Digging Up the Marrow : Movie Review


Digging Up the Marrow (2014) - Movie Poster"It's not found-footage," says writer-director Adam Green (playing himself), "it's footage-footage." Having already created the "Hatchet" franchise, a slasher series revolving around a grotesque, murderous boogeyman who roams the Louisiana bayou, Green has opted to make a documentary exploring the public's fascination with onscreen monsters and villains. Interviews with artists, producers and actors largely picked up on the horror convention circuit take an unexpected turn when the filmmaker receives a fan letter from retired police detective William Dekker (Ray Wise), who claims he has first-hand knowledge that monsters are, indeed, real. Self-aggrandizing but undeniably effective, "Digging Up the Marrow" blurs fiction and reality by introducing otherworldly elements into a version of Green's everyday life.

Audiences in 2015 are more sophisticated and jaded than they were when "The Blair Witch Project" came out in 1999. Because it is a lost cause—and rather tacky—to pass off today's faux docs as actual footage, the director twists the formula by pulling himself into a reality that is honest in some ways and fabricated in others. Obviously, the casting of recognizable veteran actor Ray Wise (TV's "Twin Peaks," 2013's "Big Ass Spider!") as William Dekker betrays the aura of authenticity, and yet because Green is portraying himself and cinematographer-costar Will Barratt's camera follows him home and to his offices at production company Ariescope Pictures, it is easy to get wrapped up in the film's meta veneer. What is a little more shameless is the self-congratulatory air the movie emits, with parts of it wading too deeply into promotion of Green's filmography and brand (even Kane Hodder, in a cameo, pops up brandishing a "Frozen" T-shirt—one that has nothing to do with Scandinavian ice princesses). He is such an enthusiastic, well-spoken personality that this sprinkle of egotism can be overlooked, but it is there, and on occasion the plot at hand must take a backseat to it.


See Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com. for full review

Author : Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com.