BARE BONES: A HAUNTING AT SILVER FALLS (2013)

A HAUNTING AT SILVER FALLS (2013)

Scare-less flick has pretty, orphaned teen, Jordan (Alix Elizabeth Gitter) moving in with her aunt (Tara Westwood) and uncle (Steve Bacic) in the town of Silver Falls after the death of her father. Soon Jordan becomes haunted by the spirits of two twins who died mysteriously. No one believes Jordan, but is this a haunting or a warning?

Directed by Brett Donowho from a generic script by three writers, no less, this is a completely routine haunting flick. We have the lonely teen who stumbles onto a past murder/death and is now being haunted. Her only friend is the local outcast (Tadhg Kelly) and as she has experienced a personal tragedy, no one believes this is anything but emotional duress. Flick has a scant few spooky moments and Gitter makes for a cute, likable and thus sympathetic heroine, but otherwise this supernatural thriller is as cookie cutter as they come. The end reveal is no surprise as we are expecting something like this since we’ve basically seen this movie before. Not quite a complete waste of time, but one can do much better.

-MonsterZero NJ

BARE BONES: THE SACRED, THE PYRAMID and DEEP IN THE DARKNESS

THE SACRED (2012)

Horror flick did pass the time and had some effective moments despite a familiar story. Flick has pretty writer Jessie (Heather Roop) going alone to a recently inherited family cabin to work and not only experiencing paranormal activity but, a creepy possessed doll as well. Director Brett Donowho gives us some effective moments and some atmosphere from Carey and Shane Van Dyke’s derivative script and I liked that the film had some exploitation touches as it found numerous excuses to get the shapely Miss Roop into various and plentiful stages of undress. There is even some spooky but, enticing girl/girl action as Jessie gets supernaturally seduced by an equally sexy pair of specters. Not a very good movie in a traditional sense but, certainly found it’s ways to entertain, one way or another. Also stars B-Movie regular Jeff Fahey as the traditional creepy caretaker who knows more than he lets on.

THE PYRAMID (2014)

The disappointing thing about this found footage horror is it starts out pretty good with a group of explorers having found an entire pyramid buried under the sands of Egypt that pre-dates all the others. The initial journey inside is spooky and works well…till the ridiculously bad CGI critters show up and it becomes a silly SYFY Channel level monster-on-the-loose flick. It’s well directed to a degree by Grégory Levasseur and the script from Daniel Meersand and Nick Simon starts out OK, but, it just gets really silly in it’s last act and the phony creatures don’t help. Add to that the character of “Fitzie” (James Buckley) who was so annoying, you begged for his demise and you’ve got a potentially interesting horror that goes downhill steadily after a promising first act. Too bad, there was potential here for a fun flick. Also stars Ashley Hinshaw and Denis O’Hare.

DEEP IN THE DARKNESS (2014)

Despite some flaws, most coming in the third act, and a familiar story, this flick does manage to be entertaining. Story has city doctor Michael Cayle (Sean Patrick Thomas) uprooting his family to the rural community of Ashborough to set up his practice. Obviously, this is a secluded town with a very dark secret…one the good doctor and family may not escape. Though we’ve seen the scenario many times before with films like Children Of The Corn, Wake Wood and Jack Ketchum’s book Off Season, director Colin Theys still gives us an effective and atmospheric chiller from John Doolan’s script based on Micael Laimo’s novel. It’s only in it’s final third that things get a little out of hand, get very predictable and the plot holes show the most but, leading up to that is fairly entertaining. The production has a TV movie feel…it’s made by Chiller TV…but, the make-up FX and gore are well done. Thomas also makes a good hero, though none of the cast really make a strong impression in their roles. Also stars Dean Stockwell and Blanche Baker.

 -MonsterZero NJ