Freddy's 31 Days of Horror Day 26: Adam Green's Digging Up The Marrow
Adam Green is in my opinion one of the greatest contemporary horror filmmakers of this generation. He has the ability to dabble in all aspects of the genre and execute them amazingly, giving us his unique views in life, horror and comedy as he is the creator of the loving eighties homage, Hatchet as well as psychological thrillers like Frozen and Spiral. Not to mention creator of the first horror sitcom, Holliston! His career has taken him to all sorts of creative places surrounding him with the best people not only in the genre but in entertainment. Through his massive cult fan base he met artist Alex Pardee who draws some of the most grotesquely beautiful and strange creatures his mind can come up with that most of us couldn't even possibly imagine. It was these impossible designs that intrigued Adam into bringing them to life on the big screen in his first creature feature, Digging Up The Marrow. The second bit of inspiration came in the mail as someone sent him a letter stating that Green's fictitious character, Victor Crowley, from the Hatchet movies was real and Adam had gotten the legend wrong. Adam ran with this idea that a fan had seen real monsters that would look like Pardee's monsters and in the narrative of the film, he himself would document the finding of these monsters along with the "fan" who contacted him. 
The film opens with confessions of love to monsters from artists and filmmakers including Alex Pardee himself who states that his art started when he was diagnosed with clinical depression and spent some time in a mental institution, drawing monsters which helped him through it. We even get Oderus Urungus from Gwar stating, "I am a monster, I'll always be a monster and when I'm dead I'll be a dead monster!" This goes into Adam's introduction to himself and his production company, Aerioscope Pictures where he received journals filled to the brim with details and drawings of the findings of retired Lieutenant William Dekker (Ray Wise) who has claimed to have found real monsters and wants to tell his story. He and Adam along with Adam's friend and director of photography, Will Barrat, meet with Dekker to discuss the monsters. Dekker states in every generation there are children who are born that look different. Their abnormalities and deformities give them labels of Freak and monster. Once they reach a certain age they simply disappear, no one notices or cares and most are happy they are gone, but they are not dead. They go and live in their own society 100 yards below the Earth, called The Marrow. There they can live their own lives, form their own relationships and begin their own families. Dekker reveals as a child that he was somewhat of a recluse who would play in a lumber yard by himself in the woods. One day he came across a man. This man seemed to have the face of a serpent, a forked tongue and eyes that blinked sideways. This was his first encounter with a citizen of The Marrow and this is where his hunt for them and their society began. Adam is completely entranced by Dekker's stories and so desperately wants to believe them. His whole life he has wanted monsters to be real, he doesn't believe them to be vile just misunderstood. He would give anything to see these creatures and interact with them. It is this drive that makes him do anything and everything Dekker says even as he pessimistically questions everything he still has hope and belief in something to be real. This drive both helps and hurts Adam. Dekker takes Adam and Will to the Marrow entrance where they set up a multitude of cameras to capture anything they can. Every time Adam is about to give up in disbelief they see something that reels him back in. The first creature to appear jumps up at them as they disobey Dekker's orders to not turn on the light and they see a giant blue bulbous head screaming at them. Adam and Will delve deeper into the woods disobeying Dekker's orders as they discover Dekker has not been completely truthful with them. This angers the creatures as their society is about to be discovered which forces them to reveal themselves to the interlopers to scare them away. 
Ray Wise is who truly drives this movie. A good majority of the film is his character of Dekker being interviewed by Adam as he recalls all his encounters with the creatures and uses Pardee's artwork to show what the creatures look like. His acting in these scenes is some of the best I've seen in his entire career as he recalls his encounters with fear and respect, shaking at times and even losing himself in the memories. Adam as well delivers a great performance going crazy and putting all his responsibilities aside to see these creatures and show his findings to all his friends and family, straining his relationships with them and desperately trying to get them to believe. He even shows off the footage of the first monster to Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees and Victor Crowley actor) himself. The biggest problem with his friends believing is they've all been exposed to monster makeup and FX for so long they can't believe the footage to be real. This drives Adam crazy and makes him go too far into the Marrow.
When we do finally see the creatures all at the end, even though it is for a short period of time it is quite amazing. These creatures could easily be brought to life with CGI but Adam went all the way making these creatures that could not physically exist look real. He even in the film states that no makeup appliance could bring creatures like that to life. But they all look amazing, fans of Pardee will be completely satisfied to see every aspect of his strange drawings brought to life with 100% practical FX. 
This is one of the most important horror films in a while as I feel, the denizens of the Marrow are meant to represent us, the horror fans. We are called freaks and monsters, but are simply different and misunderstood. We want to be left alone with our own kind and build our own society where we can live in peace. We have the capacity to be kind to others different than us, but we are skeptical of the normal people and what they could do, what their judgement could bring to us. It's an amazing film and execution that Adam completely immersed himself in. It's a miracle this film got made and released as Adam had so much tragedy happen to him upon it's release with the death of Oderus Urungus "Dave Brokie" and his own divorce. But Adam being the persevering filmmaker he is got it made and released and I applaud him for it and it's excellence. The ending lends itself to a sequel where we could explore the Marrow more and I hope someone gives Adam the funds to expand upon the mythos he has created here. Five more days til' Halloween Halloween! Five more days til' Halloween! Silver Shamrock!
