BARE BONES: THE PALE DOOR (2020)

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THE PALE DOOR (2020)

Horror/western has the outlaw Dalton Gang robbing a heavily armed train with youngest Dalton Jake (Devin Druid) on his first job. After a bloody shoot out, the gang secure the cash box only to find out it holds no money or gold, but a bound pretty young girl. Pearl (Natasha Bassett) begs the gang take her home and there will be a reward for their troubles. This brings them to a ghost town where the only occupants there are the women of the local brothel. Soon to their horror, they find the brothel is a coven of evil witches and the gang now must fight for their lives.

Flick is directed by Aaron B. Koontz (Camera Obscura) from his script with Cameron Burns and Keith Lansdale. It’s an entertaining little movie that doesn’t try to be more than it is. The witches are after the virginal Jake, who has also yet to kill anyone, and will decimate the gang to get to him. The make-up and gore are abundant and very well done and the witches are fearsome creatures, though seem to be easily gunned down by the dwindling numbers of the gang. There are a few moments when the action stops dead for characters to bear their souls, but otherwise this is an amusing 90+ minutes of blood and bullets. Pale Door also gets extra points for effort, with Koontz’s effective visuals and settings being impressive on a small budget. An entertaining little movie now streaming on Amazon. Also stars low budget horror vets Noah Segan and Pat Healy as Dalton Gang members.

-MonsterZero NJ

3 star rating

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BARE BONES: SCARE PACKAGE (2019)

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SCARE PACKAGE (2019)

Horror comedy anthology tells a series of seven stories each by different writers and directors. There are six separate stories with the seventh being the wraparound that loosely holds them together. Here, it is a video store with the various tapes popped into the VCR being the horror stories that unfold.

With a combination of eight directors, who also write their stories and another four additional writers thrown in the mix, the result is very disappointing. None of the stories really feel like a complete tale that actually goes anywhere and the mix of comedy and horror isn’t all that successful either way. The tales are neither scary nor very funny. The wraparound story goes off the rails and becomes it’s own horror tale that has nothing to do with where it appeared to be going initially, even to the point of jettisoning the main character for a last minute final girl. To be honest, none of the stories really end very satisfyingly. There is plenty of well rendered gore throughout all the tales, but the stories themselves aren’t very memorable or go anywhere all that interesting. Even the cameo by horror icon Joe Bob Briggs doesn’t elicit much of a response. It also doesn’t go anywhere. All together it’s a forgettable and dull 107 minutes that sadly doesn’t inspire one to keep an eye on any of the filmmakers involved. A Shudder exclusive if you want to bother.
-MonsterZero NJ

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