Jason Horton's Edges of Darkness is a film I have been following for what seems like years now. Finally the other day I was lucky enough to receive the film in my mailbox. It took me awhile but I finally found the time to pop it in the DVD player and give it a spin. Honestly I didn't really remember too much about the plot or what I should expect. Which was probably a good thing because I was very surprised by what I was greeted with.

Now most of the time when you think of a low budget horror film right off the bat you can guess that it is a zombie film. Well I can tell you in all honesty that this is not just your ordinary, run of the mill zombie flick. There is plenty of other creatures and baddies that pop up that add a real nice one two punch. The film plays out during a zombie outbreak and follows along three different groups of people. The main story is of a man that is more concerned with his computer than his wife, the second is of a man and his wife who must go out in search of food and find something they did not suspect and the last story is of a lone woman who finds a wife and child who are not what they seem.

I will start with some of the minor things that if I had to nit pick at these would be it. Some of the effects that were used for the story that focused on the computer were a little on the B-movie side. Which would have worked fine if the story was done in more of a anthology tale where the worlds don't co-exist but because they do I found them very out of place. In a way it reminded me of one of the Creepshow stories in which Stephen King played the farmer whose home is invaded by the green moss. My only other complaint would be on the stereotypical look of the female "warrior" character. She always appears in these types of zombie stories and I just thought the look was dead. I mean it is a very cool look but by comparison with all of the really ingenious things he had done with the film I was little disappointed in what seemed like a lack of creativity given to her look.

Now the strong points of this film are many but what I was most impressed with was oddly enough the sound effects. Most of the time when I look at these independent films that really have NO budget the thing that lacks the most is sound. I have actually heard AOL sounds used in films before so I have seen the worst of the worst. But what he was able to do was very impressive. The sound of gore, bones breaking and even the gunshots sounded very authentic. I was very pleased with what he was able to do especially with what little he had. Which just reinforces my thoughts that you have no excuse for putting shitty sound in your film. Take a page from Horton's book and take a look at what he was able to do in this film.

Something else that is very common when it comes to low budget horror flicks that I have almost just given up hope on is acting. Edges of Darkness though has a very good cast and I can't think of anyone that was not up to speed. I do have to point out one actor in particular because I really enjoyed his role in the film, Alonzo Jones. He reminded me of a very young Samuel L. Jackson. You are introduced to his character in a scene where I could almost not stop laughing. It was just like the lines were written for Samuel L. Jackson and Jones just jumped in and pulled it off wonderfully.

The gore in this movie is also another highlight that I haven't even touched on yet. While it is great and some of it is over the top fun, you don't get a whole lot of it. Just enough for the real gorehounds to enjoy. But if you are looking for a real zombie flick this movie will probably not be for you. It is so much more than that. They managed to create some very interesting characters and put them into situations that are dire. The zombie invasion is simply the backdrop for each of the stories. That's really what sets this low budget zombie flick does that others don't. Great stories with interesting characters that just happen to be stuck in the middle of a zombie invasion.

Overall I thought this was a very unique independent feature that I fear is going to be a tough sell. Often times distributors are not to kind to films that have much more than what is bubbling at the surface. They just want an easy way to sell the film to an audience and make money. I really hope that this film finds a home soon and gets out there to all of the fans of horror. This film definitely deserves to be seen by more than a handful of writers.

- Luke Franklin