"Digging Up the Marrow" is a 2015 found-footage style horror film by one of my all-time favorite directors, Adam Green. The movie begins as a documentary about monster art, with various interviews from artists expressing why they love monsters. These interviews include the artist whose work this movie was based on, Alex Pardee, and Adam Green himself. Adam showcases various pieces of fan mail he's received over the years, including some from a man named William Dekker, who claims to have proof of the existence of monsters. Adam is naturally excited at this news and decides to rework his documentary around Dekker's findings. Tensions rise as Adam and Dekker continuously explore the creature's hideout Dekker refers to as "the Marrow".
I am going to avoid plot spoilers as much as possible in this review. Adam Green's movies are really fun, and I think going in with as vague of an understanding of them is key to really enjoying them even more. I will be showcasing some of the amazing monsters from the SFX team. Alex Pardee, Robert Pendergraft, and Greg Aronowitz are a match made in heaven as far as SFX design goes. Pardee has such a unique voice with his art that is translated so well due to the efforts of the SFX team. The BluRay of the film has a featurette called "Monsters of the Marrow" which dives deep into the translation of Pardee's work which I highly recommend. There are several monsters we see throughout the film so let's take a look at a couple of them.
The first creature is Vance. He lets out a terrifying shriek when we see him in a scene where I had to pause to get a good look at him just to admire the work. Early on in the movie it is suggested that these "monsters" are actually deformed humans which can be noted as a heavy influence in the look of each monster. Every creation feels very organic and I have to admit, these creatures look, unlike any monster I've seen before in film! Vance is one of the more humanoid ones that we see and is interestingly enough he is isn't a puppet or a prosthetic, but instead a statue with an actor's hands in front of it to sell the effect.
My favorite of the entire film has to be Chicken. Chicken's appearance comes towards the end of of the film and is so quick that you may miss it. As the climax of the film is happening and the crew is just about to be bombarded by monsters, Chicken dashes by their feet. The level of detail in Chicken is astounding. When sculpting him they tried to think of how he would work anatomically and even included a butthole! Chicken and Vance are the only two I want to showcase to allow for the surprise effect some of the other creatures give to the film.
The found footage genre is very oversaturated with content. I have always believed this is a fantastic way to bring your audience into the world of your film. Some movies succeed with this style and others don't. "Digging up the Marrow" is definitely a success story. Adam Green has a certain feel to each one of his projects where he blends elements of different genres to deliver a really enjoyable end product. You can always tell in an Adam Green film just how much he truly loves the genre and filmmaking as a whole. "Digging up the Marrow" may very well be my favorite of his works and earns a well deserved 5/5 on the patented monster meter.
Digging up the Marrow is currently available on Shudder for streaming!
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