A married couple named Jack (Reynaldo Ronales) and Stephanie (Heidi Dippold) are driving along in rural Alabama as their car breaks down from some flat tires and discovers a countryside hotel to see if they can find a phone and a can is sent down from a chimney of the house sent by a sadistic one named the Tin Man (Michael Madsen) saying"Welcome to my house. House rules: 1. God came into my house and i killed him. 2. I will kill anyone who comes into my house as i killed God. 3. Give me one dead body and i might let rule two slide. GAME OVER AT DAWN."
They also discover two other people named Leslie Taylor (Julie Ann Emery) and Randy Messarue (J.P. Davis) who are staying at the motel and are greeted by an eccentric caretaker named Betty (Leslie Easterbrook) who is preparing dinner and invites them till a towtruck comes to pick up their vehicle but one of the people that helps out at the hotel named Pete (Lew Temple) has eyes for Leslie and acts freaky and so does another worker named Stewart (Bill Moseley) and later on terrorise everyone there and tries to kill them.
All four of them disocvers that they are devil worshippers who practise black magic witchcraft and are on a chase through the dark dungeons of the hotel and are haunted by their past making them go insane.
They run into a ghostly little girl named Susan (Allana Belle) who knows about the house they are trapped in and knows how to escape the madness but will she help them?
A good beginning with both Jack and Stephanie as a couple driving in their vehicle and having a heated argument. We spot good shots on their car with an officer driving beside him with his siren going off wondering if he wanted them to pull over or not.
There is nearly a jumping moment when the sheriff's car is stopped near the middle of the road further ahead and the breaks are slammed and later on silence and then a chicken flying up and down near their window with this officer questioning them which made the direction very mysterious.
We do have a good suspenseful shot on their tires blowing out on the road and their car screeching.
There's a good presence by Betty greeting them at the old hotel with others arriving as well along with Pete acting freaky towards all of them.
There's another good shot between Jack and Stephanie acting even more aggressive near a bathroom and a shot on a water tap turning on.
There's a good shot on a table with the camera rising up on all of them getting ready for dinner at the table with Pete acting very strange towards Leslie Taylor telling her her likes her in a creepy fashion and Randy Messarue getting aggressive with him. There's also a nice approach by Stewart coming to the table acting evilly obnoxious which looked very impressive.
There's a good shot on Officer Lawdale standing outside in the dark holding a shotgun with everyone screaming and getting scared.
There's a great close up shot on Betty by looking wicked and telling everyone who that person is making it look very mysterious and horrifying.
There's a good shot on Betty trying to attack Randy in a freezer room with an axe and hitting a piece of meat on a hook instead while there's a good shot on Stewart and Jack struggling with a shotgun in the freezer room.
We spot a good shot on a freezer door with an axe trying to chop it open.
Good reactions and a shot on the main people when spotting a satanic symbol on a wall discovering who these people really are.
We spot good shots on the main people going through a dark type of a dungeon corridors and spotting their past with good reactions.
There's also a good shot on Leslie in a room dressed as a little girl acting emotional with a bunch of pies sitting in her room and a shadow on Pete with his hissy voice to her.
Good discussion between Jack with Susan near a dark area acting ghostly about what to do with their situations.
Nice moment on Susan in the room where Leslie is looking upset when people wonder if she's part of the evil in the house almost looking like something evil is going to happen along with Betty going crazy and trying to attack.
A nice close up shot on a Tin Man wearing a mask and holding some knives in his hand looking like a Freddy Krueger type of fashion as well as good shots on the main people tied in chairs with some of them crying in fear as well as him speaking coldly towards all of them and taunting them too with many good close up shots on his face while doing so.
Bottom line: Ahh yes a good haunted house and demonic kind of flick which I enjoyed watching throughout the whole movie. The story is very fast paced but it's still well done with some cheesy lightning here and there when everyone is in this creepy motel and the flashback memories that were shown look disturbing too at times. Based on a novel but yet this movie looks like it was influenced by other films like The Shining, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and those superntural artsy films that Dante Tomaselli would do as well. The film had class with many fun touches throughout the story in which you wonder what's going to happen yet and what unsolved mystery will unravel too with many horror celebrities which will grab any fans attention to watch and not be disappointed either.
The acting is very well done. Lead actor Reynaldo Ronales (Jack Singleton) looked good and grungy as an aggressive type in the film showing some good energy and performance to his part and really stressing his lines quite well.
Heidi Dippold (Stephanie Singleton) really knew how to act emotional for her part in the film as well as showing good energy too playing the nagging wife along with her good frights too.
Lew Temple (Pete) was perfect in his part as one of the creepy cast members with his freaky voice and exoressions playing an Igor type of role and a true character actor he is at this. He really is the drawing card for the stroy thanks to a good job her portrayed on what he had to do. Very freaky like.
Leslie Easterbrook (Betty) does well with her wickedness to the story bringing her part very strange and mysterious like which is what we needed for a plot like this and knew her stuff as you can tell.
Bill Moseley (Stewart) of course played a creepy character in which he usually does and yes acts violent and aggressive and knew what he was doing and was the attention grabber in the story showing good obnoxious features too. He looked impressive with his performance in a scene by acting menacing towards someone else with a shotgun walking up some stairs towards him. I always enjoyed him playing these types of roles.
Michael Madsen (Tin Man / Officer Lawdale) totally brought a good coldness to his part in the film with his words and knew how to act evil and nasty with what he had to do. Although he doesn't appear till quarter way through the film his performance is worth watching and one of the best actors too.
Young actress Allana Bale (Susan) does her part terrifically by acting ghostly and knew how to act sensitive too. She drew her expressions lifelessly too which too was great. She shows good reactions on certain things too.
We have good syntheaizer violin type playing with the good bumping and low sounds too for the darkest moments in the film and some slamming sounds too as it makes you jump which all of this sounded very necessary composed by David E. Russo.
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