Porto dos Mortos

aka Beyond the Grave

Director - Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro (The Soul Detective)

Starring - Rafael Tombini (Tea Time), Alvaro Rosa Costa (Two Summers), and Ricardo Seffner (In Your Name)

Release Date - 2010

Genre - Horror/Drama

Tagline - "Beware of the walking dude"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I have stated before in several of my reviews that my comfort zone is reviewing films from the U.S. and Canada. I have reviewed several Asian splatter flicks but for the most part I rarely leave my comfort zone.  That is unless I am requested to review a particular film.  Several months back Isidoro B. Guggiana reached out to me to review Porto dos Mortos aka Beyond the Grave that was released in 2010.  This was actually the first time I had heard of the film so I jumped at the thought of seeing it.  The film is a Brazilian post-apocalyptic film so I knew I would enjoy it.  It was also pretty exciting stepping into new territory for me. 
     The film follows the officer (Tombini) as he travels the barren landscape to bring in serial killers and murderers as he delivers his own brand of justice. The world is now plagued with the undead and most of the few remaining survivors are ruthless serial killers that torture those that are not as demented as them.  He also has another agenda.  He is looking for a mysterious zombie only known as the "Dark Rider."  Along the way he encounters more civilized survivors but trouble always finds a way to find the office in this dark landscape. 
     I always find it strange when I get asked to review a movie that I have never heard of before and discover that it is actually pretty damn good.  I always find that shit strange especially how everyone bitches about the current state big budget horror is in with all the unnecessary remakes and television adaptations currently being turned out over and over again.  If more people would just be more open to indie horror then things would change tremendously.  The fact I had never heard of this film before is shocking because this film was very good.  In fact, I could easily see this film fitting in with the American underground horror movement.  The acting in this one is hard to judge due to the English subtitles but the entire cast fit their roles which is something most indie films fail to do.  The story for this one is different for an indie horror.  We often seen the undead running a muck in post-apocalyptic indie flicks but we never get the whole drifter killing serial killers angle which made this one very original.  This story is so fun I could see an entire series of comics, books, and even more films being turned out of it.  Finally, the film has a lot of great death scenes with some very good special effects.  I was actually shocked by how great the special effects looked.  Overall, Beyond the Grave is a fucking fantastic post-apocalyptic horror flick.  Watch this one now!