The Revenant

Plot synopsis:
In 1823, Hugh Glass guides Andrew Henry’s trappers through unorganized territory. While he and his half-Pawnee son, Hawk, are hunting, the company's camp is attacked by an Arikara war party. Glass recommends that the survivors travel on foot to Fort Kiowa, as traveling downriver will make them vulnerable. After docking, the crew stashes the pelts near the shore.
Glass is badly mauled by a grizzly bear and left close to death. Trapper John Fitzgerald, fearful of another Arikara attack, argues that the group must mercy-kill Glass and keep moving. Henry agrees, but is unable to pull the trigger; instead, he offers money for someone to stay with Glass. When the only volunteers are Hawk and the young Jim Bridger, Fitzgerald agrees to stay to recoup his losses from the abandoned pelts.
After the others leave, Fitzgerald attempts to smother Glass but is discovered by Hawk. Fitzgerald stabs him to death as Glass watches helplessly. The next morning, Fitzgerald convinces Bridger that the Arikara are approaching and they must abandon Glass. After they depart, Fitzgerald admits he lied. When Fitzgerald and Bridger meet Henry at the fort, Fitzgerald tells him that Glass died and Hawk vanished.
Glass begins an arduous journey through the wilderness. He performs crude self-surgery and eludes the pursuing Arikara who are looking for the Chief's kidnapped daughter, Powaqa. Glass encounters Pawnee refugee Hikuc who says that "revenge is in the Creator's hands." The men share bison meat and travel together. After an hallucinogenic experience, Glass discovers Hikuc hanged by French hunters. He infiltrates their camp and sees the leader raping Powaqa. He frees her, kills two hunters, and steals Hikuc's horse, leaving his canteen behind. The next morning, Glass is ambushed by the Arikara and driven over a cliff on his horse. He survives the night by eviscerating the horse and sheltering inside its carcass.
A French survivor staggers into Fort Kiowa and Bridger recognizes his canteen as Glass's. Believing it stolen, Henry organizes a search party. Fitzgerald, realizing Glass is alive, empties the outpost’s safe and flees. The search party finds the exhausted Glass. Enraged, Henry orders Bridger arrested, but Glass vouches that he was deceived and reveals Fitzgerald murdered his son. Glass and Henry set out in pursuit of Fitzgerald.
After the two split up, Fitzgerald ambushes and kills Henry. Glass props Henry's corpse on his horse as a decoy. Fitzgerald shoots the decoy, and Glass shoots Fitzgerald in the arm. He pursues Fitzgerald to a riverbank where they engage in a brutal fight. Glass is about to kill Fitzgerald, but spots a band of Arikara downstream. He remembers Hikuc's words and pushes Fitzgerald downstream into the hands of the Arikara. The chief scalps and kills Fitzgerald and the Arikara spare Glass. Heavily wounded, Glass retreats into the mountains where he is visited by the spirit of his wife.

Tags: violence, comedy, murder

Review:
My son found this film & recommended that I watch, having been a fan of David Anders from Heros as Adam Monroe & being a fan of the Zombie genre I had high hopes.I wasn't let down, this film was brilliantly entertaining & the ending totally unexpected!
Kerry Prior's script is a great new take on the zombie genre which other film makers should take note of.
I have been telling everyone I know about this movie because I think it is one that can be enjoyed across genres and needs to be seen..
Last night I watched The Revenant at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and it was clear the film took everyone by surprise.
Going into the screening armed only with what I saw in the trailer, I wasn't looking forward to much; I feel that I should make it clear to anyone interested in seeing this film - the trailer for The Revenant represents the film in only the most superficial way.
Yes, it is a buddy movie; yes, one of the buddies is undead; and yes, there is sarcastic dialogue and gun-play - but those just building blocks to what is, as a whole, a fantastic and sincere film which doesn't let itself get stuck in a box.
Watching The Revenant, he's definitely not just a special effects artist taking a stab at directing; this is a film handled was great confidence and ability, marking a start to what will hopefully be a prosperous career.
Nobody knows a damn thing about it and the festival director introduces it as a long movie.
Like a reviewer said before me, think the "Deathdream" kind of zombie.I can only thank the director/writer for making this one.
Its got humor, gore, the ending is AMAZING and when a guy's living head is laying there trying to talk they have the most imaginative way of being able to understand what he's trying to say (my favorite part of the movie and you'll agree when you watch this!).
Shes a friend of the main characters and her acting skills are pretty horrific everyone else in the film are pretty convincing.WATCH IT, BUY IT, RECOMMEND IT, POST IT, LINK IT, LIVE IT, BREATHE IT AND FOR GOD SAKES AT LEAST GIVE IT A CHANCE!.
Despite winning a lot of awards at various festivals (check out the wiki page for the impressive full list), The Revenant was frustratingly not given a proper release for far too long.It deserves to become a cult classic (in the best sense of the phrase) though as it's a very intelligently written new take on the zombie genre, something with a lot of genuinely fascinating ideas which are explored beautifully.
Ultimately a horror film with a comedic edge, it has a lot of fun with it's concept, whilst still managing to pull off some truly horrible scenes.
It is an excellent zombie film.The acting is very good.
This is a director who worked as a special and visual effects guy on a lot of major sci fi films (I looked on IMDb and he worked on The Abyss, Lost Boys, Bubba Ho Tep, etc etc etc etcs and he clearly knows what he is doing.
This film looks great, the effects are great and a lot of fun.This film is a MUST for any zombie fan.
Despite winning a lot of awards at various festivals (check out the wiki page for the impressive full list), The Revenant was frustratingly not given a proper release for far too long.It deserves to become a cult classic !!!!!.
Killed in Iraq, a former soldier returns to his hometown alive but desperately needing blood to survive, and when his buddy decides to have him kill vagrants around town to do so, they find themselves in increasingly desperate situations to try to survive.This turned out to be quite an impressive if mildly flawed effort with a lot to like about it.
One of the film's strongest points is the delicate area of how it deals with the guy's condition, bestowing traits of vampires and zombies onto him yet never stating whether he is one or the other and contains traits that cancel out whether he is one or another.
It's a great strategy that pays off quite well as this creates such an endearing creature that the resultant scenes of them hunting people down are a lot funnier than expected and generate some really good, genuine laughs from their bumbling and stumbling around, which is nice to see.
That said, it's far too long for it's own good, coming in a good twenty-minutes over it's allotted time for such a goofy, non-horror-specific premise since it adapts an action-movie feeling more than once instead of horror during the middle, and it's quite distracting overall.
I just saw a rough cut tonight and this is an excellent film and will definitely become a cult classic.It is very funny, with an interesting story and good acting.
I loved it!This is kind of a "buddy" vampire movie and there is some great interaction between the two main "buddy" characters.There is a lot of humor, which makes this a very fun film, but there is plenty of blood and guts too.This film is an interesting (and very realistic) take on the Vampire's viewpoint..
And while another reviewer who watched this in 2009, talked about this becoming a cult classic, I think the re-edited version I got to see, won't get that far.Of course when I did watch it in cinemas, I just thought that the filmmakers had lost control and didn't mix their movie right.
Just when you think the movie is going great, there comes a scene that almost puts into a full stop.
Gore horror and classic buddy movie action sizzle together.
Fallen marine Bart returns home in a coffin, but not for long, much to the surprise of his best friend Joey played by the quite brilliantly unique Chris Wylde.
I had no expectations other than wanting a time-killing zombie film to watch.
First it all looks great to be a zombie and yes they can help society by killing scum but after a while things go out of hand and questions come in about why walking around like an undead.
As I said, the effects were very good as did the acting by David Anders (the zombie) and Chris Wylde (as his friend Joey).
Smash that together and you get The Revenant.The pacing is not the best, but it has a good story with a great ending reminiscent of the Worst Case Scenario Promo Trailers (they never got enough funding to make that movie).
Some of the dialog and character choices were a little cheesy and maybe unrealistic, but the rest makes up for those short comings.Just to keep in mind, I can't really call this a zombie film, because it seems way closer to a vampire film, but it has the gross moments you'd expect from a zombie comedy and doesn't really remind me of any vampire films.
I caught The Revenant at a horror film festival in the UK late last year and to my amazement it surprised the living hell out of me.*To be honest I have to state that for the £15 i spent on going to the festival I would have spent that alone to watch, buy or download a copy of this movie its great...It's zombie flick meet vampire flick meets cops and robbers!
:)For fans of: Zombies, Vampires, Sex, Blood, Guns and over the top stupidity.*I just hope this gets an actual screening in the UK and doesn't just go straight to DVD!*.
After 15 minutes, I thought to myself, "This is pretty good." A bit later I thought, "This is really good." And before long I was thinking, "This is great!" As a result, "The Revenant" wound up ranking #1 on my 10-Best-List for 2010.(Okay, for the record, my other 10-Best choices were: #2 "The Ghost Writer";" #3 "Toy Story 3"; #4 "The Happiest Girl in the World"; #5 "The King's Speech"; #6 "Tears of April"; #7 "Music on Hold"; #8 "Letters to Father Jacob"; #9 "Buried"; #10 "The North Face.") Warning: I saw "The Revenant" under ideal conditions.
And "The Revenant" popped up, so I gave it a go.The movie sort of combines your typical zombie lore with vampire lore, making it a very strange, although interesting, combination.
The main character Bart dies in war and comes back as a decomposing vampiric creature, who needs blood to stay "alive" and to keep himself from rotting away.
Initially he starts off robbing a blood bank, then moves on to the lowest scum of society, but events twists and things escalates from there.For me "The Revenant" was a fairly mediocre movie, as there was nothing overly unique in the storyline.
Combining them was unique, yes, but for me, it didn't really come off as a super great plot idea.From about halfway through, the movie does pick itself up in pace and intensity.
"The Revenant" might be worth checking out for you if you are a fan of vampires and/or zombies, just be warned that neither is really represented in the traditional way they are seen in movies, fiction, literature, etc..
With the help from his best friend they realize his more than just a zombie, but instead a revenant, an articulated zombie that needs to drink blood to survive or begin to decompose.
With this film though it keeps the comedy, but is more of an action film, with the revenant's of this film becoming gun toting vigilantes wreaking havoc for good and to get the blood they need to survive.
The film has a bit of a slow start at first, but once it gets going it delivers on almost every action.
The story here is pretty simple, but adds just enough depth to keep it moving and fun, while adding a decent little twist at the end that could deliver some sort of sequel.The Revenant is a great addition to the zombie genre really brining a fresh and fun new take on the undead.
They realize that Bart is a revenant, a combination of zombie and vampire, since he needs to drink blood to hold and recover the decomposition of his body.
I don't really know why this is labeled as a horror comedy when it's neither funny nor scary.
There's a lot of movies that aren't funny which I would still labeled as a comedy, just because it at least tries to be.
Not that it's an homage or anything like that, but it is an original twist on the Vampire/Zombie genre.
Thirdly, it is funny, horror and comedy are excellent bedfellows and this succeeds by being one of the campest and morally execrable buddy movies I've seen.
Possibly the greatest Zombie-Comedy-Vigilante-Romance-Vampire-Crime-War-Horror-Action-Splatter-Buddy Movie Ever!!
'The Revenant' deserves to win an award for sub-genre greatness, it's a film that's hard to define but definitely should be brought to my fellow Horror Hounds and Gore-Geeks attention!
Not your average horror movie at all (being good gives that away already).
Sort of a zombie-stoner-bromance-action- comedy-horror movie.
However, what comes before then is very entertaining.Good performances from Chris Wylde and David Anders in the lead roles..
Strange, funny, weird, crazy, cult and a whole lot more are the words I could put on this, but above all something very different from what I have seen before.This is a bit too long, almost two hours, had it been a shorter one, then it might have held the standard all the way, but there was too much fuzz in the middle and towards the end.It is a strange movie, fun and weird, but all in all I think you have to be in the right mood and the right company to fully appreciate this one.
Zombies + vampires = a pretty good film (amazingly).
So, just when we think we've seen every different slant on the undead genre, comes The Revenant.Here, they combine the two, i.e. sentient 'zombies' who don't just groan around the place eating human flesh, but instead, only come to 'life' at night and desire human blood, ala vampires.Amazingly, it works.The Revenant tells the story about an American soldier killed in Iraq.
After he's suitable freaked out his best friend by coming back from the dead, they set about one self-destructive adventure after the next, picking off local drug dealers to feed their nocturnal blood lust.Although I found everything about the film really good - great acting, believable (and not totally dumb) characters, excellent zombie make-up and gore, I noticed the film is billed as a 'horror comedy.' Well, I get the horror aspect, but didn't find that much to laugh at.
But then a few lines in Terminator 2 were also there for humour's sake, but I doubt many people consider T2 a comedy.Anyway, bottom line, if you haven't had your fill of the undead yet, try this little gem, it's actually pretty good (plus it's 'cult' enough for you to impress all your friends with a zombie/vampire movie that they probably have never heard of!)..
Horror comedies are very hard movies to make, probably hardest of them all.
The "funny" character played by Chris Wylde managed to annoy me more than anything else, but Anders along with some really funny scenes made this movie for me.
"The Revenant" could've used more of that dark comedy, because it worked whenever the film decided to focus on it.
I understand that you can't do it like "Scary Movie" did and at the same time expect a decent film.
Do not take me the wrong way, I just love the zombie genre but still I have to admit it is quite hard to keep alive and interesting seriously speaking.We have also seen a couple of fusions lately as well, Fido (2006) which is a zombie drama of sorts and Warm Bodies (2013) which is a romantic zombie film.
Okay, the storyline in zombie films are usually quite thin, granted, but The Revenant does not have an apparent one and has basically only a string of different scenes strung together.
That is why, I suppose, it is listed as a Comedy/horror here on IMDb.The last half hour or so is the best when the pace picks up and the most funny scenes appear - the female-sex-toy scene is my favorite.I give it 6 out of 10, it is funny and somewhat fresh, but I prefer the old school style like Day of the Dead (1985/2008), the Return of the Living Dead (1985) and The Walking Dead (2010 TV series)..
In my opinion I have been tricked into buying a film not worthy of a single coin from my wallet.I have seen B movies and found some that I really like, so I'm able to look past a bit of bad acting, however when "The Revenant"'s girlfriend attempts to cry over losing him when she finds him out of the grave and in his mate's bedroom actually brought tears to my eyes.
I was provoked by all the positive reviews on here of this film to write my own review.reading review titles like " A cult classic " really gets into my nerves, this movie was really boring, badly acted and silly.the plot was very shallow, and had no goal or target, no meaning.
the concept itself was ridiculous and silly, a zombie vigilante, who comes back from the dead to kill bad people and eat them !!
I guess the bottom line is that for a vampire film fan like myself I found the movie entertaining and a good way to kill a few hours.
THe movie is a bit long and at times the story seemed to drag on in certain areas.
One of the better zombie movies made.
This is lot to be said for a zombie movie.
It has no apocalyptic theme to it like so many others in this genre.A soldier comes back to life, only to find out that he's now a zombie.
Instead one of them loses his head, and gets into whole lot of trouble.The movie is a comedy, but has interesting story to it as well.
Having read the reviews of this, I actually thought I was getting a good movie.
If you watch this movie for the first time its quite funny.
On the contrary, it stands very nicely on its own with head held high.A horror action comedy zombie vampire buddy popcorn flick with a bit of romance tossed in for kicks.
"The Revenant" sets itself apart from other horror comedies because it introduces a new-hold on a minute before I go on I would just like to mention something.
David Anders plays Bart an undead soldier who is brought back to life where he spends the film lamenting over what he has become.
You may recognize David Anders from his stint on "Heroes" and you may not recognize Chris Wylde at all, although I do recall him being in a few DiGiorno Pizza commercials in the early 2000's.I found that the film got really entertaining once it became like a Boondock Saints clone but with a zombie guy?
Yeah when I mentioned at the beginning that this movie sets itself apart from other horror comedies it is because it introduces a ghoulish being called a revenant.
Revenants (Not to be confused with Replicants from the 1982 movie Blade Runner) are essentially a hybrid of a zombie and a vampire.
The concept begins with a great amount of excitement and energy but sadly it falters towards the end.Overall if you enjoy movies that have a supernatural element in them then you will like this.
Since zombies and vampires and David Anders are the biggest things in Hollywood now then this movie is 3 for 3 so it's good but not great.
The last half-hour sees a change of tone toward the serious until the very last scene - the silly surprise ending that suddenly nudges the movie back into the comedy arena.