Ashes (2010)

A Fresh Take on the "Outbreak" Subgenre

Dr. Andrew Stanton (Brian Krause) is a young physician who believes he is on the verge of developing what could very well be the cure for a disease which has plagued mankind for far too long, the AIDS virus. His medical labors have negatively affected his home life while he is also being hounded by government reps as well as his superiors, who are technically supposed to be on his team so to speak but are more interested in the funding and publicity that will come their way if his medication is a success. 

If all of these distractions are not enough, a medically-deemed terminal child named Jesus is just days away from his passing, and the thought of the youngster ending up in the morgue internally eats away at his conscience. Even though his lab tech Matthew (Kadeem Hardison of A Different World and Def By Temptation) tells him, “You can’t save them all”, Stanton injects his “cure” into the youngster in a desperate act to save his life. Of course, this intended good deed goes awry once Jesus bites Stanton, setting the film’s events into motion. 

Without giving too much away, Stanton’s cure is not at all what it is cracked up to be. Instead of curing AIDS in humans, it devolves them into zombie-esque beings on the hunt for blood (although the word “zombie” is never spoken). Now Stanton is in a race against the clock to find a cure to his failed cure and thwart an imminent outbreak from occurring. 

Ashes is simply a well made film, top to bottom, and director Elias Matar should be given much praise for his first full length effort. If this debut is his attempt to find some directorial poise, stating “sky’s the limit” might sound cliché yet is very true. This film has the look of one that could easily play at your local movieplex right now to positive fare. It’s smart in story, uses an apropos hospital setting and somehow is able to breathe new life into a subgenre that is beyond played out. Thankfully, Matar’s story takes place with the events leading to an outbreak and not the tired and overused idea of having his film transpire during the apocalyptic portion of an outbreak. Another great aspect of the film is how Matar does not have the Stanton character go the usual route of being the typical evil scientist/mad doctor. While most of these types of film characters make you feel zero pity for them, due to their medical megalomaniacal ways turning things sour in the first place, you actually sympathize for Stanton because he inadvertently causes chaos while unselfishly trying to save a child’s life. He legitimately meant well, but his end result was an utter failure.

If you want to watch an interesting take on the “outbreak film” or if even if you are just wondering what Dwayne Wane is up to nowadays, then make sure to see Ashes for some fascinating cinema. 

RATING:

4 out of 5 Creeper Santas

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