Horror Film Festival night 2 of 3

A good night of horror films. I am beginning to think that the reasons these films were not released is because they were good. Anyway, aside from a few content issues I can not understand why these films are banned. They really are good and should see the light of day but no, apparently for reasons that I can not surmise.

Film 4 day 2

THE GRAVEDANCERS --- ratings: 3 raptors
Possibly content is the ban for this one. Dancing on graves and all. It goes that friend dies in a car accident. His 3 friends see each other again after parting ways. They get it in their heads that they should go to the graveyard to give a proper send off. While there, they find a note on the grave. The note contains a nice poem about rejoicing in life because you never know when the minute is. It even promotes to dance upon the place of rest for the dead (turns out to be an actual pagan gravedancing ritual...incomplete). So after drinking they dance. Then they have 3 spirits haunting them. They find a paranormal investigator and find out that the rhyme was incomplete and comes with a warning that if you dance upon the graves you will be haunted for the next month by the spirit. Each night the spirit gets stronger and tries to reach its ultimate goal in making you join with them in rest. Well, after some investigating they find out that they dance in a part of the graveyard reserved for the unwanted. An area set aside for murders, mental unstable, homeless, etc. So now we have our typical evil spirits: the pyro child, the jilted lover, and Sadomasochistic torturer. Now, this has the making of a cheesy horror film, well, you be wrong. With a good cast, excellent lighting, good direction and pretty good script, and lots of really good poltergeist action sequences. I have to take away points for some really shitty FX. I'm talking about really bad split screen and CGI superimposed upon it.

Film 5 day 2

THE ABANDONED --- ratings: 1 raptor
A an American film made in Russia. The story is about a 42 year-old woman trying to find out more about her parents. She is Russian born but grew up in England and got a job in America. She was abandoned as a baby. Due to...well, Russia, they only just now were able to dig up something about her birth mother. She learns she has inherited a farm in Russia and she goes to investigate. The farm in basically an island, or more so a spot of land surrounded by a river. Upon arrival she runs into a man claiming to be her twin brother who also just received the news about the farm. During their inspection they run into their doppelgangers. According to the brother, these doppelgangers represent their future selves and how they will meet their end on this island.

An interesting story with a unrealized plot development (until the very end) which kinda makes you think and cringe at the thought. Also the film is very morbidly poetic, good lighting and acting. But it lacks something, it reminds me of reading a novel that you just picked up cause you were interested in the cover. Not overall incredible but good, the kinda book that would go unnoticed by the public and the world won't miss it. It was a good film and good story, but the feeling I got was that it could have been better. And maybe that is part of its charm, it could of been a lot better, but it wasn't. It is what it is, and that is what it always be. Coincides with Russian culture I guess.

Film 6 day 2

PENNY DREADFUL --- ratings: 3 raptors
And what a film to end the day on. Penny dreadful is about a 4-5ish year-old child (which maybe why the film was banned) that was in a car accident with her parents. The car is upside down and the father thrown from the car. Penny can see her father from where she is; her mother is still suspended upside down in her seat belt telling her "Its okay, everything is going to be okay". However, while the mother consoles her daughter everyone notices that her throat is slashed horribly and pouring blood out of her. This whole incident gives Penny a huge fear of cars. Which is what the film is about. The next scene is her in a car with her therapist. They are going to drive out to the place it happened so she can confront her fear; with periodic stops so Penny can calm herself. Anyway, the hit a hitchhiker and to make up for it the offer him a ride. They drop him off at some camp ground and upon leaving they discover that he punctured their tires. The tire blows and the therapist runs off to find a signal for her phone, leaving Penny (who has and is in complete hysterics) to stay in the car. Well, she gets out and tries to go find her therapist and runs into the hitchhiker, gets scared, trips and knocks herself out. She awakes in the car with a camcorder in her lap and her therapist in the drivers seat. She watches the film and it is a film of her therapist being killed. Then she notices where she is and where the car is. The car is wedged in between four trees, two on either side, preventing any escape from the car. Well, of course you can imagine she is freaking out on a richer scale of 5487. And this is where the film really begins.

I loved this film. By the way while the hitchhiker was in the car, it to hard to hide Penny's condition to for so ice-breakers her phobia is brought up in conversation, giving the hitchhiker the ammo to torture this poor babe's little fragile mind. Now, the film is very cliche-ic. But it is a cliche that ignores its cliche-iness and goes on with the film. This is like an awesome camp fire story. We are basically in the car with Penny the whole time, feeling her fear rising. feeling her give up to it every now and then. Penny is played by an young girl no more than 14-15. Unbelievable acting. Some of the lines are a little corny but fit the situation. A teenage girl, in said situation, tends to say certain things (slight drama queen), but at the same time we have to understand the fear inside her. This is the one spot in all of the world she doesn't want to be and it is the safest place for her. Anyway, the hitchhiker tortures the hell out of her, which (also maybe a reason for the ban) forces her psyche to take her relaxing meds...lots of them. So, by the end of the film is running on fear, adrenaline, and extreme over medication. The actress does an amazing job.

I didn't give it a awesome score due to the hitchhiker. Their is a moment at the end where we finally see the hitchhiker's face. Most of the hitchhiker's role was silent; the embodiment of the one causing this intense fear. And when we see him...well, disappointment is really the only word I have. He is suppose to be an escape mental patient, but in truth he is very real. The man was sort of nasty. He had oily and matted raven hair, pale skin with cracks in it, and gnarly teeth. Sort of a death-metal pretty. Which may be scary to a teenage girl with a fear of cars and doped up on relaxers. I think they could of done a little better...his voice was to high, needed more gruff.