Carnage (1984)

   

Written, Cinematographed & Directed by: Andy Milligan

Starring:

Leslie Den Dooven .... Carol Henderson
Michael Chiodo .... Jonathan Henderson
John Garitt ....
Walter
Deeann Veeder .... Susan
Chris Baker .... Ann Webb
Chris Georges .... Mark Webb
Bill Grant .... Dad
Judith Mayes .... Martha


Release Date:
Direct-to-Video: 1984
(Australia)

Rating:

 

A newlywed couple named Walter (John Garritt) and Susan (Deann Veeder) ends up killing themselves in their new home and the place has been for sale for three years and suddenly another newlywed couple by the names of Carol (Leslie Den Dooven) and Jonathan (Michael Chiodo) moves in but they find the place strange as things seem to move by themselves.
The house is possessed by the suicidal couple as they don't want anyone to live there and slaughters any guest that trespasses there.

 

We spot a beginning moment with a newlywed couple Walter and Susan taking their life by shooting themselves as this looked terribly phony to watch although this was supposed to look mysterious to watch.
We have many uplifting moments with another newlywed named Carol and Jonathan acting full of life entering the new home and teasing one another especially a moment where Jonathan tries to scare her for fun which is supposed to make you jump but this falls flat.
We spot many bad camera takes on objects moving by themselves as well as Carol talking to her father on the phone and tries to get something and realises the phone is hung up as these effects looked pretty bad and amateuisihly shot too. Also it was supposed to make things seem creepy but once again this falls flat big time.
A real bad ghostly effects when something falls and a blade stabs Carol's hand which looked sloppily done by how we spot all of this. The makers really need to have worked better on all that was happening here.
There's a moment with a maid named Rose Novak going down in a cellar and a cheesy moment with the ghostly Susan appearing which you could tell they shut off the camera and turned it back on to make out she appeared to save money for using special effects for all of this. Although she was supposed to look freaked out and this being scary it was amateurishly put together but yet nice moments with Susan taunting her in a trashy entertaining type of fashion as well as neat cheesy sound effects of her cackling away.
Also we have a moment which looks phony on Rose going in a trance and then cutting her throat but yet good graphic shots later on with her lying on the floor dead. Good echoey effects on Susan whispering to her.
There's a good dark scene with burglars breaking intoa cellar of the home and then the cheesy moment on Susan appearing and cackling while attacking them in which we spot totally grossed out killings on these too which is for people who like sick horror flicks. YUCK!
There's a situation with someone in a bathtub and then the radio falling in which was supposed to look shocking on him being electrocuted but yet not much to see on all of this. However the end results looked fairly okay in an average horror fashion.
Also a resident comes to the door and then we spot what was supposed to be a shocking moment on how this person got slayed but this looked very off and pretty lame too.
Also there's a struggling moment with this couple trying to escape along with a preacher and there's an interesting effect on a meatcleaver aiming towards this preacher but yet nothing to brag about either.
We do have a good moment with Carol reasoning with Susan's ghost and her responding to this but yet you can't really hear on what her answers are which was roughly done and out of shape too.
The film itself is pure crap with little effort to it with no effects at all except for the odd gory scene's. It's not surprising that this went straight to video since they didn't have much of a budget to carry on with it as the picture is alot of the times hard to see. This is no creepy looking haunted house movie like they tried to make it look like as it was so off.
There's elements of Amityville Horror ripoff type of scene's too as well as the makers trying to make other situations an old fashioned black and white type of horror flick but these two ideas both fail miserably. A film easily forgotten and obscure.

The acting is in much better shape than the story itself but some of it lacked too and very few worth mentioning as the cast was pretty forgettable so let's start with the three main cast members here.... Lead actress Leslie Den Dooven (Carol Henderson) seems to stand out the most with good emotions to her part in the film. She does a good job by acting full of life by being a newlywed which she shows a believeable laughter and offering some nice energy within all of this. At times when she gets emotionally scared she is a bit off. However when she is reasonable talking reasonably and pleading for mercy she shows off some good emotions within all of this.
Michael Chiodo
(Jonathan Henderson) was mediocre in his performance as the loving husband but yet offers some decent timing by being a tease and really acting outgoing with what he had to do. Shows off some interesting energy within his concerns when the suspense starts to add up and does an even job when getting anxious while the terror surrounds him. He was well alerted within what he did in the film.
Deeann Veeder
(Susan) also looked good as an evil bride ghost who committed suicide and can seem a bit convincing with her chracter.
She was pretty good while being forceful offering alot of powerful intensity within her cackly type of laughter and her wild eyed expressions when getting vulgar towards her onscreen victims. Also shows an okay versatality when seeming peaceful near the end of her performance and trying to act convincing.

A woman's throat is slit
A burglars hand is chopped off and another ones guts are being pulled out
A lady's head is decapitated on the front step of the house but you can tell that it's a dummy's head.

The music is extremely crummy sounding and extremely outdated as there's very old fashioned violin quiverring which sometimes sounded unique. There's some cheesy windy type of sounds and shaky effects for the supernatural attacks as this sounded pretty offbeat. Some heavy drumrolls at times sounded pretty scratchy and out of tune too.