Continuing my foray into Fangoria’s FrightFest, I recently watched The Tomb.
The Tomb is loosely based on the Edgar Allen Poe piece Ligeia. While many of the key elements of the original work are held intact (seduction, resurrection, madness, and magic mixed with science) the depth and mystique of Poe’s work is poorly translated.
Released in 2009, The Tomb stars Wes Bentley as Jonathan the successful scholar seduced from his life and fiancé Rowena (Kaitlin Doubleday) by the enigmatic, sorceress/scientist Ligeia (Sofya Skya). Bentley strikes me as an American rip-off of David Tennant (Doctor Who, Fright Night) and Skya delivers a decidedly depthless performance. She brings to Ligeia the exotic beauty you would expect but she wasn’t so very convincing as a metaphysical mastermind. With claim to the same writer and producer as The Crow, I expected something a bit… more. The Tomb‘s attempt at Gothic atmosphere alternated between reasonably effective and bleh. The insane passion and obsession over beauty and love that characterized the original was weak in The Tomb. There was zero chemistry actually. The horror was more supernatural in nature, but lacked any sort of intrigue. More troublesome though was that the story lacked a certain cohesion. Sure, the series of events moved along in a logical progression, but there was little draw. A pleasant surprise was the supporting cast of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Michael Madsen. The Tomb wasn’t so bad that it left me angry, but it wasn’t entertaining enough to bring me anything more than a “meh”.
I tried. I honestly did, but Fangoria’s FrightFest films just don’t do it for me. I was hoping for independent gold and instead received a polished poo.
