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3.0 out of 5 stars
One good, two average B-flicks, September 5, 2000
This collection of three late 80s/early 90s films is a pretty good value, so long as one realizes one is purchasing low-budget films. From best to worst, three films in the Horror 3-Pack are:'Dark Harvest,' a film about a group of people on their way to a week of horseback riding in the southwest high desert when they get stranded in the middle of a region ruled by killer scarecrows. The premise sounds goofy, but there are several truly scary moments in this flick. 'Dark Harvest' suffers from a muddled storyline--some films explain too much, this one doesn't explain enough--and the ending makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but it is well filmed, well paced, and mostly well acted. It's also the only film in this collection to have enough of a budget to having been shot on honest-to-god celluloid before being put on VHS tape! 'Dream Stalker' is the story of the ultimate possive boyfriend... not even death stops him from stalking his girlfriend! It is fairly good when compared to other ultra-low budget horror flicks shot on video. The acting is slightly better than average, the camera work is mostly okay, and what effects and make-up it features aren't bad either. The script is well-paced and the characters behave intelligently for the most part... and eventhough there's some clunky dialogue I suspect it would have seemed more acceptable coming from better actors. That said, the film is marred by some of the worst sound work I've seen beyond home videos. In several scenes, the dialogue is drowned out almost completely by background noise. 'Death By Love' is a shot-on-video, direct-to-video, ultra-low budget flick. It's part mystery, part vampire/demon movie. It's unclear exactly *what* the monster is. In fact, it's unclear exactly what the relationship between the film's two main characters are. I can't go into more detail than that without spoiling the film's main story twist, but suffice to say that, like 'Dark Harvest,' this film would have been better served by a little more exposition. It would also have been better with a higher caliber of actors. It would also have been nice to see the detectives featured portrayed just a tiny bit more realistically than what we get. (Actually, the police are a major flaw with the movie's premise. Women have been dissapearing at a rate of what seems to be one a month in the general vicinity of the film's main characters for at least five years. One of the main characters is a high profile sculptor. I found it hard not to believe that the police didn't start looking at him WELL before the events of 'Death By Love.' I suppose, however, that may be a difficulty with vampire films set in the modern day in general, however.) Like I said at the top, this three-pack is a pretty good value. However, it is NOT a boxed set, despite the amazon.com description. The three tapes are in a paper-wrapper, not a box or sleeve. That doesn't really make a difference for me, but it may for some customers, so I thought I'd mention it.
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