Spirits (1992)

A group of researchers led by Dr. Richard Wicks (Robert Quarry) and Amy Goldwyn (Brinke Stevens) go to a possessed house known as the Heron House to do some researching as two innocent families were slaughtered under the spell of some demons and the reserachers are at the mercy of a fallen priest and his minions from hell.
Meanwhile, a troubled priest Father Anthony Vicci (Erik Estrada) is trying to portect his sinful life from demonic forces at his church. First he encounters to what seems to be an innocent Sister Mary (Michelle Bauer) looking for help, but she appears to be an evil and lustful spirit trying to get Vicci to seduce her. He even tries to get help from the aid of Sister Jillian (Carol Lynley) but even she has a dark evil secret to her.
Vicci realises that he must go to to the Heron House to put a stop to all the evils surrounding him and anything involved at the house.
Also, poltergeists and other sounds occur at the house plus spirits of dead people who lived there appear at the house.
Not only that, Amy is possessed on and off so she is tied to a chair while the other reasearchers slowly get possessed by the demonic forces.

I was interested in checking this movie out and so I did. At first it seemed a bit amateurish with a preacher Father Anthony Vicci encountering a ghost of a boy in which alot of it looked too scripted out as well as some researchers Dr. Richard Wicks and Beth discussing about the possessed house in which I was thinking that this was silly and pointless but it does get better.
There's moments with one of the researchers Amy Goldwyn talking about the house which seemed corny but yet very entertaining in which these scene's were meant to be serious but sometimes they were laughable. Suddenly there's ghostly sounds which weren't convincing but oh well it was fun to get into all of this regardless.
But it gets really exciting when Amy gets possessed and acts obnoxious forcing Richard to tie her to a chair but yet she acts normal again and then turns like a switch turning on and off which keeps you glued to the set wondering what's going to happen next.
I also love the moment with Anthony encountering a demonic Nun Sister Mary who tries to seduce him which was another fun horror scene in the flick and got a kick out of which should please anyone who loves Fred Olen Ray flicks. There's some good camera shots with her wrapping herself on him and then trying to seduce him on the bed along with great hissing aggressions from her. This looked fairly powerful for a low budgeter.
There's many other moments with him encountering other possessions in his church which gave the film a perfect touch to all that's happening in the story.
There's cheesy discussions with Amy talking to Richard and Beth which seemed blandly done when it should've looked suspenseful with how they all express on the situations.
A fairly good discussion with Anthony talking to Sister Jillian in the church with good camera takes back and fourth while they're talking as well as the moments getting powerful with one another about the incidents they're discussing.
Many lame effects though in the film and one of them is one of the researchers possessed and smashing open a door as you can tell the door is fake and thin looking in which the filmmakers didn't show much effort to make it look real at all.
A nice shot on Harry sleeping sideways on his bed with a nice shot on woman placing her hand on him and then trying to caress him with her lustful speaking. Then a good shot looking up on her topless and getting it on. Yet when she becomes possessed and hissing at him the moments on this turns awfully stale. But there is a good shot on him running to a corner with the camera closing in on him.
A fairly nice strong conversation with Amy talking to Richard near a fireplace about the evil spirits in the house with a good serious attitude on the two of them with good camera shots on each of them when they have this discussion.
A good moment with him hypnotising Amy with her lying on the couch with her talking mellow and then a great moment on her getting up.
There's many moments with Amy possessed and using jokes with her demonic attitude which I questioned as if it fits the film or not but it was all in good taste in the end.
A nice angle shot on her shooting up from her bed acting crazy which seemed creepy and well done.
Many great moments with her acting possessive along with alot of struggling moments between her and Richard which looked highly energised as well as many great shots on her lunging out to try and attack him.
The story gets to the bottom of things when everyone tries to battle out a demonic ghoul in the house that has risen and everyone trying to battle this monstrous looking demon as I loved the fast action moments bit by bit here plus this time there was some good effects during the end results to all of this.
Bottom line is the film very much reminded me a cheesy tribute to film's like Amityville Horror, The Exorcist and a bit of Night of the Demons too. Some other may categorise this film as a ripoff to all of those but if you like cheesy low budget horror films with alot of fun touches to the scene's then you will enjoy this one very much. A film worth checking out if you like b-film scream queens in their performances such as this one.

The acting is a bit cheesy but some pull off well. Let's see here...
Robert Quarry (Dr. Richard Wicks) seems to draw in not too bad as someone who is very serious about his work and shows off a good mature middle aged man type of attitude but there are times he seems bland with what he does in his discussions in which it seemed fairly wooden here and there. Yet he seems to pick it up in other scene's.
Brinke Stevens (Amy Goldwyn) seemed to breeze through very well with her role in the film in which I thought that this was one of her best performances. I was never a huge fan of her work since she always seemed to be the same in them and she does in this one too but yet she shows off some different energy whenever she becomes possessed in it and acting very menacing and really getting into the role. A good surprised reaction with her in a kitchen with her eyes moving after hearing a ghostly sound. There's a moment with her having a nightmare with her head tossing and turning but yet she didn't seem believeable. Offers great possessive expressions and talking wickedly which looked highly energised. This one should definetely mark one of her credits to her career as a b-film scream queen.
Erik Estrada (Father Anthony Vicci) is another story as I found that he can barely act his way out of a wet paper bag as a troubled preacher. He seemed to try to bring out his anxiety into the film along with his aggressions but he wasn't believeable at all. I didn't watch him too much as Ponch in that blockbuster TV series but yet not many people took him seriously as an actor and could see why.
Kathrin Lautner (Beth) had the nice looks as well as the snooty attitude as a researcher but yet she seems to lack in some spots whenever she tries to pick up the energy in the suspenseful moments like her screaming which seemed overdubbed or amateurish. She didn't do a heck of alot for me. She wasn't terrible though but needed some improvements in many spots though.
Carol Lynley (Sister Jillian) seemed very strong minded as the Nun in the flick and really came across powerfully with her speech in the film whenever she delivered a line. She was one of the good one's in the cast that I admired and had talent. There's a scene with her telling him the church is the place for him which sounded convincing with her powerful attitude. She also does well whenever she becomes possessed too.
Michelle Bauer (Sister Mary) was uncredited in this film for some silly reason since she has worked steadily with and has a 5 minute appearance too. I never was a fan of her acting skills but yet she seemed to draw good attention onto the screen with her character. She does well by acting troubled in the beginning of her performance which looked pretty good with her emotional attitude and then she also does well with her evil raging lustful behavior in which she was almost versatile to what she did in the film. She brought on some descent energy into her performance.

There is a good 5 minute scene with Michelle Bauer fully nude trying to seduce the main preacher.
A spirit of a woman is topless trying to seduce one of the researchers played by porn actress Sandra Margot.

Not much of a gorefest but Brinke's character hammers a nail through her hand
Also towards the end a zombie demon's eyes pops out and melts.

Tim Landers shows some beating synthesizer sounds in many of the scene's as well as the odd cheesy chanting sounds too which needed some improvment. There's also some low keyboard playing as well as the odd icy high pitched sounding one's too. Nothing too much to talk about here but he seemed to do a fair job on it for a z-grader like this one.

Amy Goldwyn (Possessed): What's the matter? Cat got your tongue???

Amy Goldwyn (Possessed): I was just doing my nails!