Greetings valued Dan's Movie Report and Action-Flix.com readers, across my desk today thanks to Melissa Mars reminding me, 'Curse of Mesopotamia' is a film that actually released in 2016, but signals got crossed and I never did get a review copy, fast forward to 2020, Melissa told me I could rent the film for $2.99 on Vimeo.
The plot of 'Curse of Mesopotamia' is rather unique. Several strangers are having a recurring nightmares all regarding a demon, and an ancient castle in Kurdistan. The nightmares vary based on the perspective of the person in the vision. All characters in present day have a doppelganger in ancient times, some are guards, a woman is a member of a concubine, and Melissa Mars plays a dual role as Queen in ancient times.
A psychologist/hypnotist eventually convinces the group to travel to the castle in their nightmares and that is when the madness literally begins. There are group therapy sessions and eventually the group retires to their bedrooms to sleep and be transported into the realm of the ancients.
I ended up watching the movie a couple of times, and quite honestly it is well written story, my only major issues are with the action choreography, which there is a supposed epic sword battle at the end, and it really falls flat, there is some action, but lugubrious and slow moving. The cinematography and lighting is so dark, that it felt like watching a movie from across the street and squinting! That fact aside, Melissa Mars has an excellent sword scene with another lady which is much faster and well lit thus, not all bad.
My other huge issue was with the actress Ana Sinclair I am sorry to say her performance was so wooden as the demoness queen, that it was very boring when she was on screen, Once again that was balanced by a fantastic performance from Stacy Thunes as Dr Barbara, and an ancient soothsayer named Efrite.
The performance of the film goes to Melissa Mars as Queen Lale/ and Amira in present day. She had to run the gauntlet of emotions from sadness, anger, happiness, craziness, and ultra-violent. There is a scene where she is locked in a prison cell and she is kind of sitting down seductively, and the guard sees this, unlocks the door and starts to make love and let us just say that was the man's final act of pleasure, haha!
The movie is uneven in areas, there are some sequences shot that should have been in a different order, including character deaths, no spoilers, but the skipping around timelines and in and out of dream state is a tricky thing to get right. I do appreciate the effort of Director/Writer Lauand Omar the script had depth and clever ideas. My only wish was for better acting, better quality of action, and lighting. Melissa Mars has a song 'I Will Rise' in the film as well, please check out this cool video:
Overall 'Curse of Mesopotamia' rates a 6 out of 10, a solid rent, and well worth the $2.99!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ryHvVyZhvg&t=5s
Trailer Above.
For further information, please visit the Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/curseofmesopotamia
Rent the film now on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/154095?fbclid=IwAR3jbprlW8XXMf6_CqZRW33GoXZx8pp2iyY2cVK2phAPYwEDS_vibHcuY6s
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