A 2-4-1 Special of Danielle De Luca

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A 2-for-1 Special of Danielle De Luca

By: Brian Cotnoir

Actress Danielle De Luca

A while back I watched two Horror films (courtesy of Netflix) that were just awful. The films were called “Naked Fear” and “Necrosis”.  So why have I decided to group them together instead of giving them each a separate review?  Well for one thing I didn’t think I had enough material to talk about why I didn’t like both films, but besides that I noticed that while watching both films they had one thing in common; both films had the same leading actress.  The actress I’m talking about is a pretty young red head by the name of Danielle De Luca.  Danielle De Luca is an unknown actress who has been featured in 14 straight to DVD horror films since 2006.  So I have decided to give you a two-for-one special on Danielle De Luca this week.  The purpose of this review was more to bash the films that Danielle De Luca has appeared in rather than making fun of her as an actress.  I mean her acting isn’t terrible; I think it has more to do with the films she has appeared in.  If you know any others films that Danille De Luca appears in that you thought were good just let me know in the comment section. 

Naked Fear (2007)

This is the first film I ever saw starring Danielle De Luca, she plays a girl named Diana who leaves her home in Texas and moves to a rural town in New Mexico to work as a stripper. The town and the club were a lot worse than what Diana thought she was getting into, but unfortunately no one will lend her the money to get back to Texas, and she barely makes any money at her job as it is.  One night her roommate suggests that she try hooking to make some extra cash.  After resisting for a while she eventually gives in.  Unfortunately for Diana, her first client turns out to be a serial killer who beats her unconscious, strips her naked and flies her out into the middle of the wilderness so he can hunt her.                             

     This film’s plot is based off the crimes of American serial killer, Robert Hansen who did abduct prostitutes and fly them out to the Alaskan wilderness to hunt them, and it is also almost identical to the plot of the 1994 film “Surviving the Game”, but instead of Ice-T being hunted by Rutger Hauer and Gary Busey, we get a naked Danielle De Luca being hunted by some unknown guy, whose character name I could not remember for most of the film. I had no problem with Danielle De Luca being naked for more than half the movie, and that’s really the only positive thing I have to say about this film.  The story to this film has been done-to-death more times than I can count.  There’s nothing new, or original, or exciting about it.  It’s a generic film with a predictable plot and no action or excitement.  This film stretches the truths of reality way too many times.  I want to know how she doesn’t freeze to death the first night with no clothes or shelter, or how come when she knocks out the guy hunting her the first time she didn’t take his rifle or make sure he was dead, and how the hell after days without any food and barely any time to rest she somehow manages to survive being run over by a van and is able to steal it from the owner and drive to civilization before passing out.  The ending to “Naked Fear” makes a little bit of sense, but it does still stretch the truths of reality.  There’s just nothing spectacular I can say about this film.        

            

Necrosis (or Blood Snow) (2009)

Sometimes called "Blood Snow"

Another horror film I saw starring Danielle De Luca was “Necrosis”.  The ultimate problem with this film is that it tries so badly to be like other—much better—horror films that it loses its central focus and just ends up sucking so much! Besides not having a central focus to the story of the film, the characters are all poorly established, and the film spends more time trying to rip off other films rather than trying to be good on its own.  Just from the opening scene you get the sense that they tried way too hard to make this a good film.  The second scene in the film is the most blatant rip off of the opening scene to “The Shining” I have ever seen, and that is just the first of many fails.                                           

    The plot to “Necrosis” is the following: A group of recent college graduates are heading up to a cabin in the mountains to for a week of snowmobiling and fun.  As it just so happens there is a huge blizzard that supposed to be coming through, and despite all the warnings the six friends receive from the locals they decide to ignore them and head up to the mountains. But this just isn’t any mountain they’re on; as it turns out the same cabin they’re staying in is on the same mountain where the Donner Party Massacre happened!  So the six friends are, obviously, going to be killed by the zombies of the Donner Party, right?  Wrong!  They die by either freezing to death or gunshot wounds!                                               

     This film really pisses me off because throughout the first half of the film they go out of their way to establish that the mountain they’re staying on was the same one that “Donner Party” got stranded on, and then the Donner Party Zombies aren’t even the bad guys in the film, it’s themselves!  There are even a few scenes of the cast having nightmares about being eaten by zombies, so you would think that the film was foreshadowing events that were to come in the film, but no!  Instead they wasted time on other things.    

Danielle De Luca & James Kyson Lee

    The other major problem with this film is it fails to establish its characters properly, our Hero (if we can even call him that) has like a half-dozen different background stories; he was a med student, he quit to become a writer, he’s also a master mechanic, he was engaged a few months ago, etc.  Jesus Christ, what can’t this guy do?  Then there’s Danielle De Luca’s character, Samantha, who is revealed to be 2-months pregnant half way through the friggin` movie!  What effect does this have on her character or the films plot? Absolutely, nothing her character decides to keep it a secret from her boyfriend—who we later find out is a schizophrenic—and ends up getting killed by him before she can ever tell him.  So thank you movie for deciding to invest us in this twist-to-the-plot and leaving it unfulfilled!  Thank you so VERY much.   

RESPECT MICHAEL BERRYMAN!!!

The worst thing about this film is what they did to poor Michael Berryman.  Michael Berryman is a Cult-Horror Movie legend and it angered me so much that this film did not let him live up to the potential we would normally expect from an actor like him..  I don’t even think he took this film that seriously, because he put so little effort into his character, and I honestly think this film was just another paycheck to him.  He’s just awful in this film.  So do yourself a favor do NOT see “Necrosis” it is one of the worst horror films I have ever seen, and it is just too stupid to be comprehended by sane human beings.  I have half a mind to go up to this film’s crew and smack them all across the face with a shovel!  For Shame on them all.  FOR SHAME!