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DEAD AIR which stars Bill Moseley and Patricia Tallman( the first time I remember seeing them together since they were once again running from zombies in Tom Savini's remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD) is a fun little exercise in suspense and quite possibly my favorite performance by Mr. Moseley.
Known primarily as OTIS from the ROB ZOMBIE Firefly clan flicks he stretches his acting muscle a bit here and although he does hit a few sour notes along the way for the most part he pulls off the role of Logan a full of himself popular radio talk show host who every night opens up his phone lines to the wacko's and lonely of the big city. He allows folks to spill their guts and then tears them down for being weak or stupid or both. He is joined nightly by his sidekick Gil and his producer who just happens to be his ex-wife Lucy played by Patricia Tallman.
As the film opens it is another night of business as usual as the calls roll in and Logan does what he does. At a basketball game being held down the street at the local sports arena some terrorists have set about launching an attack that is going to change the face of everything. They release some kind of toxin in to the ventilation system that causes those in attendance to turn into rage filled psychos that only want to kill yeah pretty much like the things in 28 DAYS LATER.
Logan begins getting calls from folks in the midst of the madness going on outside. He initially blows the calls off as just more mind games from his callers he quickly realizes that things are horribly wrong outside and he and his crew are only but a few blocks away from the breaking madness.
The film then becomes a voyeuristic tale as we watch Logan and his crew react to the phone calls coming in as folks gruesomely describe the horrible acts of violence that they are watching. Moseley and crew do a great job of being believeably horrified by the turn of events and Bernsen does a respectable job of keeping the tension high and the action well paced.
It doesn't take long for the murdering horde to make it to the radio station and our broadcasters find themselves trapped inside while all the time attempting to remain the voice of reason on the air and give folks a source of correct information. In an interesting little turn a couple of the masterminds behind the terrorists responsible for the madness find themselves trapped in the same radio station so you have zombie/psycho killers, terrorists and our heroes all sharing the same space. It gets a little crowded plot wise, a little convoluted but once again director Bernsen quickly gets control over it and gets it back on track.
Overall I found DEAD AIR to be an enjoyable viewing experience and I was completely entralled by Bill Moseley's performance. By and away his best leading role and I would love to see more of him playing a normal, non psycho part. I knew he was a good actor, this role leads me to believe that he is a great actor.
Everyone else involved perform well and the small ensemble cast works well together. DEAD AIR gleams a lot from its predecessors. You'll see shades of TALK RADIO, PONTYPOOL and 28 DAYS LATER but even though parallels can be drawn to these films DEAD AIR ultimately shines through as its own film and on the strength of Bill Moseley's performance raises above standard mediocre fair and proudly stakes a place in "must see" territory.
DEAD AIR is available now and you can get yourself a copy by CLICKING HERE and heading on over to the films official site. I think you'll like what you see.
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