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hurtthehammer
Reviews
A Feast of Souls (2004)
IMDb Life Lesson #1: Take everything with a grain of salt.
When I picked up on this movie from one of the many horror sites I frequently visit I was intrigued. An under-the-radar, indie flick with an interesting sounding premise. So, as usual, I hightailed it over here to IMDb to check it out. 7.8 out of 10. Wow, this really must be good. Right?
Wrong. So wrong. What I failed to realize was this rating was based on a total of 5 votes. 3 were 10's, (probably given by someone who worked on the film), 1 8 star, (probably a less-obvious looking plant who writes a stellar review of it), and a 1. The 1 was right and should have wrote a review telling people to stay the hell away. But he didn't, so I will.
To be honest the reason I'm a bit more bitter about this movie is that I bought it from the only outlet it was available from, IndieFlix.com, and paid $9.95 for it. I get it at home, pop open the cheap slim case and find a home-burned DVD. OK, indie flick, I'll let it slide, but it better be good.
It stinks. Shot on overly crisp digital stock in the middle of broad daylight, (and alternately rain for no reason), this movie is just too clean to build any sort of atmosphere and is punctuated constantly by chintzy looking visual effects that never scare but only serve to remind you your watching something done on the super cheap. Sorry, guys. Speeding up the tape does not make things scary looking, just silly. Like a spooky Benny Hill episode or the "It's a Fact!" skit from the Kids In The Hall.
The soundtrack is the only thing that manages to be remotely effective, if only briefly before a bad, 80's sounding synth beat kicks in that is completely out of place for the subject matter and is more reminiscent of a Cinemax slasher than anything.
The only reason I'm giving this movie 3 stars is because, I'll give it the benefit of being a lot less disappointing when $10 + S&H is not paid for it. Otherwise it's a terribly mediocre student film you should really strive to avoid, which shouldn't be too hard.