Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Predictable and without suspense---or ending, July 12, 2006
This movie didn't have enough character to be bad. It was merely boring, predictable, and by the numbers. For one thing, it's only called The Graveyard because that's an interesting title; for another, it's set in---get this-----a summer camp. At night. With a killer on the loose. You have horny twenty-somethings, a nude scene---with a woman and not a man nude, by the way---and a shower scene with still more nudity. The characters have no discernable characters, and the only thing that was missing was a hockey mask. It's like the director and writer didn't even put any effort into it all. Oh, yeah, and there was a bunch of running and yelling and a stupid cop and misdirection and....stuff, none of which made much of an impression at all.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
formulaic yet fun... although not quite scary... but gory, July 24, 2006
Truth be told, "The Graveyard" is better than it deserves to be. Keep in mind that I just popped this slasher film in after watching a truly dreadful slasher concoction called "Motor Home Massacre" so keep in mind that I may just be numb.
That said, the film offered a rather shaky introduction... a group of teenagers get together for a "hide and seek" game in... shock of shocks, a graveyard. One of them ends up dead after a prank careens out of control.
Five years later, Bobby is getting out of prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and his friends have a trip to the nearby campground that borders the graveyard as a sort of gathering to mend the past and try to get closure. Of course... someone else has other plans.
This film plays like a typical slasher film... complete with characters doing ridiculously dumb things. for example, one victim when confronted by the killer runs away from the camp where her friends are and that dumb act alone seals her fate. Still, stupidity aside, the characters are dealt a pretty interesting twist about 3/4 through and while the viewer won't be thrown off the scent... it is understandable why the remaining survivors would be.
There is pretty decent gore in this film... although a couple of kills could have been more origional. The shower kill for example was a wasted moment where nudity and gore could have met... but didn't. The acting was oddly decent considering the type of film and the fact that it is direct to DVD release and the story, while nothing to get all Shayamalan about... is fairly ok. Throw in an oddball Sherriff and you have the makings of a slasher flick that could at least provide some cool popcorn chatter during a get together on Halloween. Also, the movie picture is crisp and clear... unlike other direct to DVD entries into this genre. Of course, this little slasher number could have been better... I would opt for a better opener and a different twist on some of the lame kills... but it could have been a whole lot worse too.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Going to the graveyard and we're...gonna get ber-er-er-ied, July 15, 2006
Once upon a time a group of high school campers decided to pull a prank on one of their number in a graveyard when they were playing "run for your life," which is basically hide and go seek for drunken teenagers. The prank worked so well that he ended up dead, which was bad, but at least we understood why this film took all that time introducing the cast by having them go through a hole in an iron gate in supposedly interesting ways. Five years later we learn that despite their collective guilt, only Bobby (Patrick Scott Lewis), the kid behind the mask, was charged, convicted and imprisoned for the death. Bobby gets paroled and Michelle (Lindsay Ballew), takes him back to the place where it all happened so they can be killed by somebody in mask.
Okay, so that is not the real reason that everybody gets together for the first time since the tragedy, but it might as well be. This seems hardly a situation conducive to having a good time, let alone sex, but you know how these splatter flicks go. I have to say my main thought while watching this film was that I miss tan lines. That is because every time one of the young women in this film ends up naked I was struck by their tans. There is something odd about naked women being so tan in scenes shot at night since I tend to associate tanning with sunshine. But I also recall the old days, when women had tan lines and seeing them was something special, especially in the real world where there was an effort to make them go away. After all, this was something a woman did not want you to see, so like all such things, it made it worth seeing. Tan lines are sexy. Totally naked women, not so much.
Despite the ample red herrings, you should know who the killer is and why (actually "why" gives you "who"). We are talking strictly 1980s slasher cinema here, although the cinematography by Hank Baumert Jr. (winner of the Festival Prize for Best Cinematography at the 2003 Hollywood MiniDV Festival for "The Good Book"), is vastly superior to anything from that actual era. Too bad the story and acting are not up to the camera work. There is more gore than nudity, which is how it should be, and the only character who really stands out is the local sheriff (Sam Bologna) who still manages to fall asleep despite finding decapitated heads and an ex-con on parole. I have a rule about only giving splatter flicks only one star, and this film is not that bad and I actually got one good laugh on it (on the line, "Seriously...look under the bed").
My understanding is that "The Graveyard" was originally supposed to be "Bloody Murder 3," a series of camp slasher flicks that got off to a bad start with the original, gave significant signs of hope, and then went back to a lack of imagination for this offering. The common denominator is Camp Placid Pines for what little that is worth (Hey, boys and girls, how many serial killers does it take to close a summer camp?). There is a good horror film to be made in a graveyard, but this 2006 direct to video offering would not be it. So "Pet Sematary" would still be at the head of that small class.
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