Reign of Fire, Long Time Dead

By EWAN McDONALD

Reign of Fire (Herald rating: * * )

Long Time Dead (Herald rating: * )

Yes, it does say "best videos/dvd" at the top of the column and these are only HH and H. Before you log on, type furiously and belt the send button to point this out, be assured that they are the best around after Minority Report and 8 Legged Freaks, reviewed last week.

Actually, these two flicks show just how funny/offbeat and destined for a great
Hollywood future our Kiwi director Ellory Elkayem is. He made a great B-movie, after all.

The link between the two is England - one was made there, one is set in the Old Country. Reign of Fire takes place in

England in 2020, after huge fire-breathing dragons break out of a tunnel under London and, well, put another Pom on the barbie. The last few humans hide out in scattered colonies (now there's a switch for our former masters).

Leader of one community up North is Quinn (Christian Bale), who shows how tough he is by saying very few words. Quinn's leadership is challenged when the brash, muscled, bald and tattooed Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) shows up, claiming to be a genuine dragon-slayer. He and his team want Quinn and his lot to head to London and take on the dragons.

To make a good fantasy movie these days, you've got to have a great special effects team behind you, and Reign of Fire doesn't come close to the sort of images that we've come to expect from colonials like Peter Jackson. The movie is much like a video game. Hold that thought.

Since Reign of Fire wasn't the smash hit its producers had hoped for, the DVD includes few extra features. Breathing Life into the Terror is a brief look at the CGI work; If You Can't Stand The Heat is a longer look at the fireworks; and there is a short Conversation with Director Rob Bowman in which the director talks about his influences, the dragons, and other aspects of the film. And there are two video games; you will not be hugely surprised to learn that one is Reign of Fire.

The teen slasher Long Time Dead is apparently the first major British horror film since Hellraiser in 1987. Rob (Joe Absolom), Stella (Lara Belmont), Webster (Lukas Haas), Spencer (James Hillier), Joe (Mel Raido), Liam (Alec Newman) and girlfriend Annie (Melanie Gutteridge) share a house in London. The distinctly dodgy landlord, Becker (Tom Bell), lives on the ground floor.

One night the pals chum up at a nightclub then head off to a back room with a ouija board. The prank turns into a nightmare when the pointer spells "All Die". Soon after, Annie dies in a fall from the nightclub roof and the friends begin to turn on one another. As the body-count rises, dark secrets come to light.

Some cheap thrills but a pretty ridiculous story becomes more so as it drags on. If you want to compare it with American examples, think of it as I Know What You Couldn't Be Bothered To Do Last Summer.

Since Long Time Dead wasn't the smash hit that its producers had hoped for, the DVD includes few extra features.