Customer Reviews

After Dark Horrorfest III

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can't comment on the actual product, just the movies themselves as presented in the theater, as part of the After Dark Horror Fest 3.

It was a weak year, not because of production values, acting, camera work or the things that usually plague low-budget flicks, but because of writing and pacing, and also a reliance on some increasingly stale horror movie tropes. I would really only recommend two of the eight!

Here are your capsule summaries. (I've got more detailed reviews at bitmaelstrom, search for After Dark.)

Autopsy: One of the two I'd recommend. A "funhouse" horror film, where the scares don't necessarily make sense, but they are fun and effective. College kids find themselves in a bizarre hospital during Hurricane Katrina, and end up being the subject of Mad Doctor (Robert Patrick) experiments.

The Broken: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" meets "Mirrors". This is a movie almost entirely devoid of shocks and more dependent on tension; problem is, it's painfully obvious what's going on in the first 10-15 minutes--but even if you didn't have a clue, the menace just doesn't come through. You sit waiting for something to happen. Big name stars, though, relatively, with Queen Gorgo of "300" (Lena Heady) and the white guy from "The Visitor" (Richard Jenkins). Despite this, worst in show.

Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations: CAUTION! The graphic here says "Butterfly Effect 2", but it was #3 shown at the fest. Make sure it's #3, because this was Best In Show. Essentially "Quantum Leap" with a horror twist, this movie concerns a poor guy trying to right wrongs in the past and ending up creating more and more havoc, and finally a serial killer. Fast moving, involving, not too obvious and with a little gratuitous sex. Feature horror fest mascot Rachel Miner.

Dying Breed: Inbred Redneck Hillbilly cannibals. =Australian= inbred redneck hillbilly cannibals (AIRHBCs). This features Leigh Whannell of the "Saw" series but don't be fooled. He just acts here. The writing and direction is fairly pedestrian. 20-somethings go to investigate endangered species, end up hunted by freakish AIRHBCs.

From Within: A small town is cursed by sequential suicides, blames it on local witches. Is partly right. Wall-to-wall stereotypes, from the broody goth kid and the Good Girl(TM) to the bigoted jock and the Preacher With A Secret.

Perkins 14: From the director of the first Horrorfest's "Dark Ride", this movie is twice as good, which unfortunately only makes for 2/3rds of a good movie. The first third is mystery and suspense, then the movie shifts gears for a survival zombie feel, and then unfortunately the whole thing grinds to a halt as they hole up in the police station but lose all their common sense. Potential for truly interesting endings dropped in favor of the expected one.

Slaughter: The first half of this movie is character development and air-of-menace, but much like "Dying Breed", the redneck hillbillys (who are probably not inbred cannibals, or at least not yet) just aren't very menacing. When the action starts again, there are some very good moments, but once again the predictable ending.

Voices: This Korean movie is about how your loved ones secretly want to kill you--and do, if you give them the chance. Should've been great, but there was no rhyme or reason to who "turned", meaning there is no real suspense or tension, since the filmmakers can turn anyone at any time. Ultimately, there's no compelling reason for the curse, no defense against it, and the ending tries to retrofit an explanation to the whole thing, but that doesn't really hang together.

The collection lacks the energy of a "Mulberry Street", the camp of a "Tooth and Nail", the good ol' ghost story ("Gravedancers"), the mysterious logic of a "Rinne" or the gritty realism of a "Borderland".

There's almost a lack of conviction throughout, and there's a distinct conservatism. Lesser movies of previous fests often had more interest just by having a compelling setting with a creepy atmosphere--they'd grab you, even if they couldn't hold you.

Despite more consistent and consistently better production values--seemed like every movie had use of a crane--there was much less here to suck you in in the first place. Sad to say, it's hard to recommend this set, even for die-hard horror fans.

The latest collection from the highly entertaining After Dark Horrorfest lineup is perhaps the most consistent yet. It's also a more international affair this year with entries from Great Britain, Australia and South Korea to complement our homegrown fare. By in large this is an effective and clever mix of horrors, covering everything from possession to cannibalism, from serial killings to mad doctors. The lineup includes...

THE BROKEN - A sleek, moody shocker in which SARAH CONNER CHRONICLES star Lena Heady survives a nasty car wreck only to find her mysterious doppelganger haunting London. Well acted and subtly creepy, it sneaks up on you like a ROSEMARY'S BABY / INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS style shocker.

DYING BREED - In search of the supposedly extinct Tasmanian Tiger, a group of would be documentarians find a different group of predators on the hunt in rural Tasmania. Now they are the endangered species. Excellent location work and bursts of brutal violence keep this one humming.

FROM WITHIN - A rash of unexplained suicides among the youth of a Bible belt community is blamed by the pious locals on an outcast family suspected of witchcraft. But are these outsiders really witches? And are the townsfolk as devout as they seem? Strong cast and slickly made.

SLAUGHTER - A young woman moving out on her own after ending an abusive relationship finds a new friend and moves in with her at a rustic farmhouse. Her old lover is not to be jilted, though. But as her stalker ex closes in our heroine begins to think that she has more to fear than her twisted lover. A slow building shocker, the ladies are excellent.

PERKINS 14 - A decade after his son's kidnapping a small town deputy finds a lead to the disappearance of his boy (and several other children) in the form of a mystery man brought in on a traffic violation. Further investigations unleash an army of killers on the community in a night of madness and terror. Effectively creepy.

VOICES - This sharp South Korean shocker finds a young woman in deadly jeopardy when her friends and family begin inexplicably exploding into fits of murderous rage. Can she find the cause of the violent insanity before she falls victim to the bloody rampage of those she loves the most? Sharply lensed and filled with startling set pieces this wicked import is not for the squeamish.

BUTTERFLY EFFECT 3 - This self contained entry in the loose series finds our hero, who is able to will himself into the past, becoming obsessed with tracking down a brutal serial killer who has previously tainted his life. In every attempt to change the past the hero creates a new and even more sinister reality. Will he find the savage killer? And more importantly, should he even TRY? Clever, pacey and unpredictable.

AUTOPSY - A group of teens are taken to an off the beaten path Louisiana hospital after an auto accident only to discover a staff who's more efficient at cold blooded murder than checking temperatures and filling out charts. Robert Patrick (TERMINATOR 2) plays the head doctor, a medico whose bedside manner can kill you. Ultra gory, silly, bloody fun.

The set varies from straight out terror to squirmy psychological horrors. All of the films are well made and provide a nice cross section of sub genres. This AFTER DARK series is well worth a look and comes highly recommended.

I only saw three of these movies - "The Broken", "Autopsy" and "From Within" and I liked them all in different ways. My least favorite was The Broken, which by the way looked like it had the biggest budget. It was shot nicely and worth watching for some of the effects but its slow and doesn't have much pay off. It's well directed but looks like the director could do with a better script writer next time round.

Autopsy on the other hand looks like it was made for about 50 cents but it's much more of a traditional Friday night horror about a bunch of teenagers getting killed off one by one and it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's by far the most gory but I found myself amused all the way through.

The best film I saw was From Within. It had a strong story, looked good (but doesn't rely on massive special effects) and really made me think. I liked most of the characters and am looking forward to seeing it again. Although it's scary it isn't necessarily straight horror. If I were to buy one DVD it would be this one.

I can't say what the other movies are like but I sort of want to see the Butterfly Effect 3 as I liked the first one a lot (although the sequel was pretty poor!)

For the third year in a row, horror fans find themselves watching a set of 8 movies for no other reason than that someone distributed them in a group together. At this point, it seems more than abundantly clear that these "8 Films To Die For" are never going to be the elite horror experience, or the most extreme, or anything else special or unique. They're just 8 movies no one else wanted to distribute (for good reason, as it turns out).

This year's crop is slightly better than year 2, though none of them rank with the overall competence of last year's BORDERLAND, or the chills of the first year's THE ABANDONED. If there was a consistent issue this year, it was that each of these (for the most part) had a very interesting concept, but were just executed poorly. As I think on each one, I can tell you at what point the movie shifted from promise to disappointment, like a roller coaster that climbs and climbs to what seems like a wonderfully great drop to come, only to find that the top of the first incline is the end of the ride!

Another consistent theme seems to be "let's compensate for a lack of imagination by just having everyone die in the end!" With one exception, these films all end terribly. Perhaps now and then it is appropriate and interesting to end with tragedy, but such an ending has to be earned. And these films mostly do not do so. If you are going to end on a dour note, you need to at least give me a good reason!

Finally, giving a real ranking of "best" to "worst" is difficult because each film at some point has a major detracting factor - but I will do my best . . .

8) PERKINS 14: I'll start with the worst, because that's pretty easy to pick out. This film was hyped as the one "created by fans." Story, actors, etc . . . were all submitted and voted for online by fans. The story of 14 kidnapped kids raised as animals in cages and sent out for mindless killing was interesting in concept, but horrible in execution! So-lame-you-can-see-the-prop effects, bad acting, and terrible writing, and stupid characters doing stupid things sink this puppy.

7) SLAUGHTER: Tight, tight contention for last place. This one would be in the bottom save for a somewhat well done final third. This one concerns a girl moving out to a farm with another woman she barely knows, only to become wrapped up in a sinister plot for revenge. The film's death knell is it's excruciatingly boring first 45 minutes. The filmmakers must have thought their slow build of disappearing victims would be more interesting than seeing these people killed off. They are wrong - replacing potentially good kills with "girl bonding" does not a horror movie make! And, even with some good "table turning" in its final act, the last turn of the table is so ridiculously bad, I was laughing even during the unnecessarily grim final shot.

6) DYING BREED: Getting a little better. This one looks fantastic, and the actors are fairly likeable, at least in the first half. Typical fare of twenty-somethings being chased in the woods by hillbilly cannibals. The first kill is a real shocker, and one of the later ones involving a bear trap is very effective. But, as with PERKINS 14, the stupidity of the characters when the killing starts tanks the film in its final act.

5) VOICES: Asian entry is heavy on both blood and mood. Kim's family and friends keep trying to kill her. Good camera, creepy atmosphere, and perhaps the best score of the 8 films - the weakness here is, after the third or fourth attempt on her life, it becomes achingly predictable - EVERYONE is going to try to kill her, and she's always going to be saved at the last minute by someone we didn't even realize was there.

4) AUTOPSY: Perhaps the most "fun" of the set. This "horror-hospital" fare has five tweens trying to escape a hospital staffed by psychos working for a mad doctor trying to keep his wife alive with live organ transplants. Unflinchingly gory, but in a fun way, this one never takes its ridiculous premise seriously, which is what saves it. The only thing keeping it from the top spot is some very poor editing near the end, and a completely tacked on and nonsensical final shot.

3) THE BROKEN: Lena Headey sees a double of herself driving down the road, and begins questioning her own reality. Mixed fillings about this one. Loved the concept, loved the mood. The atmosphere was effectively creepy and cold. Huge Lena Headey fan. Had some good creep-outs, particularly in the final act. The problem is pacing - at first, the slower pace feeds the atmosphere. But after thirty minutes, you can't help but start checking your watch. By the time things pick up again, you've lost a lot of interest. The characters are never really fleshed out, and while you know WHAT's happening by the end, you never know WHY. Also, the film cheats by skipping a key moment at the beginning to try to have a twist at the end. However, by doing so, it only makes the twist that much more predictable. Still, from a purely production value point of view, it easily stands above the other entries.

2) BUTTERFLY EFFECT 3: Arguably the best film of the set. Very interesting story, top production value and effects, fine acting, solid ending (the only really happy ending in the group). Travelling back in time to try to discover who killed his girlfriend, our protagonist inadvertently turns a single murder into a string of serial murders, and has to try to set things right. The one thing keeping THIS one from the top spot is, aside from some inappropriately gory kills, this movie is not remotely horror.

1) FROM WITHIN: Comes closest to hitting all the targets. Good production, good concept, good acting, good pacing, VERY creepy and chilling, and unlike BUTTERFLY, it IS a horror movie. A town is plagued by apparent suicides, but there is a sinister plot behind them all. I can reluctantly call this the overall best - my only reservations are the glibly stereotypical portrayals (both of the religious, and the pagan characters) and the fact that most of the best scare effects are lifted from other, better movies (GRUDGE, RING, EMILY ROSE, etc . . .)

Let's give a little more credit where due:

BEST SCARE: toss up between a good jump-scare in AUTOPSY, and a very chilling moment involving the father and his double in THE BROKEN.

BEST CRINGE-MOMENT: The clunky hand-drill to the head in AUTOPSY, definitely - though the teeth pulling in SLAUGHTER had me turning away as well.

STAND-OUT ACTORS: can't really say anyone was "best actor," but I liked Melanie Vallejo in DYING BREED, Jessica Lowndes and Robert Patrick in AUTOPSY, and Lucy Holt did well in psycho-mode at the end of SLAUGHTER. But I'd say Jenette Goldstein probably steals the show as psycho nurse in AUTOPSY - love when Emily pushes her to the floor and she screams "YOU GOT ME DIRTY!"

GORIEST MOMENT: Oxygen Tank to the head and face in AUTOPSY, ala IRREVERSIBLE.

BEST OPENING: VOICES had the creepiest opening, though it had nothing to do with anything else - SLAUGHTER had the most intriguing opening - AUTOPSY had the best opening credit sequence.

All-in-all, I had fun watching these movies, but I don't think a single one of these warrants a purchase, and CERTAINLY not the whole set!

Based on all online reviews and user comments, and having watched all of the movies in the After Dark Horrorfest, this is the rundown of all eight films, ranked from best to worst:

1. FROM WITHIN - The only `proper' movie of the bunch - well executed, great cast, great story. Best film.
2. VOICES - Strong Korean horror movie with a great concept. Well delivered and shot.
3. AUTOPSY - Good cheap fun. Director works well within a budget, one for the gore hounds who don't care too much about plot.
4. THE BROKEN - Biggest budget, biggest disappointment. Great director, great cast, zero everything else.
5. SLAUGHTER - Low on gore but good use of tension, a competent thriller.
6. BUTTERFLY EFFECT: REVELATION - follow-up to the dismal second part of the popular franchise, this exceeds low expectations.
7. DYING BREED - Australian outback slasher flick, let down by acting and effects.
8. PERKINS 14 - The one that was based on a fan's idea (which is the most interesting part). Many complaints about the lighting and execution.

As the Horrorfest goes, this is not a bad year, with the best films ranking among the best of the series. Nice to see a few names from previous years return for repeat appearances.

I think Making the Box Sets To the 8 Films To Die For, is a very good idea. For Horror Fans Like Me, Some of Us Like to collect ALL of the 8 Films, Whether We Like Them Or Not. So Im gonna go THrough, and Describe Each Movie, and Label them 1-8 1 Being The Best.

8.The Broken- Out Of All 5 Years, (Including The Originals) This is the Worst One Made. The MOST Boring Movie, ever made. This is one of the few movies, i can actually say i have fell asleep in. Worst Movie.0/5

7.Voices-I Hated This One, If it were american it would have been okay. I Mean, even it were ASian, but they actually spoke english. I HATE Subtitled Movies. There have Been Alot Of Horror Movies, that looked terifying, but they Ruined it with foriegn language.1/5

6.Dying Breed-I Wanted to Love This one so much, but i couldn't Mainly, Due to the characters. All of the Characters, are EXTREMELY Unlikable, and also, it was boring. I Love The Box Art, I Love The Description, but I Hate the actual movie.2/5

5.Slaughter- This is another one, I Really wanted to love it, but i didnt. I Mean, I Didn't Dislike It, It was Okay. I Just Hated The Ending, and it was also kind of boring. 3/5

4.The ButterFly Affect 3- I Liked This One. Not As good as the first, better than the second. Im really Glad That After Dark Got to do the 3rd one. I Reccomend This One. 3.5/5

3.From Within- I REALLY Liked this movie. It is Creepy, Not Boring, and just a fun movie. Deffinatally, One of the Three Highlights from After Dark 3. 4/5

2.Perkins 14-I REALLY REALLY Liked This movie. It has a really Great Story, Fun Throughout, Extremely Bloody, and Violent, Great Horror Movie, All Around. 4.5/5

1. Autopsy-I LOVED this movie. My Favorite One, from Horror Fest III. This One is VERY disturbing, and this should be a role model to all horror movie prodcers, to try to make their movie more graphic than this one. This May Sound Strange, but When i first watched it, i didnt realize how disturbing it actually was. BUT I DO NOWW! This Brings The Whole Set Up From Being a 2 Star, to a three star. It is ashame, that they put a great movie like this, in the same category, as the Broken. Worst Mistake. This movie had the whole Texas Chainsaw Massacre, meets hannibal Lector, Feel. But More Creepier. Cult Classic. 5/5

VERY VERY GOOD IDK Y PEOPLE HATE THESE MOVIES I MEAN 2 AND A HALF STARS!!! UHHHHHH THEY DESERVE A 3 AND A HALF ATLEAST MAYBE EVEN A 4 THERE WAS LIKE NOTHING WRONG WITH THESE MOVIES THE PICTURE WAS FINE IDC BOUT ACTING IT A HORROR MOVIE I MEAN COME ON REALLY BUT IF U A FAN OF THE FEST MOVIES U REALLY SHOULD WATCH THEM DONT LISTEN TO BAD REVIEWS JUST WATCH THEM ALL FOR URSELF....

I bought the first 2 and enjoyed them. They advertize,"This set will scare you to death". They bored me to death. I think there was 1 decent one. They are mostly killer thrillers. There was nothing HORROR about them. It should be HORROR FEST.Get it? Don't just take a bunch of crappy old movies and put them together for the sake of selling them. I am reluctant to buy next year's horror fest. You let us down, big time.

I have been a fan of the Horrorfest films since they first came to theaters three years ago.This year proved to be very disappointing.The only film I did like had subtitles and lacked a credible ending.I suggest that in the future the filmmakers allow the characters the opportunity to have a chance for survival and not have them totally hopeless.I know its a horror movie but if I sense that everyone in the movie is going to be killed,what is the point in watching it.