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Reviews
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
BOOK OF SHADOWS doesn't fail for lack of ambition...
BOOK OF SHADOWS doesn't fail for lack of ambition. The idea, as
most anyone who has taken an interest in the sequel knows by
now, was not to follow up the first film's events but treat that
movie as a movie, and explore its effects on a group of
devotees. To wit, five young people with varying degrees of
interest in BLAIR WITCH and its mythology camp out near what is
supposedly the remains of the Rustin Parr house. They black out
for part of the night, awakening the next morning to find their
equipment trashed; they then repair to the converted warehouse
one owns, where they start scanning through a bunch of
videotapes they've shot for clues. Strange things appear on the
video images, and soon before the characters' eyes, and paranoia
begins to seize the group. The questions soon become: Has a
witchy presence followed them back, or has their own Blair
Witch-mania taken over their psyches? And how much of what we
the audience are watching can we trust as real? Intriguing questions, but their effect is undercut by a number
of factors. For one, the characters, as both written and
performed, don't engender sufficient sympathy to get us caught
up in their plight. Secondly, in a major miscalculation, the
film is littered with flash-forwards to a redneck sheriff
(overacted by Lanny Flaherty) interrogating the survivors, which
not only lets us know who makes it through the night but also
too clearly signposts the story's resolution. And despite his
provocative overall theme, Berlinger stumbles with the horrific
details, reaching into a grab bag of stock terror tropes like
evil kids, shock cuts of graphic gore and flashbacks to the
group's leader (Jeffrey Donovan) thrashing a
Beowulf (1999)
Tried to give this movie a chance...
I tried to give this movie a chance, I really did, because the
movie's concept did have possibilities. Unfortunately, director
Graham (THE FINAL CONFLICT) Baker has as much skill in creating
suspense and terror as Lambert does in speaking intelligible
English. In addition, the complexities that are needed to make Beowulf
into an interesting antihero are beyond the actor's limited
acting range, which renders the secret reasons why Beowulf
really showed up at the castle ultimately ineffective. Also, the
film seems to have been cut in places (no surprise from
scissor-happy Dimension); it is often inappropriately paced or
appears to be missing a linking scene or two. But that may be a
blessing in disguise, as I'm not really looking forward to a
possible DVD Director's Cut with 20 minutes of extra footage.
So once again Lambert has let me down, but I will not lambast
him too harshly. He has made worse films than this harmless
mess. And even though the monsters may be silly and CGI-looking,
they at least distract you from Lambert for a while-but
unfortunately, n
Sleepy Hollow High (2000)
Generic slasher story with ambitious character conflict...
SLEEPY HOLLOW HIGH offers further proof that DVD, against the odds, has become the great equalizer; even a homegrown project like this can now receive the deluxe disc treatment. The opportunistically titled film wasn't shot anywhere near Sleepy Hollow (try Maryland), and while it's mostly a generic slasher story (with a copout of an ending), it's a little more ambitious than some in terms of character conflict. The fullscreen transfer of this 16mm production is good enough, with a crisp if sporadically grainy picture and sharp Dolby Digital mono sound, and is accompanied by a wealth of extras: `The Curse of Sleepy Hollow,' a fitfully amusing spoof of all those BLAIR WITCH offshoots; `Deleted Scenes' (mostly alternate takes and outtakes); a making-of short; a music video that looks like it was thrown together in an afternoon; and spirited commentary by the filmmakers who recall the challenges and ingenuity involved in their low-budget shoot.
Bloody Murder (2000)
Disappointment...
Generally, one listens to an audio commentary for insight into how a work of quality or other interest was created; but in the case of Artisan's BLOODY MURDER DVD, the only real promise of director Ralph Portillo's talk was to hear why he felt the world needed another third-rate FRIDAY THE 13TH ripoff (right down to the killer's Jasonish garb and a Crazy Ralph-like character). Sadly, this question is never broached; instead, Portillo interrupts the `action' only sporadically to discuss which of three different camp locations a particular scene was shot in, or to give his cast somewhat more praise than they earn. Even the odd amusing anecdote (fearless forest critters kept intruding in the shots) leads to disappointment (why weren't these outtakes added as supplements?). The fullscreen transfer is fine, occasionally soft or grainy but always stable and colorful, with strong Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo.
Voodoo Academy (2000)
DVD explains more...
VOODOO's dvd has a full 23 minutes of additional footage, much of it involving the hunky young cast getting hot and bothered with themselves under the thrall of a priest and his female partner aiming to steal the boys' souls at a Bible school. On his engaging commentary, DeCoteau notes that he intentionally pushed the boundaries with the film's homoerotic material (which he says was also very popular with the women at the film lab), discusses the process of shooting the movie in only four days and notes problems he had with the film stock, which are reflected in the grainy though generally sharp fullscreen transfer.
Other extras include a production audio track on which DeCoteau can be heard directing his cast (`More hands all over your body!'), behind-the-scenes footage and 37 minutes of DeCoteau trailers, also with commentary that's full of Fun Facts, such as the various standing sets (BEOWULF, HIGHLANDER: ENDGAME, etc.) the director has reused in past films.
Lucinda's Spell (1998)
Worth checking out...
Fulton looks like she was enjoying herself while shooting this movie, and that is undoubtedly due to the fact that (according to the making-of featurette on the DVD) the role of Lucinda was written especially for her. It hardly seems like work, but she really earns her money when Lucinda dresses up and assumes the identity of her customers' fantasies. I was shocked, and you will be too. Jacobs plays Jason like a punk rock star, with bleached blonde hair and a (real?) Scottish accent right out of TRAINSPOTTING. During his scenes, my finger never left the rewind button because I couldn't catch what he was saying the first time. Thank GoodnessDVDs don't wear out.
This is not really a horror movie; it's more like a black comedy that deals with Wicca/paganism and is peppered heavily with sex and sexual innuendo. Usually I can do without sex in a movie, because most of the time it's gratuitous and exploitative of women. I am very happy to report that the ladies of LUCINDA'S SPELL and the guys both appear in various stages of undress. Most aspects of this movie work; even though there are some loose ends and unanswered questions (for instance, why doesn't Jason just stay in Scotland to couple? Aren't there any witches there?), I still enjoyed it. I recommend LUCINDA'S SPELL to anyone interested in the occult and on the lookout for a movie that is fresh and different.