REVIEW: Alice Jacobs Is Dead
About a week or so ago I finally had the chance to see Alice Jacobs Is Dead at the Women in Horror 2 film festival here in Chicago. When I got the DVD it wouldn’t play in either my laptop or my actual DVD player so I was thrilled to see it on the big screen. The film is about Ben Jacobs, who is the brilliant scientist who found a cure for the zombie plague or rather a serum that can make the Z-virus dormant. However, in the process he lost his wife to the Z-virus… or so we thought. See, Ben has been hiding his wife, Alice, from the public because she is in fact alive and very well until the Z-virus fights back against the serum. Now, Ben must balance his priorities; should he save his wife first before he can save the world? And no, I’m not saying a word.
There were a lot of things that I enjoyed about this and one of the things that I enjoyed was that this story takes place after the zombie outbreak and after everything that has been contained. So to see the character of Ben struggle with his life after the Z-virus took over was very powerful. I also really enjoyed how the characters talk about how the society is after the whole incident, case in point, when George tells Ben that he would care about his raise in pay if money still meant something. The film does a great job alluding to the society that has arisen from the zombie outbreak.
I was also shocked to see that Adrienne Barbeau (Mrs. Former John Carpenter) in a leading performance and she, of course, steals the show. You immediately fall in love with her character because she is trying to move on after being cured from the Z-virus but you know that she has skeletons in her closet. Her facial and physical expressions that she carries tell the audience that her mask of happiness covers a primal instinct still in her. The scene in which she devours the raw meat from the fridge is that turning point where we understand that things are going to get ugly and she did a great job with it. It was frightening and very powerful.
But lets talk about the other performances. George was a great character, more of a catalyst that finds out what Ben (John La Zar) was hiding and tries to reverse it. However, Ben is the kind of guy who we also care about. I had a very bittersweet attachment to Ben because I felt that he was a good guy who couldn’t sort out his priorities. He truly loves his wife and he truly wants to help humanity but at the same time he is keeping an allegedly cured person in his house. We understand his plight in saving his loved one and saving the world.
Alex Horwitz really created something here and he did a great job with such a micro-budget film. All the performances were brilliantly acted and the only problem that I had with it was that it wasn’t long enough. I felt for the character but I wanted to see more; not necessarily the society after the incident but the character’s struggles. If you have the chance to check it out, do so. It’s one of the best post-zombie outbreak movies that I have seen and it’s a very powerful and important piece.
