Big time thanks to Family Video in Worthington, MN. I end up in Worthington several times a year visiting in the in-laws. (It's got about 13,000 people - a smallish-town, at least by my Twin Cities, MN standards.) The one place I MUST stop at is Family Video... really one of the last video stores I even know of. I just get all nostalgic about video stores, you know? It sounds cheesy, but they represent a simpler time to me. I mean, what could be simpler than being six and trying to decide which tape to rent - the cartoon or pro-wrestling? So, if you ever see me getting misty in Family Video, I apologize.
Anyways, they've got this sweet deal for their used DVDs. I guess after renting them out they figure they can just sell them to make a little cash and get rid of the stock. They are clearly labeled - $1.99 or 2 for $3.00 (or the higher class ones are $2.99 or 2 for $5.00) - such a bargain! And it's usually stuff that I wouldn't see otherwise - lots of indie stuff that I may pass by in my digital browsing. My Christmas trip yielded:
Cabin Fever: Patient Zero - I've liked the other ones okay
The Appearing - Looks like a Conjuring knock off. Was worried about the presence of Dean Cain (a little too SyFy?), but excited to see a Swayze (Don) and an Estevez (Joe).
The Raid 2 - Fuck yeah
Revelation Trail - see below
Nine bucks! And yeah, I like physical media. Your mileage may vary.
Revelation Trail did not have a proper case - just a clear box with the disc, showing a picture of a decaying zombie in a cowboy hat. I figured I couldn't lose at the $1.50 price point. I tossed it on that night, thinking it may be stupid (but hopefully stupidly watchable). Zombie/western is not a genre I have a lot of faith in. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a really well-made, thoughtful, and good looking flick.
Actually, my initial impression was that it may have been a little too serious. We are introduced to our main character, known simply as "The Preacher" (Daniel Van Thomas) as he is delivering a sermon on Lazarus to his frontier-era congregation. Everything about it spells seriousness - the costumes, the way it's shot, the lighting - it looks more like a somber drama than a horror film. And honestly, I feel like that is more where this film is genre-wise - a drama with horror elements. It's mainly about our Preacher, struggling with his faith and trying to live a righteous life in a world that's gone crazy... crazy with zombies, that is!
You see, shortly after he did the Christian thing let two nogoodniks who needed shelter stay in his barn, one of them turned into a zombie and attacked his son. When the preacher is in town fetching the doctor, he confronts and guns down the second nogoodnik. The sheriff is forced to throw him in jail. The sheriff goes to check on the preacher's family, unfortunately the son is already zombie-fied and has taken his mother with him. The sheriff rides back into town as the zombie violence spreads - by the time he gets to the jail to let the preacher out, the entire town has devolved into chaos. The preacher and the sheriff seem to be the only two people left that have not been attacked and turned. They hit the road together in search of the next (hopefully unaffected) town - the preacher who wants to pray for and bury every zombie he kills, and the gruff, hard-drinking, but good-hearted sherrif.
They two make an interesting odd couple, and this road-trip part of the film is easily my favorite. The scenery looks great and is very well shot, and since it's just the two characters killing time, there is ample room in the script for storytelling and philosophizing around the fire. The sheriff in particular is pretty great - he's got this gruff Sam Elliot thing going on. He's played by Daniel Britt (*not* the guy from Spoon - sorry my wife!)... he can't quite sell the overly dramatic stuff the script feeds to him, but still remains the most engaging presence in the film. He treats the situation like I hope I would - kind of gently mocking the preacher's religious beliefs, but generally being nice to him. This part of the film is more or less a good little road trip story, with a bit of zombie action thrown in.
Up until that point, the film had a pretty unique vibe to it. Revelation Trail seemed... artsy/independent enough that I hoped it would just focus on these two traveling together for the rest of the film, maybe rolling into a town as the credits roll. So I was a little disappointed when they stuck to zombie-movie formula and encountered a group of people banding together in a little fort, trying to build a little society. (Who, to no one's surprise, *might* be more of a threat than the zombies themselves.) This angle has been done to death, and while it isn't bad by any means, I just kind of wished they would have tried something else. Up to the third act, things were escalating nicely - once they run into the other people, it just sort of plateaus.
But still, it's a solid little film. I respect how much director/co-writer John P. Gibson stuck to his "serious" guns... this is a pretty heavy-feeling movie. Even the makeup/gore is less "fun & cool" and more gross than anything. And if the budget mentioned in the making of correct ($35,000), it's amazing that it looks as good as it does. It seems like it was a passion project for Gibson and star Van Thomas - the pair had been working on it in some form or another for 7-plus years, so it's awesome that it came together so well. They must have had a pretty clear vision (a western zombie flick, given the adult drama treatment) and stuck to it. It would have been a solid find anywhere, but for $1.50 blind buy at Family Video? Awesome. Revelation Trail will probably ensure I by a lot of far worse movies there.
I would recommend this film.
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