stars Jean Reno and Gary Oldman, and features the film debut of Natalie Portman. The plot centers on Léon (Reno), a professional hitman who reluctantly takes in twelve-year-old Mathilda Lando (Portman) after her family are murdered by corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration agent Norman Stansfield (Oldman). Léon and Mathilda form an unusual relationship, as she becomes his protégée and learns the hitman's trade. The film was released in France by Gaumont and internationally through Gaumont Buena Vista International on 14 September 1994, and received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Survival of the Dead is a 2009 horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Alan van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh and Kathleen Munroe. It is the sixth entry in Romero's Night of the Living Dead series. The story follows a group of AWOL National Guardsmen who briefly appeared in Diary of the Dead.
Joseph Jun-hee Kahn is a Grammy-winning South Korean-American film and music video director. Kahn has worked with various artists such as Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Backstreet Boys, Imagine Dragons, Lady Gaga, Rob Thomas, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Kelly Clarkson, Ava Max, Mariah Carey, and Destiny's Child.
Near Dark is a 1987 American neo-Western horror film co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein. The plot follows a young man in a small Oklahoma town who becomes involved with a family of nomadic American vampires.
Brian Pulido is a creator, writer and producer of comic books and films.
The New York City Horror Film Festival is an international film festival based in New York City that screens films from the horror genre. It was founded by Michael J. Hein in 2001. It takes place each year in New York City for a week in November.
Frostbite is a 2006 Swedish comedy horror film directed by Anders Banke and written by Daniel Ojanlatva. The film takes place in a small town in northern Sweden during midwinter, making the environment perfect for vampires to hunt townspeople due to the cold weather and small amount of daily sunlight. It is Sweden's first vampire movie.
Louise Griffiths is an English singer, songwriter, model and actress.
Toronto After Dark Film Festival is a showcase of horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival premieres a diverse selection of feature-length and short-films from around the world including new works from Asia, Europe and North America.
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of The Iron Giant and Secondhand Lions.
Trick 'r Treat is a 2007 American anthology horror film written and directed by Michael Dougherty and produced by Bryan Singer. The film stars Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox. It relates four Halloween horror stories with a common element in them: Sam, a trick-or-treating demon wearing orange footie pajamas with a burlap sack over his head. The character makes an appearance in each of the stories whenever one of the other characters breaks a Halloween tradition.
Paul Campion is an English/New Zealand film director, and screenwriter.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead is a 2009 American independent film written and directed by Jordan Galland. The film's title refers to a fictitious play-within-the-movie, which is a comic reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and its aftermath and whose title is a reference to the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The cast includes Devon Aoki, John Ventimiglia, Kris Lemche, Ralph Macchio, Jeremy Sisto and Waris Ahluwalia. The film stars Jake Hoffman. An original musical score was composed and performed by Sean Lennon.
"Treehouse of Horror XX" is the fourth episode of the twenty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Mike B. Anderson and Matthew Schofield and was written by Daniel Chun. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 18, 2009.
Chris Wylde is an American actor from New Jersey.
Like Dandelion Dust is a 2009 drama film directed by Jon Gunn and based on the novel by the same name by Karen Kingsbury. The film won 26 awards at 23 film festivals.
Victorian Undead is a series of comics about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson dealing with the supernatural. The first series Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies is a six-issue American comic book limited series published by Wildstorm. The series was written by Ian Edginton, with art by Davide Fabbri. The story is set in Victorian England and follows Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in the midst of a zombie outbreak. It was followed by Victorian Undead Special: Sherlock Holmes vs. Jekyll/Hyde and a second series, Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, which sees Holmes and Watson helping to track down the title character before he kills Queen Victoria.
Mercy Christmas is a 2017 American comedy-horror film, written by Ryan Nelson and Beth Levy Nelson and directed by Ryan Nelson. The film was acquired by Gravitas Ventures in 2017 and was released on November 28, 2017.
David Powers is a fictional character from the 1987 film The Lost Boys portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland. In the film David is the head of a gang of vampires in the fictional town of Santa Carla.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
