Granny always likes to keep an opened mind when reviewing films for Biff Bam Pop. Some films need to be watched with a glass of wine, and some need the help of my medicinal cannabis gummy bears. Which did I choose for UNDERGODS?
Plot
UNDERGODS is a BFI Film Fund, Velvet Films, and Ridley Scott-Scott Free Production that hit the theaters May 7th. It is distributed by Gravitas Ventures, and directed by Chino Moya. The film stars Kate Dickie, Ned Dennehy, Johann Myers, Geza Rohrig, Burn Gorman and Tanya Reynolds. The story is set in a dismal European future. It is a world where the rich are very rich, and the poor are suffering from either a viral pandemic or radiation poisoning. Think of our world now with the Covid pandemic, businesses going under, and people out of work…and you get the general feeling of the film.
We watch as dead bodies that are strewn along the streets are picked up by garbage trucks. The drivers of one of these trucks, K (Johann Myers) and Z (Geza Rohrig) spend their time talking about the strange dreams they have been experiencing. K and Z are not nice people. They not only collect dead bodies…but they also kidnap the living to be sold into slavery.
The first story in the anthology is based on a dream the Z had about ghosts. Ron (Michael Gould) and his wife Ruth (Hayley Carmichael) live in an apartment building that is still under construction. Ron is an unhappy man and he treats his wife badly. Things change when a man knocks on their door to tell them that he has locked himself out of his apartment. They can’t reach the manager, So Ruth invites Harry (Ned Dennehy), the neighbor to spend the night on the sofa. It isn’t long before the wife, who is starving for attention, becomes quite friendly with the neighbor. Ron is ignored, and is soon not only pushed out of his bedroom, but also out of his apartment. When Ron chases after Harry in a jealous rage, things don’t work out as planned.
The second tale is really a bedtime story that a father (Khalid Abdalla) tells his young daughter (Maddison Whelan) about a rich man Hans (Eric Godon) who cheats a foreigner (Jan Bijvoet) by stealing his blueprints. The stranger kidnaps Han’s daughter (Tanya Reynolds) and it is up to Hans and the daughter’s boyfriend (Tadhg Murphy) to find her. The fate of these two rescuers goes desperately wrong with one being murdered, and the other sold into slavery by our morbid body collectors, K and Z.
The final anthology is about a man, Dom (Adrian Rawlins) who just received a promotion and runs home to tell his wife, Rachel (Kate Dickie) only to have her husband, Sam (Sam Louwych) who has been missing for fifteen years…knock on their door. Sam doesn’t speak. He is clearly traumatized, but Rachel insists that Sam stay with her, Dom, and their son, Will (Jonathan Case).
Conclusion
None of the stories have a happy ending. The three main male characters, who mistakenly assumed that their lives were perfect even as the world was falling apart around them, were not nice people. So, I feel they got what they deserved.
When I watched this film the first time, I thought it way too dark for even a horror fan as myself. The second time I watched it, I took one of my medicinal gummy bears, and this helped me to zone in on everything that was happening around the main characters. UNDERGODS is not for everyone, but if you are into dark, dystopian, future worlds, you will definitely enjoy the film…with or without the gummies.
