Reed Alexander's Horror Review of 'Eve Is Dead' (2023)

Eve Is Dead (2023). An independent amateur film by Rob Silver of Team Manticore. So, going into this, my review has been scaled down to meet my expectations of a student film. When you have a production of this quality we expect mistakes to be made. The question is, are those mistakes acceptable?

So let me start off by saying I was impressed by this movie. For amateur, it's actually pretty good. There are so many that are just un-fucking-watchable. You want to root for the amateur, but it almost feels like putting a five-year-old's crayon drawing on the refrigerator. This was not that bad. It's actually worth a watch just for the cinematic value. And that's due to the level of tension this first-time director was able to build into his movie. With one set, and a hand full of characters, Rob managed to create a level of tension that is downright palpable. Every scene in this movie is uncomfortable. That's an impressive feat for a dude's first go at a movie. I mean, the atmosphere was off, the lighting wasn't quite right, the set was bland and faded into the background, but even still there is an undeniable level of high tension. The director can give himself a pat on the back for that.

The story is dumb simple, but that's what we expect when the production is struggling to rub two nickles together. Guy loses wife, mad scientist offers to bring her back, scientist makes a monster. Right from the pages of classics like Frankenstein and Re-Animator. In this one, the scientist makes a clone, he doesn't raise the woman from the dead, but the results are the same as well as the story. I have to say, this also had a pretty good "Re-Animator" vibe to it which helps the movie quite a lot. And a simple plot is good to keep things simple like set and casting. I have to say, I'm also impressed how something was made from so little.

One thing that wasn't quite right about the atmosphere was the sound. There were two scenes where you could barely hear the actor speaking. There were scenes with too much background fuzz. The movie gets quieter and louder at points. But hey, these are the kinds of mistakes we expect, and they are forgivable. The soundtrack actually did a good job of keeping up the tension, even when the levels were off.

The story is... a little slow. It feels like the scenes aren't cut quite as well as they should have been. There are scenes that feel like unnecessary padding. I'm just not sure if there was enough here to go the full hour and thirty.

Of course, some of that was the acting. The actors were a little slow with their delivery and response. But actually, I have to admit, the acting was almost good enough for horror. I've seen WAY worse acting than this out of an independent studio with an actual budget. There were some hammy scenes, but for the most part, they did well.

The first flashback was a little sloppy. I was left a little confused at first when the movie flashed back. I think they could have worked on the transition a little better. However, this too wasn't problematic enough to drag the movie down. Once you're aware it's a flashback, you're better prepared to recognize the others when they happen.

I think the horror community should give this guy a chance. This movie shows incredible promise and I do recommend supporting him as a creator.

Give it a shot.

SPOILERS!!!

I actually wonder if I shouldn't do spoilers for an amateur film like this...

Something bothered me a little bit about the movie's ending. There's a twist at the end where we discover the male lead's wife faked her death to get away from him. She comes back after realizing she fucking wrecked his life and wants to make amends. Her clone finds her first and kills her. That's kinda neat and all... but the male lead's reaction to discovering his clone wife killed his real wife and that his real wife was still alive was... not right. First of all, discovering your wife faked her death would have just fucked that guy up. I actually wish he'd found her before the clone did, that would have made for a just amazing scene because the guy would likely have a nervous breakdown right there. Then the clone could have killed her and he'd have to deal with the moral ramifications of that. I think it would have been a better scene than what we got.

Second, when he discovers his clone wife killed his real wife, does he just poison her, or does he poison her and himself? I can kinda see him killing her and himself at the same time, that's even kinda poetic, but I can't see him just killing the clone. Think about it. This is the version of his wife that never left him, that didn't fake her own death to get away from him. This one thinks he nurtured her back to health after a car accident. Wouldn't it be WAY more fucked up if the male lead was okay with that? That would be some Stepford Wives shit, right there.

But still, really good first go at things.