Dylan Dog Dead of Night is a film based on the old Italian Dylan Dog comic books. I have been excited to see this as Michele Soavi’s Cemetery Man (Dellamorte Dellamore) is one of my favourite movies of all time. Rupert Everett’s character Francesco Dellamorte is the alter-ego to Dylan Dog in that film. But enough about Cemetery Man and on to the action at hand!
When Dylan Dog begins the title character is working as a private detective, no longer involved in dealings with all things that go bump in the night. Of course the monster world comes knocking at his door again, and we have a film to watch. While I love Cemetery Man I was never able to track down and read any of the Italian comics that Dark Horse released in North America so I’m not sure how close the movie follows the source material. I know that the diehard fans of the comic book see the film as blasphemy to the original works, but I had no expectations going in. I knew the film wouldn’t be as dark and moody as Cemetery Man as that was a small independent horror flick, while this one is a big budget Hollywood action romp with a cast of monsters. Think Ghostbusters, not Evil Dead and you won’t be disappointed.
Brandon Routh was okay as the title character and I didn’t love or hate his performance. I felt he did the part justice, but didn’t reach the same zenith that Rupert Everett did years ago. He plays it pretty straight, the tortured and brooding investigator that seems like he’s wallowing in melancholy, yet never seems truly tough or a force to be reckoned with. He gets tossed around easily by the monsters and uses his gadgets and intelligence to outdo his foes instead of using brawn. I was surprised to see former WWE Legend Kurt Angle make an appearance as a pretty gnarly and intimidating looking werewolf. I couldn’t quite place him at first but as the movie went on it came to me. Sam Huntington (Jam from Detroit Rock City) plays Marcus, Dylan’s sidekick and necessary comic relief. Because Dylan Dog is so serious and morose the whole film, Marcus is a nice compliment to his character and brings the film all of it’s laughs.
Usually with these types of films the make or break it point are the creature effects and for the most part I thought the characters in the film all looked pretty good. The werewolves looked great and didn’t become regular wolves after transformation which seems to be the popular thing to do these days. I guess we have Twilight to thank for that. I would have liked to see a more diverse transformation like American Werewolf in London gave us decades ago, but alas we can’t all be Rick Baker. The Vampires looked average like something you would see in a Buffy episode and oddly enough Marcus reminded me of Stubbs the Zombie based on how he was dressed for the duration of the flick.
Overall I enjoyed Dylan Dog and would watch it again. I’m still a kid at heart and love Monster movies and don’t go into them expecting storytelling and cinematic genius, I leave that to the film school snobs. If you’re looking for a action packed Monster movie that is more light then dark, Dylan Dog fits the bill.
