(aka, The Dark Knight, Ferocious)
I’m willing to forgive a lot of sins when it comes to what I like to call a “Garage Band” movie.
By that, I mean a film made with far more love than money, by a tiny group of people working out of their garage.
Not that I haven’t seen some truly impressive films (like Primer) made that way, but, if you can accept them for what they are, then the genuine talent and imagination you’ll find in the best of these can really shine.
Dark Nemesis offers us a post-Apocalyptic future in which the world has broken up into tiny little fiefdoms ruled by warlords.
Because of the collapse of society, things have regressed quite a bit, and the armies of these warlords are mostly armed with swords, bows and pikes.
One might even start thinking this was a routine Fantasy sword and scorcery except for a few remnants of the modern age, like a handgun and a railroad car.
The basic situation also seems to be a typical Fantasy story, with a group of soldiers (lead by Xan, played by Kyle Marsh) stealing the Warlord’s silver and fleeing into the forbidden forest known as “The Shadowlands.”
Although what Xan is after is quite different — and far more dangerous — from what he has told the others…
Dark Nemesis leads with its weakest moments, as the Warlord’s army goes into battle in a massively greenscreened attack.
I’ll admit that I then expected the rest of the film would be shot against green screens, but it quickly moves into a real forest, with only a few stunning and well-used matte images to show us the fallen world. The rest of the film was shot on location in some truly beautiful country, except for a long sequence later in the film which was filmed inside a far less natural location.
While you’d never mistake that greenscreened battle for anything else, it is far better than you’d expect in a film this minimal. Not only are the individual shots iconic and beautifully composed, it has all been edited together to best effect. Heck, you don’t see too many SyFy originals that look any better.
Perhaps Dark Nemesis‘ strongest visual; is the Warlord’s team of female assassins, who all wear blank white masks shaped like a beautiful woman’s face, beneath a black hood. With their form-fitting, all black outfits, and their various weapons and pieces of armor, they look like they stepped off the cover of an old Fantasy paperback novel. They are both sexy and scary at the same time.
And then there’s the creature.
Let’s face it, it never looks like anything other than a CGI monster.
But it is surprisingly well done and there are only a few moments when it hasn’t been perfectly integrated into the action (compare it to something like Monsters of War where they barely exist in the same universe as the film). Few amateur productions look this good, particularly not the ones where the creature puts in this much screentime.
Its design is fairly interesting. While it has hints of more traditional fantasy creatures, its multiple eyes and strangely shaped head aren’t at all what you’d expect.
They also put it to good use: it stays unseen for long time and its appearances are dramatic and well framed.
Frankly, Dark Nemesis is an impressive accomplishment for a handmade DIY garage band of a movie. It looks good, it uses its mattes and effects surprisingly well (and, for the most part, with restraint) and they even managed to find a few cool locations. The acting is quite acceptable, with no obviously bad performances, and the story keeps your attention. I particularly liked the way they used their one indoor location, which proved to be the perfect setting for a “Bug Hunt.”
It’s a surprisingly accomplished “B” movie on a “Z” budget, and it is well worth a look.
If you can accept it for what it is…
rivets on the poster 
2 thoughts on “Dark Nemesis (2011)”