By Geno McGahee
They say that a filmmaker needs to get the attention of the viewers in the first ten minutes of the movie or they will lose them. Well, Olaf Ittenbach, the writer/director of THE HAUNTING OF REBECCA VERLAINE understood this and made one of the goriest and most outrageous beginnings of any low budget horror film that I have seen. It was a great way to start the film.
A clown-masked killer goes room to room at a compound and brutally kills every hippy there with the exception of a young Rebecca (Natacza Boon). She was nearly killed but was able to survive and came out of it not remembering a thing. She is adopted by her uncle and aunt and she lives her life…a relatively normal life, but the past is going to come back to haunt her. Her dead father is coming through the TV and demanding justice. This will draw her back to where it all went down.
Her boyfriend, David (Daryl Jackson), a psychology professor is there to help her and when things get bad, he takes her to a detective the initially worked on the case. Thomas (James Matthews-Pyecka) recounts the terror and bloodshed that night and even notes that it was like “the devil crawled out of hell” that day. It was very overdramatic and well played. Matthews-Pyecka was amazing in this role.
When Rebecca visits her old home with a police officer, the cop is torn apart, literally. The gore in this film is amazing and over the top. When she calls the police and reports the death, they send the entire force and they get taken out too. The dead hippies have turned into the evil dead and are tearing anyone apart. They demand that the people that really killed them be brought there for justice and then they can be free, but Rebecca has no idea where to start.
We get some twists and turns and lead to a predictable ending, but this movie is beyond fun. I was laughing throughout and the ending is fantastic. I was so amused by this film but the ending just sealed this as a must watch for any horror fan. THE HAUNTING OF REBECCA VERLAINE is a winner and I absolutely recommend it.
Rating: 8/10
