Greetings valued Dan's Movie Report
readers, as we near the Halloween season I have decided to select a
few titles horror related. Although many of my reviews have focused
on action, this site is open to reviewing all types of films, drama,
comedy, foreign, and horror. Brushing this aside for the moment, today
I tackle a film that Crystal Santos told me about awhile back. She
told me she was going to be in this new film called Mayday and all
she let me know about is that it will be a horror film called Mayday.
Crystal, who is known for her work in stunts, said that she would
also serve as the stunt coordinator on the film. To avoid confusion
when searching for this film make sure you add (2019) as other films
called Mayday have been released prior.
These facts aside, I made a few
attempts to connect to the film maker, and was told that the film
would release on Lionsgate in 2019. Now on DVD, and available from the
various outlets comes this 76 minute, yes you heard right, very short,
yet rather unusual horror flick. The entirety of Mayday takes place
on a flight to London, in what seems like a smaller plane, not a 747
or 757. the film opens with the passengers getting on the plane and
let us just say each one has a quirk or characteristic that makes
them a bit annoying, haha, but actually it kind of works later in the
film. We have newlyweds, a man clutching a briefcase a Sikh doctor,
two very flighty flight attendants a gruff old man, and the actor Michael Paré, who plays a sky Marshall, and Crystal Santos, the
seemingly only sane one of the bunch. Of course we have the young
pilot and copilot as well. The film is classified as a combination
drama, action and horror, while this is true, there is not much
action.
The movie does develop some of the
characters, but we never really know them, just what they are like.
More of a personality study in reactions, rather than out and out
jump horror, Mayday works in the realm of supernatural, yet once
(Minor Spoiler) passengers start vanishing things get rather frantic. The pace still seemed a bit slow for people in peril, even
though no one had a clue where the danger came from.
I will not spoil the story, as the
ending is pretty cool, and elevates Mayday to a pretty decent film.
This fact aside, I did not care for much of the acting except for
Crystal Santos and Michael Paré. Not that the acting was bad, it just
seemed to forced and not natural. An example when the newlywed
watches her husband vanish she is of course visibly upset, then is
calmed down, then kind of falls a sleep, I am thinking if I lose
someone, I would be upset, nervous, and angry for the entire flight,
no rational person unless given a sleeping pill which we did not see,
would just drift off to dreamland while their loved one just is
voided from the seat next to you.
Actually director Massimillano Cerchi
has a difficult task at hand, because the film is set in one place,
the characters barely move thus they are relegated to their airline
seats or going to the bathroom, as the plan is in flight for the
majority of the Mayday. The script and dialogue are interesting, yet
at only 76 minutes, I felt a bit jilted that I was dropped into a
film that had already started. Actually, to see the people in the
gate waiting for the plane, or even prior to flying would have made
me care about the characters more. Understandably though, Mayday is
meant to be a sonic blast of horror, mixing elements of the Exorcist
and Twilight Zone. Playing out more like an episodic TV show rather
than a movie, Mayday could have easily been a plot on The Twilight
Zone show, and even worked in a 60 minute time slot.
Kudos to the lighting and DP personnel,
too often in Horror films it is so hard to see the action when
whatever it is jumps out at you. Mayday you saw from beginning to end
the plight of the virtually helpless passengers. I know it seems
trivial to point this fact out, but go back in your recent horror
film memory and count the number of times you said wow, I can see the
things happening.
Overall, I struggled with the rating, a
second pass yields slightly better results. Mayday rates a definite
rent on Amazon, if you like horror a 14 dollar DVD is not out of
line, basically the film is about a 6.5 out of 10, I wanted more, yet
Mayday (2019) was not disappointing. Check out the band Leaving Eden, who provides the closing song, appropriately titled Skies of Grey. I have had the opportunity to witness them live a few times and they are quite talented!
Above: Trailer for Mayday (2019)
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