D-Railed is a murder mystery and monster flick directed by Dale Fabringer and written by Fabringer, Suzanne DeLaurentiis, and Everette Wallen.
Taking place on Halloween night, D-Railed starts with a group of revelers and actors boarding a vintage train to take park it a murder mystery game. Among the guests are young Abigail (Shae Smolik), Marcus (Daniel O’Reilly), Thomas (writer Everret Wallin), and lead character Evelyn (Carter Scott). The characters are introduced by the scene stealing Host (Frank Lammers), who is quickly “killed” when the game begins. Unfortunately for those involved, the game takes a twist when Clyde (Ben Hopkins) and a few accomplices rob the passengers and actors. The situation is exacerbated when the trains derails into a nearby lake. Just when things seem they can’t get any worse, the survivors discover an amphibious creature that begins stalking them.
As the plot summary shows, D-Railed is a blend of a few thriller and horror genres. While this could make the plot a muddled mess, the action and pacing keep things moving along. Additionally, the cast do a rather good job with the script. Scott gives a strong performance as the lead and really grounds the film.
The costumes and set pieces of the film are gorgeous. The cast’s wardrobe is striking. The costume designer (Sarah Ellis) did a wonderful job of presenting an iconic 1920’s classy style. The creature looks phenomenal as well. It’s a great mix of Lovecraftian deep one and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
One of the only faults of the movie is the CGI. It’s just not good. This is made worse by the fact the film opens with an extended CGI scene of a train car underwater. This made me nervous about what the rest of the film would be like, but thankfully the acting and plot made me look over the computer effects. Additionally, Lance Henriksen receives top billing but is in the film for five minutes at most, book-ending things and giving exposition.
D-Railed isn’t perfect, but is still a really entertaining film. It’s an interesting mix of thriller and horror genres and they all seem to blend together well.
The film is now available on DVD and Digital from Uncork’d Entertainment.
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I love this movie it has great creature feature but it wasn’t very scary to me.