Four
friends decide to go on a hike in the
woods and have a picnic but first they
explore a cave where a crazy old man
tells them about a mysterious book out of
human skin known as the Necronomicon,
and when he had read its cryptic symbols
it conjured monsters into existence. Of
course they take the book and read some
of the words but a creepy redneck forest
ranger named Asmodeus (Jack Woods) tells
them the dangers of that book.
After reading the book out loud during a
picnic later on discovers that the ranger
is a demon who possesses one of them
named Susan Turner (Barbara Hewitt) as
Susan turns on one of her friends named
Vicki (Robin Christopher) and nearly
strangles her to death.
Next they are persued by monsters and a
demonic cult and then Asmodeus shows his
true identity as a red flying devil ready
to take his sacrifices on all of these
travellers.
The work in this flick is quite slow but
yet watching this you know how to be entertained as the story shows good shots on the
main characters walking through the woods as
well as spotting giant footprints too.
We of course spot the corny discussions
with them while having a picnic and
eating kentucky fried chicken while both David Fielding and Jim Hudson trying
to unlock the book they found and
discussing what is on the pages. We have
some neat looking flashback sequences to
top it all off with a good red background
on some demonic events and clay monsters
too while this is all happening.
There's a good moment with both David and Jim running near a
river to catch up to a fellow falling down dead.
There is a good shot on a horse panicking
with Susan Turner acting
startled and then a good approach by Asmodeus pulling her to the ground showing
good zombielike expressions with the
camera facing up towards him which looks
quite creepy.
There are also many good takes on the
people running away from a big monster and
trying to do battles with it.
There's a great shot on Susan looking expressionless trying to approach Vicki strangling her as
well with her growling and Susan screaming.
We have a nice brief battle between David against Jim with him not
acting himself at all which leaves a nice
impression too.
There's also good takes on both David and Susan running away
from a flying demon as well as nice
camera shots looking up on them running
up a hill and hiding behind trees too.
We spot a great cheesy shot on David slowly getting up and turning around with
a giant grim reaper like figure luring
over him.
We have a perfect near ending moment with him in a straight jacket
freaking out while the orderly's pinning him down
while injecting a needle in him.
Bottom line: Ah yes... one of
those cheesy drive-in films so bad it's
good. We have some monsters which almost
reminds you one of those King
Kong types with the possessions
too which I'm certain was the one Sam
Raimi wanted to do the Evil
Dead trilogy by having a similar
plot with some demonic monsters.
Some neat claymation effects especially
when one of the actors is a victim which
you can tell when a certain scene like a
monster picking the person up isn't
actually the person. I had to chuckle a
bit but it was entertaining for sure.
The movie is fun to watch with your
friends or if you're in the mood for a
trashy type of no budgeter during this
genre which looks alot more dated than
what it really was. Otherwise you may
want to skip this one and try something
else.
The acting is
quite bad as these actors were just
reading their lines and very little
getting into character. Edward Connell (David Fielding) played the serious
one but was very wooden and at times
showed some anxious moments in certain
scenes but that's nothing to brag about. However does well by really showing his emotions after finding
someone dead.
Barbara Hewitt (Susan Turner) seemed to do well
being possessed here and there and ready
to attack which leaves a nice impression
to her role.
Frank Bonner (Jim Hudson) played the bubbly one
in the film as he was well... sometimes
trying too hard but other times was
almost passable. He does a good job with
his evil possessions and does better
performing that way than his goofy way.
Robin Christopher (Vicki) does well with her
screaming and frightening actions when
the terror happens like the monsters
attacking etc. She seemed better than
most of these people here mentioned.
Jack Woods (Asmodeus) was probably the most
intimidating out of them all as an evil
one in the film and shows great
characterisitics when he turns evil and
shows good zombielike expressions too
when he tries to attack along with his
redneck attitude.
There's nice
chiming sounds for the necessary spots as
well as some harp playing too. During the
first bit of the film we hear some cheesy
organ playing too which is suitable for a
drive-in horror flick like this along
with some low budget old fashioned
classical music and echoey effects too. |
