Spooky Movie: DEAD WITHIN

Dead Within, released in late August this year, depicts a classic American zombie apocalypse initiated through a devastating viral infection that massacred the global population. Mike and Kim, a couple that survived the apocalypse by camping out in a cabin in the woods, find their situation increasingly desperate as their food supplies dwindle and paranoia seeps into their minds.Actors Dean Chekvala and Amy Kale Peterson, respectively, show the slowly evolving process of Mike’s and Kim’s deteriorating minds. The thriller is intermingled with a series of flashbacks and nightmares, which adds to the allusion of the fine line between what truly exists and what they fear exists. The non-linear and complex timeline of the movie and uncertainty of the progression keeps the viewer guessing and confused as to what’s going on, which can be serve a positive purpose or else leave the movie feeling sloppy and unfinished. In this case, the movie could have benefited from some scenes that clarified the plot.The movie starts out six months after the outbreak of the deadly virus, with a flashback of a Mike and Kim’s family dinner with their baby, as well as their close friends, Todd and Erika. The dream quickly turns into a freakish nightmare until we see the reality -- Mike and Kim taking turns watching the door while the other one sleeps. We realise that this is the extent of their life; constant vigilance to protect themselves against the horrors outside.The initial scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie, foreshadowing the terrible hauntings of their family and friends. As the movie progresses, the viewer pieces together, through a series of flashbacks, the fate of the couples’ baby and friends. Desperate for food as their rations were depleted, the couples resorted to hunting. But one day they came back with meat tainted by the virus which Todd, Erika and the baby ate.Since their friends were infected with the virus, Mike and Kim were forced to fight them off in a desperate struggle for their lives, ending when Mike nearly decapitates the two zombies. Horrified, the surviving couple turn to their baby to see his pupils are now gaping and black and he is oozing black blood, clear signs of the virus.The movie takes a turn for the ominous when we realize exactly what’s been done with the baby- but that would give too much away, wouldn’t it? From there, we watch as Mike is forced to venture further and further from their cabin to find food and supplies, and Kim is left alone with only her feverish mind for company.Dead Within definitely succeeded as a horror movie- we jumped at the creepy scenes and hid under our blankets a few more times than I think we’d like to admit. When our dorm room door opened, letting a sliver of the hallway’s light enter the room, we all screamed. Luckily, we found out that it was our dear friend Sam, not a deadly virus-ridden zombie trying to infect us, so I think you could call it a success in the horrifying category.The ending was mind-blowing and sufficiently psychologically abusive. It had us asking ourselves, “what just happened?” and we proceeded to launch into a small-scale harkness discussion on our thoughts.Although the movie did thoroughly creep us out, it took a full 50 minutes to get interesting. The movie was only an hour and 23 minutes long, which leaves more than half of it as dark scenes in which one can’t see or understand much of what was going on – I had some trouble restraining myself from checking Instagram and Twitter. Given these droughts of significant, plot developing content, we wonder if we would have sat through the long and very drawn out beginning. More than once we debated switching movies.But the ending was worth waiting for, and most of the scenes in the beginning, although drawn out, set up necessary components so that the whole movie makes sense. Regardless, the producers should have edited it more efficiently so that the first half would be more captivating and action-packed.The best part about this movie was that it was unpredictable. We did not see the ending coming and are still unsure of what exactly happened (in a really good way!). This wasn’t one of those exasperating horror movies where the good-looking dumb teenage girl opens a door that she shouldn’t open and then something pops out at her. After the ending, the movie makes more sense, and there are deeper meanings behind what went on during the previous hour. It made us think. If you like a puzzle and don’t mind a wait, this movie isn’t a bad choice.