A pizza delivery girl at the end of her financial rope has to fight for her life - and her tips - when her last order of the night turns out to be high society Satanists in need of a virgin sacrifice.
On Halloween, a group of friends encounter an "extreme" haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realization that some nightmares are real.
Directors:
Scott Beck,
Bryan Woods
Stars:
Katie Stevens,
Will Brittain,
Lauryn Alisa McClain
A woman goes to the countryside to spend a quiet weekend after losing her job and having her last complicated relationship implode. She rents a country house to an old-fashioned widower, who struggles to hide his pyschopatic tendencies.
Director:
Richard Bates Jr.
Stars:
Amanda Crew,
Robert Patrick,
Hayley Marie Norman
Jonathan is a lonely twenty-something, stuck in his home town working night shifts at the local convenience store. When an unexpected encounter with a mysterious woman turns his life upside... See full summary »
Director:
Brian Hanson
Stars:
Frankie Muniz,
Blake Webb,
Chelsea Edmundson
A brilliant painter facing the worst creative block of her life turns to anything she can to complete her masterpiece, spiraling into a hallucinatory hellscape of drugs, sex, and murder in the sleazy underbelly of Los Angeles.
Five strangers converge at a haunted movie theater owned by The Projectionist (Mickey Rourke). Once inside, the audience members witness a series of screenings showing them their deepest fears and darkest secrets over five tales.
A boy named Harley and his family (brother Austin, mother Beth, and father Mitch) attends a taping of The Banana Splits TV show, which is supposed to be a fun-filled birthday for young ... See full summary »
In Fabric is a haunting ghost story set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences..
When a gas station is held at gunpoint by a desperate man in need of cash, a lonely and unstable gas station attendant, tired of being overshadowed by her more outgoing co-worker, finds an opportunity to make a connection with the robber.
Director:
Mike Gan
Stars:
Tilda Cobham-Hervey,
Josh Hutcherson,
Suki Waterhouse
A same-sex couple move to a small town so they can enjoy a better quality of life and raise their 16 year-old daughter with the best social values. But nothing is as it seems in their ... See full summary »
Director:
Kurtis David Harder
Stars:
Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman,
Ari Cohen,
Jennifer Laporte
A pizza delivery girl at the end of her financial rope has to fight for her life - and her tips - when her last order of the night turns out to be high society Satanists in need of a virgin sacrifice.
So if you're looking for a comedy horror to watch then let me inform you that there's neither comedy or horror contained in this film. What you do get is an okay story held together with good acting and average directing, though well-paced to keep the action going and keep the audience from being too bored.
With a title like Satanic Panic, I had to give this a look-see. Who knows it might have been brilliant. Even the fact that Fangoria had gotten involved in the project was a big draw. It didn't take long for me to start groaning in despair though.
The worst thing about this film is the immature humour. Evidently shouting rude slang about sexual organs is riotous... or being a completely weird macho arsehole is a laugh-riot. Well, if they'd been handled correctly they might have been. But all I wanted to do was slap the idiots because that's how they came across - idiotic.
The best comedy scene in the film is when Kim escapes the Satanists and runs into their twisted evil offspring. There's a little wordplay, a little situation comedy, and a lot of slapstick - though all of this has dark overtones it's still fun to watch and made me giggle (the first and only time).
The writers, Ted Geoghegan and Grady Hendrix, should have dropped the comedic element and focused and the occult and horror side of things. This is already pretty strong, what with spells being cast, daemons being summoned, and virgins being impregnated... This could have been a true horror epic of our time - but they tried to be too clever.
Another thing that needed a lot of attention is the directing. Chelsea Stardust doesn't live up to her precocious name. On the whole, her directing is average. The opening sequence has the feel of a Lost Tape film, which is always a bad thing for me because the majority of these films are rubbish and annoying. So she already strikes against her before we started the story. Luckily enough, for me, she changed to the third-person style, though there was a lot of sloppy shaky camera work. Especially apparent in crowded scenes as the cameraman tries to get through the melee. Doesn't anybody use dollies anymore - a nice easy glide works wonders in a lot of scenes?
But her biggest shortcoming is the lack of atmosphere. This could have been down to the writing. If they were aiming for a more comedic movie then ambience may not have been what they were wanting. However, there are a lot of scenes where a darker atmosphere would have ramped up the power of the film. When Judi Ross is vomiting worms and earth. When the macho arsehole gets to meet his maker... and his entrails. When Baphomet enters the garden party. These are the major scenes that needed to be darker and broodier, but there are many lesser scenes also. This could have even helped with the comedic side of the story. As comedy always works better when it walks hand-in-hand with tragedy. The one thing Stardust excels at is pacing. The film jogs and sprints at all the right times and helps to keep the audience engaged and bums firmly seated.
Now the cast is superb in their roles and their portrays. I have to say though that it was difficult to make out Rebecca Romijn under the caked-on make-up. Her face must have been a few inches thicker. That said, she plays the perfect domineering leader, Danica Ross, who takes no crap and knows how to control her disciples. Jerry O'Connell is at his best womanising sleaziness as her husband Samuel. It's a shame that he has such a small part... Ruby Modine is delicious as their cunning and conniving daughter Judi. Even when she's forced to team up with our heroine your not sure what side she's on. Then we have our heroine, Samantha Craft, played by Hayley Griffith. Griffith does a good job with the naivety of the character, but it's this naiveness which causes me a problem. How does anyone be this innocent and gullible today? And the fact that she's supposed to be a virgin is farfetched... are things that different in America or are they trying to hold on to ideals of the past? Either way, it damages the character and the story since it's a major element to the plot.
At the end of the day, you have a movie trying too hard and missing the target. The acting is enjoyable and the story would be if treated better. But that's not enough to recommend the film. Is it worth watching on a cold wet day when there's nothing else to watch? At a push maybe, and then only if you're interested in acting. This is a real shame. As I said at the beginning of the review, this could have been an epic horror film.
Feel free to pop on over and check my Absolute Horror list come chart to see where this movie placed or to choose something for your viewing pleasure - you are more than welcome...
5 of 14 people found this review helpful.
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So if you're looking for a comedy horror to watch then let me inform you that there's neither comedy or horror contained in this film. What you do get is an okay story held together with good acting and average directing, though well-paced to keep the action going and keep the audience from being too bored.
With a title like Satanic Panic, I had to give this a look-see. Who knows it might have been brilliant. Even the fact that Fangoria had gotten involved in the project was a big draw. It didn't take long for me to start groaning in despair though.
The worst thing about this film is the immature humour. Evidently shouting rude slang about sexual organs is riotous... or being a completely weird macho arsehole is a laugh-riot. Well, if they'd been handled correctly they might have been. But all I wanted to do was slap the idiots because that's how they came across - idiotic.
The best comedy scene in the film is when Kim escapes the Satanists and runs into their twisted evil offspring. There's a little wordplay, a little situation comedy, and a lot of slapstick - though all of this has dark overtones it's still fun to watch and made me giggle (the first and only time).
The writers, Ted Geoghegan and Grady Hendrix, should have dropped the comedic element and focused and the occult and horror side of things. This is already pretty strong, what with spells being cast, daemons being summoned, and virgins being impregnated... This could have been a true horror epic of our time - but they tried to be too clever.
Another thing that needed a lot of attention is the directing. Chelsea Stardust doesn't live up to her precocious name. On the whole, her directing is average. The opening sequence has the feel of a Lost Tape film, which is always a bad thing for me because the majority of these films are rubbish and annoying. So she already strikes against her before we started the story. Luckily enough, for me, she changed to the third-person style, though there was a lot of sloppy shaky camera work. Especially apparent in crowded scenes as the cameraman tries to get through the melee. Doesn't anybody use dollies anymore - a nice easy glide works wonders in a lot of scenes?
But her biggest shortcoming is the lack of atmosphere. This could have been down to the writing. If they were aiming for a more comedic movie then ambience may not have been what they were wanting. However, there are a lot of scenes where a darker atmosphere would have ramped up the power of the film. When Judi Ross is vomiting worms and earth. When the macho arsehole gets to meet his maker... and his entrails. When Baphomet enters the garden party. These are the major scenes that needed to be darker and broodier, but there are many lesser scenes also. This could have even helped with the comedic side of the story. As comedy always works better when it walks hand-in-hand with tragedy. The one thing Stardust excels at is pacing. The film jogs and sprints at all the right times and helps to keep the audience engaged and bums firmly seated.
Now the cast is superb in their roles and their portrays. I have to say though that it was difficult to make out Rebecca Romijn under the caked-on make-up. Her face must have been a few inches thicker. That said, she plays the perfect domineering leader, Danica Ross, who takes no crap and knows how to control her disciples. Jerry O'Connell is at his best womanising sleaziness as her husband Samuel. It's a shame that he has such a small part... Ruby Modine is delicious as their cunning and conniving daughter Judi. Even when she's forced to team up with our heroine your not sure what side she's on. Then we have our heroine, Samantha Craft, played by Hayley Griffith. Griffith does a good job with the naivety of the character, but it's this naiveness which causes me a problem. How does anyone be this innocent and gullible today? And the fact that she's supposed to be a virgin is farfetched... are things that different in America or are they trying to hold on to ideals of the past? Either way, it damages the character and the story since it's a major element to the plot.
At the end of the day, you have a movie trying too hard and missing the target. The acting is enjoyable and the story would be if treated better. But that's not enough to recommend the film. Is it worth watching on a cold wet day when there's nothing else to watch? At a push maybe, and then only if you're interested in acting. This is a real shame. As I said at the beginning of the review, this could have been an epic horror film.
Feel free to pop on over and check my Absolute Horror list come chart to see where this movie placed or to choose something for your viewing pleasure - you are more than welcome...