Well... I don't have all that much to say about Sea of Dust, other than the fact that it isn't very good. There are a couple of "wait...what... What?!?" moments of unintentional humor, and some comically poor acting. But unfortunately the majority of it misses "so bad it's good," and instead finds itself firmly in the "so bad" category.
What I could make of the story? It's a long time ago (early 1800's maybe?), and a young doctor's apprentice named Stefan is traveling to the town of Heidelberg. His boss, a respected doctor, was called to the town because some strange random acts of violence are occurring more and more frequently - before the credits even start, we see a woman running around, screaming and perhaps being chased. Then her head explodes. Some sort of religious entity named Prester John exists in a dream realm, but is somehow able to control people in our realm. I think. And Prester John is getting stronger... Stefan and the town doctor try to get to the bottom of things. Meanwhile, in our subplot, Stefan is in love with a fair maiden who lives with her wealthy father on a big estate outside of Heidelberg. The father thinks Stefan is no good, and forbids him from ever coming back. But Stefan senses something evil is afoot at the estate, and goes back to save her. Does the evil Prester John have anything to do with the nefarious goings-on at the estate? Guess!
Admittedly, that's a pretty poor summary. But Sea of Dust is one of those movies that doesn't really make much sense right after you watched it, much less when you are writing about it several days later. I give them credit for trying to explain some things (I think), but honestly, there just isn't enough there to make you even want to pay attention. Maybe it all makes sense if you map the whole thing out (I doubt it), but by the time the real supernatural stuff starts happening I had pretty much been too overwhelmed by the bad acting and amateurish execution to put much effort into following the convoluted story.
After reading up on Sea of Dust, I found it was meant to be a tribute of sorts to the gothic Hammer Horror films. They've got actors in period-appropriate attire (Tom Savini wears a pretty rad cape) and some surreal imagery, but the Hammer atmosphere just isn't there. Really, the whole thing just has this flat "home video" look to it. Sadly, I think you either need big money or a very strong creative vision to make a "surreal/dreamworld"-type film work, and this just doesn't seem to have either. I think it's admirable that writer/director Scott Bunt set out to make a film that is really different from the standard horror film, but this is a really tough story to crack for a first-time filmmaker. Maybe start with a stock slasher and then build up to a period piece/crazy dream world mash up?
I mentioned Tom Savini earlier - I didn't realize he had the clout to headline the film and only be in it for two scenes. Horror-fans are funny like that, I guess. Acting-wise, he doesn't fare well, but he's no worse than some of the others around him. (I think his bad acting is amplified though - his only scenes are basically long monologues - even a great actor would have a hard time with material this baffling.) Our leading man Stefan (played by Troy Holland) isn't terrible - it's rough goings for him at times, but he's got some natural charisma that eventually won me over enough to not hate him.
The low-budget gore isn't too bad here, but it's not particularly memorable. They have some cool concepts and revel in the blood a lot, but again, the way it's shot just makes it feel pretty unspectacular. And there is a scene where they find a dead woman who is totally hollow. Stefan figures that the dream realm is inside her somehow, so they show him reaching up her dress - and - cut to him in the dream world. I guess you have to use your imagination as to what happened in between. So there's that.
Ultimately, I feel like Sea of Dust is a pretty good example of a filmmaker trying to do too much with too little. There are some kind of cool concepts here (and I'm always game for capes and religion bashing), but it just never pans out.
I would not recommend this film.
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