In a
sleepy town of Grand River a bunch of
strange incidents happen there when it's
dark as some evil forces starts to occur
on people and killing them or possessing
them to murder their loved one's which
was created by an evil Archbishop of a
church by summoning a demon to destroy the
world in which the only way to stay safe
is to stay in areas where there's light
shining.
The beginning
looks impressive in which there's a
ceremony with candles when a group of
preachers get together and all hell
breaks loose when there's some sacrifices
and some strong forces killing others
which made me think to myself this looked
like a ceremony gone wrong and then we
have the head minister named Father
Vassey cutting in and doing some killings
himself in which I thought to myself if
he was a demonic killer disguising
himself as a priest.
There's a good shot on an evil Bishop doing
his seance which looked well done with
shots zooming around him making this look
abnormal with all that he's doing.
A nice discussion between a
preacher talking to Father Vassey as the setting looked dark and mysterious
on what was going on plus there's a good
close up shot on Vassey briefly kissing
his necklace crucifix.
A good shot on someone walking through
some woods with nervous reactions along
with a great shot on his shocked
expressions when a force attacks him and
then a good cheesy shot on him being
dragged away.
There seems to be a good scene with a child walking across the street
and a great camera shot zooming in with a
car speeding towards him.
The story seemed to go nowhere alot of
the time here but then there's the next
morning with a nephew Chris
Hatcher getting up and going out to do stuff
which seemed fun to watch wondering what
activities he will be up to but him and
his friends dare one another to go to
this area that resides an eccentric
hermit named Evert Convey and see why he
keeps running alot of lights and
electricity as this seemed quite corny.
However there's good computerised effects
with demonic forces running through dark
sewage pipes and things like that.
A nice moment with the kids closing their eyes and doing some sort of
a chant and then opening their eyes with
a good camera shot looking up on Evert
growling goofily towards them and the
kids screaming running away with him
laughing which this moment looked cheesy but at the same time with a
good sense of humor.
A great moment on Father Vassey getting intense towards the shadow builder along with great
energetic moments on him firing his gun
which looked intensely well done.
A good shot on Vassey standing at a church with a good camera
shot zooming in the areas.
Good close up shot on
Doc Cole checking out a corpse and then this corpse
rising with him freaking out as well as
him getting intimidated when the Shadowbuilder appears before him with good close up
shots on this demon speaking evilly
towards him as this was impressive when
he asks him who he is.
The boy's uncle Sam who is the head
sheriff is stalked by Father Vassey in
which you wonder if he's out to kill him
but trying to get help from him in which
the story seemed to look fairly
interesting with what he has to tell him.
I was thinking during this moment that
Vassey is a very strange man indeed.
A good shot on an old man showing an evil
expression while holding an axe and then
about to swing it down towards
his wife which looked horrorlike.
Then there's moments with little kids
tearing apart their rubber dolls and
making a pentagram which looked cheesy
but at the same time was very useful for
the story and what it will unravel. Plus
there's even a moment with an old man
about to butcher his wife which looks
like that there's possessions happening
here. However it's imaginative seeing
things coming out when it's dark and
effected by the light which is every
child imagination being afraid of the
dark but with the cheesy computerised
effects it is not scary at all.
There's a nice peaceful moment with a woman calling to a dog with it whimpering away
which looked natural as well as this
moment creepy plus good close up shots on
spirits of rottweilers clenching its
teeth towards her and she gets nervous
backing up and trying to get away which
also looked believeably intimidating.
The story does get better with Chris
running away from spiritual demonic dogs
along with confronting the Shadowmaker
along with everyone else which packs alot
of action. Also, there's alot of fun
touches with other possessed people
trying to turn off the lights while the
sane one's are struggling against them to
keep it on.
There's great moments with Vassey and Sam trying to struggle
against others in a home
preventing them for killing the
electricity which looked highly energised
and suspensefully shot.
A nice shot on someone walking on a roadway bloody like and
acting nervous as well as reacting
aggressively seeing a hallucination next
to a telephone pole and great close up
shots on him whacking his axe to the
pole.
There's good shots on Chris climbing on a roof and trying to escape
from the Shadowbuilder and telling him off.
More good shots on him lying on an
object while the Shadowbuilder tries to
perform a sacrifice with nice shots on
some excitements going on which looked
good and gothic.
Bottom line is this film was a bit boring
and almost gave it a below average rating
until quarter way through when the
excitment that was mentioned started
happening. The story was created by cult
horror icon Bram Stoker.
The acting is not
too bad which seems a bit better than the
story itself. Michael Rooker (Father
Vassey) really brought out alot of
terrific horror energy in his role as a
disturbed preacher warrior type in which
he does well with his battles and crazed
aggressions too.
Shawn Thompson (Sheriff Sam Logan)
played the handsome officer next door
type of role in which he came across
nicely in his role having a good charm
and outgoing behavior to his part. Plus
he shows some good energy during the
struggling moments too.
Kevin Zegers (Chris Hatcher) seemed
to draw attention well as a preteen kid
who seems to be curious about stuff and
getting into mischief. He seemed to
really get into this role as well as
showing a great adventureous attitude too
when the suspense packs up which is a
great plus for him to top it off. He was good by telling the Shadowbuilder character off
which looked natural and well done.
Tony Todd (Evert Covey) this time
plays a humoress eccentric character
instead of playing the dark serious roles
like he did as the Candyman. He really
proved to be a versatile actor and I
liked his part acting like a goofy type
of person who doesn't take things too
seriously. I give my hats off for this
guy on taking a different part for a
horror film this time around.
Andrew Jackson (The Shadowbuilder)
looked good for his role even if alot of
his looks was created by computerised
effects. He really brings on a good
tempting attitude to his role with a good
soothing evilness to his speaking too. He
pulls all of this off nicely.
James B. Douglas (Doc Cole) potrayed
a creamtor of some sort in the film in
which he shows a good hyped up and
nervous attitude in his role in which he
came off perfectly while doing all of
this. I had to mention him since he
brought some goofy type of wit to the
part.
Shawn Thompson
briefly has his butt exposed while
getting out of bed.
There's
some powerful thunderous classical
composing throughout the film with drums
and cymbals clanging as well as great
trombone and violin music. Plus there's
cheesy chanting here and there too for
the gothic moments. Also there's windy
sounds too. All of this seemed not too
bad composed by Ecckart Seeber. |