I probably won't be around tomorrow as I am going to try and stay off the computer all day so to all my friends and to all the people that may be reading this, Merry Christmas! I truly hope everyone gets what they have been wishing for and I hope you all have a nice and safe holiday. So you are all probably wondering why I am watching a horror movie instead of a movie to get me into the Christmas spirit. I wanted to do a review today so I could wish you all a good Christmas and also because I am waiting for the movie, A Christmas Story to start up which will be running for 24 hours. Over the last couple of years, I turn my TV on and leave it at the channel while I go about and do other things. I have watched it so many times now that I pretty much know what is going on at any given moment in the movie so over the 24 hours I will have watched it completely at least once. I thought I would get a horror movie in before A Christmas Story starts up since I won't be watching much else. This also means that my next post will be #300 which is something I have been looking forward to and I am glad I got to it before the new year. The Path Of Evil (2005) was the movie I watched and as it turns out, it is a sequel to another movie that I have here but didn't know they were connected. Maybe I should watch the original and review it before this one but screw it, I'm already writing.The Path Of Evil follows Jake Barker (Justin Ament) for the most part. Jake used to work for the Sheriff's department but is currently on leave because he had been stabbed "a few times" and also because he seems to have a lot of personal issues, that tend to cause him to drink like there is no tomorrow. Jake's parents were killed by someone 20 some odd years ago. As a little boy at the time, he discovered their bodies and it still haunts him to this day. He often dreams of discovering the bodies and looks at pictures and videos of his parents. To make matters worse, his long time girlfriend Stacey (Carrie Finklea) broke up with him and is now dating Billy (Ryan Deal) the local medical examiner. It seems that the town called Devils Lake had a serial killer, that claimed Jake's parents as part of the body count, and then the murders started up again in 2004. The killer was caught and put in jail. But, if the guilty is in jail, why have the murders started up again? Sheriff John Roberts (Don Alder) is on the case and is trying to solve this new string of murders before it goes public. Jake is also trying to help in order to be trusted by everyone again.
The effects were ok at best. There is some blood here and there with a few bigger effects thrown in. A couple of slit throats. An ear gets cut off and a hand gets chopped off. None of the effects were bad, in fact they looked fairly realistic. I just wasn't overly impressed probably because the movie itself wasn't all that impressive. No one in the acting department was all the impressive either. All did a good job and all, just that no one really stuck out to me. The killer himself looked way to much like a more famous killer. Every review I could find, and there aren't many, brought it up but I will let you see for yourself without telling you.
Even though I have yet to watch the original movie, which was called Harvest Of Fear, I was under the impression you don't have to see it in order to watch The Path Of Evil. Nothing hints that this is a sequel. It never flashes back to the other movie as far as I know. Having now read the description for Harvest Of Fear, it takes place during the second set of killings. The only flashbacks to be found in The Path Of Evil are that of Jake finding his parents and a few small flashbacks of Jake and Stacey when they were a couple. So if you happen to decide to watch this one and not the original (which will be reviewed right after my 300th post), you will be able to follow this movie with no problems.
The Path Of Evil is a mix of a slasher movie and crime drama. You will find a few minor sub-plots going on. Jake and Stacey is one along with a professor and his student looking to write a book about the previous killings. The main problem is the run time. It comes in short of two hours and not a whole lot seems to happen during those two hours. The killings that we get to see aren't too bad as I have noted. There doesn't seem to be any reason for who is picked as the next person to die at the start of the movie but then about mid way through the killer starts to leave notes and picks out the next person for certain reasons. This could account for the twist ending but the twist felt tacked on just so there would be a twist instead of plotted out. I'm actually surprised more people didn't like The Path Of Evil because it holds your hand and leads you through the entire plot about who the killer is. Just about everyone that isn't involved in the case, by that I mean the police, seems to know who the killer is and this person starts to behave more and more crazy as the movie goes on. And guess what? This person does turn out to be the masked killer! Sorry to spoil that for you but it really does not come as any surprise. It does not require any thinking and that is why I found this to me a very dull movie. So, in a couple of days, I will watch Harvest Of Fear and see if it turns out any better than this one did.
2 out of 5 Dumbed down serial killers
1 comment:
Well howdy Miss Heather. First I want to wish you and all your other fans and very Merry Christmas. I also want to apologize for being MIA for so long now. But life has a way of changing my plans at times. This was one of those times. Here's hoping I will not have another such situation anytime soon anyway. I would say period, but that may be too overly optimistic. So I would gladly settle for anytime soon.
On the plus side is I see I have several great reviews to leave comments for. Sadly it does not appear that most of the movies were as great, but as you often note, there is some good in the worst of flicks if you simply look hard enough.
I don't know what to say about this one really maam. Parts of it sounds interesting, and parts do not. But maybe somewhere down the line I will add both to my NF queue and give them a watch.
Of course I am not exactly thrilled that it holds your hand so much, lol. I will never claim to be working for NASA, but neither will I claim to need to be spoon fed either. So I reckon I would have to add that to the negatives. Like you I really enjoy a horror that makes me think a bit. Now I don't want to have to re-invent the theory of relativity or anything, lol. But come on, and challenge me just a bit anyway. Let me exercise the old gray matter some.
Maybe I will just wait until you have been able to review the first in the series and see what you think of it. Then I will decide whether or not to queue them.
But I do hope Mr. Santa was good to you Miss Heather, and that you were not too stuffed when you pushed yourself away from the feast too, lol. But enjoy your break and have a blast whenever you can. Of course, your fans would surely appreciate you making a bit of time for another movie - especially post number 300. Now maam, I will have to admit, I am impressed that you are at that milestone already. So all this fan can say is: (1) keep up the good work please maam, and (2) bring them reviews on, cause your fans sure do luv em (grinning, tips my hat). As you can see, while I might have been MIA for a bit, at least once back, I am still consistent. Hopefully that is worth something anyway, lol.
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