If the market is overcrowded with horror movies, there's no doubt most of them contain zombies. What is it that fascinates current filmmakers so much when it comes to zombies? Could be the fact they're pretty easy movies to make, since all you really need are a bunch of extras covered in make up, walking around and moaning until they stumble upon someone who doesn't look like them. It's a safe assumption that nine out of ten zombie movies made in a given year are god awful, mainly because they don't bring anything new to the table. There are only so many ways a zombie can attack, and there's only so much social commentary to be explored. Every once in a while, however, there's a filmmaker who actually puts some thought into it and is able to find a way to thrill us with their movie by putting focus on something other than the zombies. Case and point is Jim Mickle's Mulberry Street, a movie I might have hesitated to watch due to its inclusion in the 2007 After Dark Horrorfest. Before getting picked up, it received some positive feedback on the festival circuit and eventually caught the attention of Lionsgate Films, who felt it would be a good addition to their lineup. Even if their marketing is less than savvy, it's not a bad way for a $60,000 movie to get some exposure.
There have been a number of thoroughly entertaining movies that were made for no money; the key is to know how to effectively spend your dollars, but even more than that, it's crucial to have a good screenplay. The writing is the first element that stood out to me in Mulberry Street. I was keeping track, and was amazed to discover the big outbreak didn't occur until around the forty minute mark. In most horror pictures, the majority of us would be colossally bored by then, but this movie isn't just wasting time. Mickle and his co-writer, (and co-star) Nick Damici actually use the first half to (gasp!) introduce and develop their characters.
I was stunned. I began to scan my memory and had difficulty remembering when I had last seen a horror movie that wanted me to get to know the characters (Wolf Creek maybe). Horror movies these days do just enough to set the inhabitants up for the slaughter, or they try to make them so unlikable that we can't wait to see them die. In Mulberry Street, I was surprised to find myself interested in each person introduced, so much so that when the shit hit the fan, I was concerned. Part of the appeal might have been the welcome fact that there's only one teenager in the movie; most everyone else is at the middle or near the end of their lives.
A majority of the movie's events take place in a nasty, crumbling New York apartment building. It is quickly established that many of the residents have been there a majority of their lives, and as the movie opens, we learn they are on the verge of being evicted to make way for new and improved housing. While this is normally a tired set up, the movie does not use it as a gimmick. In fact, all we ever see of the evil developer is his picture on a poster. Instead, the threat of these people losing their homes is interwoven with the bigger threat of a strange infection that begins to take over their neighborhood.
In a recent interview with Mickle and Damici, they described Mulberry Street as a "neighborhood" movie (most of the characters are based on people the filmmakers have lived around). Their ultimate goal with the setting and the characters was to install a sense of community, showing that these people have known each other for years and because of that, they can depend on each other. Mickle acquaints us with this idea not through dialogue, but by showing us around the apartments. There are subtle clues everywhere that provide a perception of how long the residents have been there, and in certain cases, the history they have with one another.
Mickle and cinematographer Ryan Samul shoot the apartment building as a claustrophobic's worst nightmare. The hallways, staircases, and the units themselves are bland, dark, and uncomfortably small, maybe not unlike being stuck inside a rat hole. Despite the lack of light in the place, we can constantly tell what is happening. Even so, Mickle's main method for creating suspense isn't by showing us the creatures and the damage they do; it's through the noises coming from right outside the door and inside the walls. Just because the door's locked doesn't mean the flesh hungry predators won't find a way to get inside.
The city streets turn out to be equally as menacing as the building, which is shown largely when key character Clutch's (Damici) daughter, Casey (Kim Blair), returns from Iraq and notices that the safe place she hoped to re-adapt to is just as bad if not worse than where she was. Since the subway has been shutdown due to the outbreak, she's forced to make the journey home on foot. Mickle excels at giving tranquil settings, such as a playground, an ominous and unsettling aura. It would have been easy to show the streets full of panic but instead, Casey finds them deceptively deserted.
I have grown weary of the whole government-experiment-gone-wrong approach to zombie movies, and while Mulberry Street's infection through rat bite idea may not seem much better, it works wonders since Mickle never has to waste time giving long, drawn out explanations. The opportunity is there to showcase fancy make up effects of people turning into overgrown rats, but it's not pondered on. The glimpses are quick, creating a greater level of fear since we have to try to grasp what we think we saw through the peephole.
If I have any real complaint with Mulberry Street, it's that the movie is too short. It runs eighty-four minutes, a standard running time for a horror movie, and this is one of the rare cases where it does not feel like enough. I wanted to spend more time with these characters, to see more interaction between them. After getting comfortable with who they are, the picture wrings us dry and then lands at a very abrupt conclusion. I was so invested in everything and everyone that I didn't want it to end, especially not without the smallest amount of anticipation. Surely the filmmakers could have found a way to close the movie with a bang instead of just a loud whimper. Even with this minor letdown, Mulberry Street is a wondrous achievement, a picture that understands that even horror movies are about more than just violence and gore. In this day and age, it's a diamond in the rough.
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Copyright, Hell and Beyond, 2008
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