Two pre-teens Joey (John Bonito) and Toby (Garry Godfrey) are bike riding and go down near a marsh where they discuss a Halloween party. Meanwhile, they dicover a box buried in sand which carries a gargoyle type object in which a spiritual Old Man (Harold Allen) warns them about it but they don't listen to him and
Joey's older brother Josh (John Bonito) goes to an abandoned house that's claimed to be haunted with his friends for a fun party in which one of them Mike (Kirk King) does a ceremony to try and talk to the dead. While he does this the gargoyle unleashes a demon possessing Joey in which he goes to the house and slaughtering all of the teens their with his demonic force.
While watching the film I had expectations for it to be a bad no budgeter which I was right but the beginning looked fun to watch with the coroner and paramedics putting corpses into the ambulance etc. since it was a black and white shot. But then the story seems to slump with two kids biking down a cliff and having a discussion with one another about a Halloween party which seemed awfully bland as well as them discovering a box with a gargoyle buried in some sand which wasn't even conving either as you can tell that it was all set out in the ground. There's some mist while opening the box which seemed a bit amusing as well as a ghostly figure of an old man staring at them on the other side of the marsh but this looked quite amateurish. Yet when this figure appears towards them you can tell that the filmmakers were trying to make it look creepylike which almost works and it was well written in when he warns them about the gargoyle figure since it seems to fit into the story. Then it gets hokey again with the ranger bothering them and other goofy moments like two suiblings playing around with a ouija board etc. etc.... which I was thinking to myself "Ho hum!"
It does seem to improve a bit better when the cast enters an abandoned house although you can tell that the house was really used since this was an independent film not having enough funds to get an actual abandoned looking type of haunted house. Yet that is what the fun is all about and using your imagination too. They used fog machines etc. which looked entertaining.
Then the terror begins with one of the partying teens trying to summon something up which is one of the possessed young kid's from the beginning of the film named Joey which the makeup job would look cheesy and yet well done due to a lack of a budget on a film such as this one.
There's alot of creepy moments with Joey entering the house and then the deadly events happening which seemed quite impressive especially two teens about to fornicate and then are torn apart by a demonic force as this was very crafty and will impress gorehounds without a doubt.
Another nice touch to the film is that this force kills a surfer dude near a wooded area as what's a Halloween film without terror happening near the deep dark woods along with cheesy looking coloured effects on the camera charging in for the victim?
There's more interesting lines with a couple of the survivors realising what has happened to their friends and trying to find a way out with the house trapping them since this is the traditional moment in possessed houses.
There's a nice near ending with the spirit of the old man returning again aggressively towards Joey on why this has all happened which is another nice traditional moment on someone warning them the dangers they will reveal if they proceed to continue with what they are doing and then returning once again when these bad things already came. However due to the lack of budget the old man didn't look as creepy like he was suppsed to since there were no CGI effects since this part was necessary for it. Insteads there's ghostly sound effects which seems to make up for it.
Bottom line is that the film is very stale and alot of times a little boring in many parts of the story but there are entertaining bits with the possessions and slaughtering due to the forces onto the victims which any horror fans may find amusing which is the only good part of the film really but this is a fun film to watch if you're in the mood for a no budgeter student type of film project.
The acting is mainly pretty bad so let's take a look here shall we? Ah yes... Lead actor John Bonito (Josh) plays an older typical type of teenager who likes to get into partying but yet he seems to just say his lines and is too lazy by getting into character. He is by no means a character actor at all. Some people weren't made to act and he is a good example.
Sky Daniel (Joey) as his younger brother is worst but at least he tries his best. He just seems very inexperienced and acts a little too over the top at times. He had the right young teenage looks too. He doesn't seem to react too well by being surprised after finding out something buried in some sand which seemed to lack of energy. However, when he is possessed he seems to come across as intimidating though with what he does but yet he had no lines when doing this.
Jonathan Sudbury (Scott) seemed to do a bit better than the first two in which he seemed to come across well by goofing around and enjoying himself as well as quarter way through really panicking and getting a little anxious by the terrors that are happening. He can probably pull off with descent acting skills the more work he gets.
Kirk King (Mike) seemed to be the best out of the whole cast in which he knew on how to behave sarcastically as well as really getting into what he did throughout his entire performance including when he performs a ritual bringing out some interesting characteristics. He also had the right looks as one of those teenage party goers too. But there were times he lacked like the rest of the cast involved. He shows some descent energy when he heavily gets into doing his chant during a ceremony. There's a moment with him howling in pain with good blood marks on his face but yet he seems to lack a bit with his reactions to this.
Traci Lera-Michelin (Rhonda) had the nice beautiful looks in her role and seemed to get into her role not too badly as she seemed quite outgoing in what she did since she came across well onto the camera. She was probably the best out of the whole cast and could asee her getting work in other low budget independent films.
Sophocles Frangakis (Tony) was the key role in this film in which I thought I should mention since he portrays an interesting role as a surfer type of dude. He wasn't that great in it I had to admit but did offer some humor to the film since there's many like this in a horror flick. He knew on how to act like a party animal goofing around.
Body pieces like an eyeball and gobs of blood are exposed on the front lot of a home in the beginning of the movie
A head is blown off with pieces of it falling and lots of bloodsheds
A body is split in half
A head is twisted around
A body is sliced in half
A head is sliced in two
Another person is split in two
Guts spill out of a persons stimach and their spine is torn out
There composing by John Matteson sounds quite cheesy with the synthesizer effects with the odd high pitched icy type of music but yet there are some effective low sounds too for alot of the creepy moments with the possessed kid and the gruesome moments that starts to happen. Some of it almost sounds like one of those chilling type of haunted organ playing too. All in all some of it was quite good showing that you can do wonders with a cheap sounding keyboard player. |
