PORTO DOS MORTOS (Beyond the Grave) Film Review

One of the Undead

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - The feature film BEYOND THE GRAVE (aka PORTO DOS MORTOS), produced by Lockheart Filmes Ltda., had its Chicago premiere on April 21 at the Chicago Latino Film Festival. Written and directed by Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro (who's also producing with Isidoro B. Guggiana), BEYOND THE GRAVE (2011) follows the unstoppable hunt of a vengeful cop (Rafael Tombini) for a supernatural serial killer. In its film festival circuit the Brazilian fantasy feature gained international acclaim, being also selected for the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano (Cuba) and granted with two awards: Best Horror Feature Award at the Arizona Underground Film Festival and Audience Choice Award for Best Latin American Feature at Montevideo Fantástico (Uruguay).

Shot in the city of Porto Alegre, south of Brazil, BEYOND THE GRAVE is an art-house mixture of road movie, spaghetti western and different horror sub-genres such as zombie and black magic. "I tried to bring in everything I had learned about cinema and humanity from the beginning of my conscious life till the moment of locking the final cut.  I think we should be respectful of genre, of course, but a rigid tone is more important than a rigid genre. We’re in an age where amalgamations are common nature in art. Cinema shouldn’t be excluded", believes the Brazilian filmmaker.

The distributors of this film contacted Blog of the Living Dead, and sent us a screener for review.

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Rafael Tombini

And here is our review:

I watched PORTO DOS MORTOS (Beyond the Grave) last week, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I especially liked the cocky and unabashedly cool protagonist, played intensely by Rafael Tombini .  A dude with a chip on his shoulder and an ax (or Samurai sword) to grind.  This is a film with style that is more often seen in films from Hollywood ("Bourne" or "Mission Impossible") or the UK (James Bond etc), but has that Robert Rodriguez feel of "El Mariachi" or "Desperado."

Regarding Tombini's character, think Clint Eastwood crossed with Chow Yun-fat.  Kicking ass, taking names and striking them off Santa's Christmas list.

Without the million dollar budgets of the US or UK films-- I have to say Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro (writer and director) created something pretty great, with stark and intimately filmed scenes and obviously patiently framed shots.  The movie moved at a smouldering pace, building to an inevitable climax. I would very much like to see more from Oliveria, and the lead actor Rafael Tombini.  Tombini has true movie star qualities.

No lack of gore, as one would expect from a zombie flick, and effects were respectable.

Enjoyable.  Watch to the end.

BOTLD