A review of "Fading of the Cries"

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A review of “Fading of the Cries”

By: Brian Cotnoir

     Brad Dourif has been in a lot of good films, from his acting debut in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.  However, even the most talented of actors is bound to appear in a bad film every once in a while.  Films like the one I am doing a review of today “Fading of the Cries”.                                                        

I would describe “Fading of the Cries” as a multi-story action movie, because even though the three main stories tie in together, the film itself does not have much of a central focus.  The main story of the film revolves around a girl named Sarah, whose life is in danger because she put on an ancient mystical necklace that her Uncle left her before he died.  As soon as Sarah puts on the necklace she awakens the spirit of a necromancer named Mathais (Brad Dourif).  Mathais uses his evil powers to cast a spell over the town and send an army of (nocturnal) demonic creatures after Sarah.  Sarah is helped out by a mysterious sword wielding boy named Jacob.  Together, Sarah and Jacob are off to destroy the Rune of Syarlian (the proper name for the necklace) and stop Mathais from bringing a thousand year reign of darkness.         

I have no idea what the hell she's supposed to be.

Okay, where do I begin with this film:  First thing that’s wrong with it is it has too many stories going on for just one film.  One story is a flashback of Sarah’s Uncle Michael moving into his new house after his wife and daughter are killed by a drunk driver.  It goes over how he found a mysterious book that was left behind by Mathais many years ago and how he used it to summon Mathais and gain some of his powers.  His story is largely told through journal narration/exposition, and it’s actually the most interesting part of the film.  I would have liked this film so much better if Michael was the primary focus of the film instead of his niece Sarah.                               

He really is "not quite Brandon Lee"

     Sarah’s plot to the film is very weak when compared to her Uncle’s plot.  She just plays the weak female character that has to be rescued from these zombie-like creatures that feast on human flesh and can only function in the night time for some reason.  The reason she is being pursued by Mathais and the creatures is because she is in possession of the Rune of Syarlian.  Sarah is protected by a mysterious katana wielding fighter named Jacob, or “not quite Brandon Lee” as I kept calling him throughout the film.  Jacob isn’t much of a hero in the film.  He carries around a sword, but he only knows like 3 moves, so he can’t really be all that effective.    

You two are the worst Movie heroes ever!

               

     The third plot to the film focuses on Sarah’s younger sister, Jill, and their mom Maggie. Nothing of significant importance or interest happens in their story, and there screen time feels like they’re just there to diverge from Sarah and Jacob’s plot.                                         

    Brad Dourif’s character, Mathais the Necromancer of Light is a pretty generic movie villain.  He doesn’t really do anything memorable or astonishing in the film, he’s just the villain.  Also, it really annoyed me in the film that they kept calling him a Neh-krahm-ancer, instead of a Necromancer.  He introduces himself as Mathias and refers to himself as “The Necromancer of Light”.  However, every other character in the film calls him a “neh-krahm-ancer” and it really irked me throughout the film that no one could call him by his proper name.                               

Everyone makes mistakes Brad, we won't hold this one against you

    “Fading of the Cries” also depended too much on computer-generated effects’.  There are times in the film where the CGI looks nice, but for the most part it’s pretty obnoxious.  The film does contain a few actors in make-up playing the creatures, but there are literally thousands of CGI images of them to make Mathais army seem much larger and more terrifying.  It is a cheap effect and it is also a lousy effect.  The CGI did not help this film at all.                                            

     I cannot bring myself to recommend this film to anyone; even though it contains the awesomeness that is Mr. Brad Dourif.  It’s sloppy, it feels rushed and it not a really a visually appealing film.  With the exception of Brad Dourif and Michael’s background story, I found nothing about “Fading of the Cries” to be particularly entertaining.