Reviewed by Geno McGahee
I don’t know if this movie is too disturbing or gory as advertised, but it is a legitimately good movie that has its share of creepy moments. Harris (Dominic Purcell), Allison (Clare Kramer), and Sid (Marcus Thomas), are all mourning the death of their friend, and meet up at a diner after the funeral. Sid missed the funeral intentionally because he thought that it was a better idea to have a good time and party at the grave, which the other two reluctantly agree.
On the gravestone of their friend is a note with a poem about raising the dead and dancing on the grave. Sid, standing atop a grave, recites the poem and they do a dance on the grave and even urinate on them. Well, that was enough to raise some spirits with some anger management problems.
Now, those three and the wife of Harris, Kira (Josie Maran), are now being harassed and violated by these spirits. Allison has to deal with a rapist ghost, Sid has a pyromaniac child spirit on his tail, and Harris has an axe-wielding woman looking for him. What makes this film so special is the pace and gradual introduction of the spirits. There is some CGI here, but not a whole lot. They tried to use it as little as possible and elected to use actual people supported by cables, I guess, to elevate them and give the impression that they are free floating.
The ghost hunters are called in to help this situation, led by Vincent (Tcheky Karyo), and his assistant, Culpepper (Megahn Perry). They do what they can to help the foursome, but there is a personal agenda on their part which prevents the solution to be final. Karyo is an incredible actor and plays this part very well. He stands out in this part as Vincent and he brought some credibility to this film.
This is one of the movies from that Horrorfest 8 movie collection and if all of the others are this good, then horror fans will be in for a treat. I really enjoyed this movie. They didn’t show their hand right away and let you get to know the characters before unleashing the monsters. The acting is top notch, the special effects are good, but not over the top, and the variations in spirits is really entertaining. The ending of this movie is great and leaves room for a sequel. In a time when all films released seem to be remakes of Asian films, we have an original horror film that is scary at times and interesting throughout. This is the type of film that will keep the genre alive and I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10. original and interesting.
