Ending The World On A Wimper

While I am waiting to get my day started, Ithought I would at least start on a review. I waiting around in my hotel room in Columbus, Ohio today. I'm here for the HorrorHound Weekend, along with a concert I will go to tomorrow. I've been having fun so far. Yesterday was a bit boring though since there was no screenings or panels I just had to be at. Instead, I stood in lines to get some autographs for myself and some friends. I got myself a Scout Taylor-Compton autograph. I'm very happy about that. The convention itself seems smaller this year. Less to see and do, but they do have a nice guest list. Friday saw four movies screened, and today there will be two. The rest of the reviews for the convention will eventually go up at Top Horror Movies Club over the next few days, so be on the look out for them. After this review for The Collapsed (2011), and the other convention reviews, I will get started on the next series review.

The Collapsed hits the ground running as we meet the Weaver family. The Weavers are trying to get out of the city they are in as the world around them falls apart. Something has caused the "end of the world" and the Weavers are hoping to get to Dover's Bend, where they once lived. Scott (John Fantasia) is trying his best to lead his family, along with his wife Emily (Lise Moule), his son Aaron (Steve Vieira) and his daughter Rebecca (Anna Ross). They eventually find a car they can use, that has a dead child in the back which they get rid of. After driving for some time, they pull into a gas station hoping to steal some gas. They manage to find some food and weapons before Scott sees two men armed with better weapons. He takes his family and runs into the nearby woods, hoping to make it the rest of the way on foot. They soon learn though that other people are the least of their worries.

I liked that writer/director Justin McConnell didn't start the movie by trying to explain what happened with the world. Sure it is a little confusing, but it doesn't take long to pick up on that something bad has happened. This is never fully explained, but we get the general idea of what has caused the world to end by the end of the film. The idea behind the movie is sound, but it was stretched pretty thin for the 82 minute run time. I don't mind slow movies as long as things are kept at least somewhat interesting, which is what The Collapsed didn't really do. Once in a while some strange noises pop up that cause either Scott or Aaron to perk up and point their gun in different directions. The camera, acting like something the characters may or may not see, circles around and zooms in until the gun is pointed at it and it circles around some more. This was a little interesting the first time, but when it happens a few more times, it becomes less so. Deaths when they happen now have less impact since not a whole lot was keeping me interested leading up to them. By the time McConnell gets around to explaining what is going on, many horror fans should already have it figured out. It wasn't the explanation I thought it would be, but it was close enough.

People do get shot in this movie, but there is very little as far as effects go. I guess they weren't really needed for this type of film, but it would have been nice, especially at the end. The acting was pretty good at least. I would have liked to seen more from Lise Moule and Anna Ross though. John Fantasia has the lead role, and does a pretty good job with it. There was a couple of times I didn't really buy into his acting, but this wasn't major enough for me to fully complain about it.

Being the first film of the day, I wanted to really like The Collapsed. If this movie started things off on the right foot, hopefully the rest of the movies would follow. I don't want to discourage anyone from reading my other reviews, but so far only one movie has been interesting for me so far. With two more films to go, hopefully these will do better. The Collapsed wasn't what I would call a bad film even though I didn't like it. McConnell does a nice job with directing and lighting, I didn't find any of the scenes to dark, but the story just couldn't carry for the full length of the film. With this being McConnell's second feature length film, I am curious to see what he comes up with next. Not sure when it will be on DVD, if it isn't already. That is something else lacking at this convention, directors talking about their films. Anyway, if this one does sound interesting to you, give it a look.

2 out of 5 Off to fight my way through the crowds again

Tribute: Chloë Grace Moretz

A couple of months ago I was thinking of doing a tribute post. I haven't done one in a very long time now. It has been even longer since I have done one without help. I was going to do this post last month, which would have worked out better since that is Chloë Grace Moretz's birthday, but I never got around to it. That is the story of my life sometimes, never getting around to things. Anyway, since the movie I watched for review today had Chloë Grace Moretz in it, I figured I might as well do the tribute I had been planning on doing. Makes sense...no?

Chloë Grace Moretz was born on February 10, 1997 in Atlanta, Georgia. Her parents are Terri and McCoy, and she has four older brothers (poor girl). Chloë was a model at first before moving to New York with her mom and oldest brother Trevor. He was accepted into a performing arts school, which is when Chloë began having an interest in acting as well. Her first TV role was aired in 2004. In The Guardian she was in two episodes as Violet. Her first movie role was released in 2005. In Heart Of The Beholder she plays Molly. Chloë first came to the attention of horror fans in the remake of The Amityville Horror, also released in 2005, as Chelsea Lutz. Many consider Chloë's break out role to be Mindy Macready, a.k.a. Hit-Girl, in the film Kick-Ass. Chloë has had no problem getting good roles since then. With such films as Let Me In and Hugo under her belt, I think we will be seeing Chloë in a lot more films to come. According to IMDb, she has seven films that will be released later this year or next year.

I have been a fan of Chloë for a while now, but she was an actress that snuck up on me. I enjoyed her acting in The Amityville Horror, Wicked Little Things and The Eye (2007), but I didn't make the connection it was the same actress right away, even though I reviewed all of those films. It wasn't until Kick-Ass was out, and everyone was talking about how great Chloë was in it, that I started to take notice of Chloë herself. After watching Room 6 that same year, it was then that I started to make the connections with the other movies I had watched her in. The latest film Chloë has been in that I have reviewed would be Let Me In.

I like Chloë Grace Moretz as an actress because no matter how small her role is in a film, I feel like she is still doing her best to bring that character to life. Case in point her character in today's review of Hallowed Ground (2007), which I will get to here shortly. I'm very happy that Chloë has found success outside of the horror genre, but I do hope she doesn't give up on the genre now that she has. She will be in at least one more horror movie, Dark Shadows, which does look more like a comedy instead of horror though. I do wish Chloë the best of luck in the coming years, both in film and her personal life. I hope to see her in many, many films to come.

Hallowed Ground begins back in 1896 in the small farming town of Hope. The town's founding preacher is having a crow problem, and scarecrows just aren't doing it anymore. To take care of this problem, he has talked the towns people into nailing actual people to crosses in the fields so that their screams will scare the crows away. Back in present day, we meet Liz (Jaimie Alexander). She is heading to parts unknown. She isn't really running away from her problems, but is trying to start over. As she gets close to the town of Hope, her car decides it wants to break down. After being told it will take a day or two to fix, Liz heads over to the dinner where she meets Sarah (Hudson Leick), a reporter doing a story about what happened and how things are now in this small town. After giving Liz the history of what happened, Sarah gets Liz to help her out at the farm house where Jonas (Nick Chinlund) is said to have died all those years ago. They soon discover that Jonas may be dead, but he is still around.

Hallowed Ground is one of those movies that throws in a couple of different sub genres into the mix of the plot. It has a little bit of the supernatural with the spirit of Jonas still hanging around. You have the crazy town folks who still believe in the "teachings" of Jonas. And you have a killer scarecrow thrown in for good measure as well. I wasn't real impressed with this one, but I didn't find it real bad either. There was some things about the plot that didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I tried not to let that bother me so I could just enjoy the film itself. I was getting annoyed by everyone in this town calling a tattoo that Liz has a mark. This was supposed to be the way they knew she was the one, won't say the one for what though. Sure it was a tattoo that not many people would probably get, but calling it a mark was stretching it a lot. Not like she was born with it, at least I hope not. Another plot point that didn't make much sense was that we only see Jonas taking over dead bodies or the scarecrow that was a real scarecrow. Never once does he take over a living person, but he seems to think he can be reborn.

Hallowed Ground wasn't as gory as I thought it was going to be, but that is alright. There is a lot of effects that have to do with nails. The one that comes to mind for me wasn't nailing someone hands to wood, although that happens a few times. With nails through the lips and mouth, I thought it was a pretty cool looking effect. Too bad that was the most creative they ever got with it. The scarecrow also looked pretty good, which you can see in the movie poster. The acting wasn't too bad. It was nice seeing Jaimie Alexander in another horror film. I still remember her from Rest Stop. Chloë Grace Moretz isn't in this one a lot. The first time I seen her, I didn't really know it was her. It was just a quick shot of her waving, so I don't feel too bad for not knowing it was her. She shows up again late in the film and has a chance to act for a couple of scenes at least. While I thought she did a great job, some tears would have helped her performance that much more. You can also find Brian McNamara, Ethan Phillips and Ned Vaughn.

Director/writer David Benullo could have done better with the story I thought, but the film itself wasn't too bad. The chase scenes could have been cut down some, but I didn't find them too annoying like I have in other films. Even so, I can't say that Hallowed Ground was slow at all, and I never felt bored with it. There are some scenes that helped make up for the plot not always making sense so I felt after it was over that it was an average film. I wish they didn't use CGI for the crows at times, but I understood why they did for those scenes. I'm glad that I watched it if for no other reason than it had Chloë Grace Moretz in it. Worth a look at least once I think.
3 out of 5 So glad I am a city girl

What The Hell Is Beer Hunting

I forgot to mention in my last post that I did another review over at Top Horror Movies Club. I decided to get out of the house in order to check out the remake of Silent House last weekend. It was nice to get out of the house to watch a movie for once. I would do that more often, but there really isn't a whole lot of films that come out that I feel I just have to see. That includes horror movies, but since I enjoy doing reviews for them, I go ahead and check them out. Anyway, I managed to get one more of the Instant Watch films that was about to be taken off. Only watched two of the six though, so didn't do so well. I decided on The Evil Woods (2007) for no other reason than wanting to know what the Beer Hunter is.

John (Brad Elliot Smith) and his two, yes two, girlfriends are going camping. John knows of a place that is supposed to be a hot spot for parties. As John packs his car, Mindy (Georgia Smith) and Jamie (Matilda Saliasi) sit and wait. When Steve (Dedan Donovan) pulls up, John tries to ignore him. Steve is John's drug dealer, so he doesn't to be rude, but he also doesn't want Steve and Shannon (Ivory Dortch) tagging along either. When Steve assures Shannon is fine with smoking weed, and offers to drive, John gives in. Once at the camp site, they discover they are the only people there, and the place looks pretty trashed. They set up camp and that night a guy shows up. They invite him to have a beer and he tells them that this place was once a big party place. He also tells them about a ranger who once worked in the woods until some college kids set fire to his place. According to the guy, no one is sure if the ranger lived or not, and some say he still in the forest hunting those that liters. Don't know if the story is true, but someone is in a killing mood.

The Evil Woods is one of those low budget films where I could see that at least a little bit of promise, but could also see it was a film I wouldn't completely enjoy at the same time. This was the first time directing for Aaron Harvey, who has gone on to direct Catch .44. It was also the first time for writer Jason Melling. The estimated budget, according to IMDb anyway, was $10,000. Not too bad for a small film. Even though the story, or some form of the story, has been used a lot, I still found it interesting. I'm still not sure if the killer was the ranger or someone else. What I didn't like was mostly the character of John. It wasn't so much that he thinks himself the ladies man, even though I can't stand guys that are like that, but that every other word was a swear word. I don't care if people swear in movies, but when it happens a lot like it does with John, it gets very annoying. Slight spoiler here, so avoid the next sentence if you don't want to know. The only time I liked John was during his death scene since he refused to die quietly.

The editing could have been better in some places. One scene turns out to be a dream, but the way it was edited made it confusing at first. I've noticed some complaining about the women in The Evil Woods. While none of them would likely win a beauty pageant, I didn't find them completely unattractive. Two of the three go topless for one scene. The one I thought was most attractive, Ivory Dortch, was the only one not to get nude. So they aren't the most attractive women out there...so what? I didn't have an issue with it.

The kill scenes was another reason I didn't really care for this one. Maybe they didn't have an effects person but all we get is off screen kills with blood splattering around. Oh wait, there was a severed hand in one scene that didn't really go anywhere with it. The acting was just okay at best. Some actors did better than others. While I didn't care for Brad Elliot Smith, I guess I have to give him some credit for getting the ladies man act down. Or maybe he wasn't acting. Dedan Donovan and Ivory Dortch probably were my favorites for this one.

If it wasn't for some of the really bad films I have watched, The Evil Woods might have been at the bottom at some point. I can't say that I hated this one, but it could have been a whole lot better. At least I learned a new drinking game. I don't know if it is a real drinking game or something that was just made up for the film though. I haven't bothered to look it up to see. Not that I drink beer, but I guess I could always suggest it at parties. Anyway, unless you end up being curious like I was, The Evil Woods would be an easy one to skip.
2 out of 5 Always pick up your trash, especially in the woods

Finding Out What Your Family Is Like

I wasn't planning on watching any films off Instant Watch until my next series review. A few movies I have there will be taken out in a few days though, so I figured since I have a few posts to fill before the series review, I might as well get some of them in at least. Summer's Blood (2009), which became Summer's Moon once it was released to DVD, isn't really a readers request, but it is in a way. That doesn't make sense does it? The neighbor of mine that doesn't know how to watch borrowed movies watched this one and suggested I watch it sometime. I was actually invited over to watch it with them, but I don't recall why I didn't at the time. They seemed to like it so I added it to my Netflix later that day.

Summer Matthews (Ashley Greene) has runaway from home in order to find her father. Having learned that her mother has lied to her about her father, and lied to him as well about Summer, she has decided to pack and leave. We find Summer as she gets a ride to small town of Massey, where she believes her father lives. She doesn't have a name, but does have a picture she hopes someone might be able to point her in the right direction with. Not long after getting into town though, she gets caught stealing some food and makes a break from it. Tom (Peter Mooney) happens to be outside and helps her get away. Summer rewards him by having sex with him, intending to leave the next day. Tom, who lives with his mom Gaia (Barbara Niven), has other ideas.

I was surprised that my neighbor actually enjoyed Summer's Blood. A lot of movies that I really enjoyed, they hated simply because they were too slow. That is how I saw this movie, a slow paced film. It had its moments to be sure, but for the most part it felt like they built the plot around a general idea. Once they had that, it was just a matter of expanding it to become a full length film, which is where I felt Summer's Blood didn't work too well. Starts off with Summer being very feisty, then at the mid way point she became very quiet and let Tom control her and such. I know that can happen in real life, but really it wasn't working for me. Maybe it was the opening scene with Summer hitching and the guy ending up being a bit of a perv. It felt very cliche to me. I liked that Summer never completely gave up, but at the same time, there were plenty of times she could have gotten away and didn't try. Things got a little more interesting once Stephen McHattie shows up, but even then I still felt bored with it. As many have pointed out, the ending left a lot to be desired as well.

The kills take place off camera, but there is still some blood to be found. The biggest one is when someone gets shot. Big blood splatter on that one. It didn't make a lot of sense though since I feel it was possible for the person getting the blood might have also gotten the bullet. Bullets tend to go on through a head, more so when they come from a rifle, which it did since the person got hit by a lot of blood. I guess that is my forensics training kicking in though. The acting was okay. I wasn't real impressed with Ashley Greene, but I feel that may have had more to do with her character, and not so much her acting. Peter Mooney does a good job of being weird without over selling it. Stephen McHattie was the best actor to me in this one.

There is sort of a sub plot that runs through most of the movie of a guy looking for his daughter. You can probably guess where the daughter is, as I did, before they ever showed her. It might as well not be there since it doesn't help move the main plot along at all. It does help Summer try and escape, so I guess there is that, but director Lee Demarbre probably could have found different ways to do that. I wasn't really bored with Summer's Blood, but I wasn't into it either. Some people seem to really like this one though, people besides my neighbor that is. I can't get myself to call it a bad film. It just wasn't for me I guess. If it sounds interesting to you then I say give it a shot. Just because I didn't care for it doesn't mean you will feel the same after all.
2 out of 5 Don't see how either title fits this movie

Never Play In The Corn Fields

Last time I was at the HorrorHound Weekend, there was a few people trying to sell their books there. This is pretty common there, and in truth, I'm glad to see them there. I don't usually buy anything from them though. Not that I don't like to read, I do, but I'm trying not to spend too much money while there and saving what I do have for possible autographs. Last time was different though. Michael West was set up outside one of the main rooms, making it easier to check out his table, and one of the covers caught my eye. I had never read anything by Michael West. I can't say that I had ever heard of him in fact. After waiting my turn, I told him that I had never read his books and asked if he could tell me what each one was about. While they all sounded good, The Wide Game was calling to me for some reason. I'm sure glad I listened.

Paul Rice is back in his home town of Harmony, Indiana. It is time for his 10th year high school reunion, and he is very nervous about being there for it. He is married and recently had his second child. While things could be better for him, he does seem happy...for the most part anyway. Paul isn't nervous about being at the reunion for the obvious reasons, like seeing his high school sweetheart once again. Some bad things went down while Paul was still a senior in high school. Things that still haunt him to this day, and he is about to find out that The Wide Game isn't done with him just yet.

I never learned why the game is called The Wide Game. I guess it doesn't matter where the name came from, but I admit I was curious. The above description of the plot is a little misleading. That is what is says on the back of the book, just in my own words. That plot point, about the reunion, actually bookends the main story. It starts with Paul showing up at his old home, where his mom still lives, and getting ready for the reunion. While he is doing that, the story slowly becomes what happened to Paul his senior year. After that story is told, it goes back to present day to finish. I liked how this was done. At first it almost like a flashback before it jumps fully into the past. One book that The Wide Game sort of reminded me of was It. Same concept, in a way, of people finding out what happened to them in the past isn't over just yet. The big difference is that The Wide Game pretty much tells its back story all at one time. It, on the other hand, kept jumping back and forth, which made it very confusing for me at times. Since it was the same characters in the past and present, it was sometimes hard to figure out where I was in the time stream. The Wide Game doesn't have that problem at all. West makes sure you know when he is taking you fully into what happened in the past.

I was worried though as I was nearing the end of the book. The story about the game takes up the majority of the book, so I was worried there wouldn't be much of a story to tell once it turned back to the present day. Once I did finish the book, I can say that I was happy with the way it ended. Maybe West could have spent a little more time on the present day, but I can't complain too much about it as it is.

Even though the story has been done before, with kids going into a corn field with something bad waiting for them there, I still enjoyed the hell out of it. The strength for The Wide Game is the characters. Paul may very well be the main character of the book, but West doesn't skimp on character development for the supporting characters. Like one of the characters didn't know that ducks could fly. This was a little detail but one that stood out to me. Things like that is what made the story more fun to read, and got me more invested in the characters.

Maybe part of the appeal for me was the love story between Paul and Deidra, Paul's high school sweetheart and first love. I could be wrong about this, but it really felt like that part of the story comes from a personal place for Micheal West. It was a strong part of the story and felt very real. I was a little surprised how the fate for some of the character turned out. I kept wondering how things would play out for Paul and Deidra mostly though. I was able to see some of it, but was surprised by the ending.

The Wide Game isn't a perfect story, but it gets close. I couldn't wait to start writing a review for it even before I reached the half way point. The Wide Game pulled me in and didn't let go. I finished the book here at home when I just had a few pages to go. I read the rest of the book at work, and I hated to have to put it down in order to go back to work. I never did it, but I found myself trying to go back to reading instead of working. I want other people to read this book, but at the same time I don't want to lone it out since it was signed by Michael West. If you can find it, then get it. Order it if you have to! I don't say this often about books, but I have to with The Wide Game, it is the best book I have read in a long time. That my friends is no shit.
4 out of 5 I would love to see this as a movie

Making Paper Dolls

I was going to try and get two reviews in over the weekend, but I didn't do that. I started a review over at Top Horror Movies Club Saturday morning. I got roughly half way through it and had to step away from it to get other things done. After that though, I just didn't feel like writing. I didn't pick it up again until late Sunday, but I did get through it. Head on over to read my review of YellowBrickRoad, if you dare that is! For here I started a movie called The Possessed, but within the first few minutes, I realize I was watching Witchouse. Feeling a little confused, I looked it up and discovered that The Possessed was three Full Moon full length films edited down to shorts. Since I had already watched one of those films, and Stitches (2001) was next in my stack, I gave up on The Possessed and put Stitches in instead.

A demon takes some skin and becomes Mrs. Albright (Elizabeth Ince). She shows up at a boading house run by Mrs. Grove (Linda Bryant). Currently staying there the married couple of Robert (Alex Peabody) and Ellen (Debra Mayer), Miss Lester (Kaycee Shank), Sam (Robert Donavan), Will (Marc Newburger) and Kathryn (Maggie Rose Fleck), who is Mrs. Grove's niece and maid. We soon learn that Mrs. Albright likes to make paper dolls, which she can somehow attach human souls to. Using an imp to spy on everyone, Mrs. Albright sets about her mission, to get every ones soul in the house.

Stitches was a movie I wanted to like, but couldn't get myself to really do that. It isn't the first movie to deal with a demon collecting souls, but it still had some charm to it. The story takes place in the 1920's, so it is a period film. I didn't think too much about it while watching the movie, but they do a good job making the house feel like a house from back then. The whole paper doll thing was kind of lame to me. The only time I have ever seen paper dolls is for like a fashion thing when I was a little kid. I thought they were pretty stupid even then. The demon was using any flimsy excuse to get a person's soul. As long as they agreed to give whatever she asked for, they were screwed. I kept waiting for her to ask if they wanted something to eat and then ask will you give me anything I ask for in return? Sometimes writer/director Benjamin Carr got creative with the way the demon would gain the souls, so there is that at least.

The biggest problem is really the special effects. I'm sure they did the best they good given the budget and what was needed to show a real face on the paper doll. Even so, it doesn't look all that great. It was hard to see which character was which once they became a paper doll. The face was too small which made it hard to see which person it was supposed to be. While it was funny to see the paper dolls actually doing things, it also didn't work out too well. Some people make fun of the acting, but I didn't feel it was real bad. They all could have been better, that is for sure. I liked Elizabeth Ince the best and Robert Donavan also puts in a good performance.

During one part of the movie there is an almost nudity scene. Kaycee Shank gets partly undressed, but nothing is ever shown. Carr says in the commentary, which I was surprised to find since Full Moon movies are usually just the movie on the DVD, says that while he had nudity in the script, he passed on it in order to work with better actors. I had to laugh at that a little bit. I mean it is cool that he gave that up for someone he thought would be a better actor for the part, but at the same time he must realize that guys will forgive bad acting if the actress shows her breasts. Ask any dumb blond, they will tell you if they can figure out what you are asking.

I can't say that I hated Stitches, but I can't claim it to be a so bad it is good movie either. It had some moments that worked, but how silly it could be actually hurt it in places. Not a bad idea for a movie if it could have been done better I think. I'm at least glad I didn't watch a heavily edited version in The Possessed. If you have a thing for bad movies, maybe it will be worth checking out. You won't be missing a whole lot if you decide to give Stitches a pass though.
2 out of 5 Hoping this is my last Full Moon movie for a little while

Totems Aren't Made Of Stone

I've been on a role of late. I don't know what has gotten into me, but I have been knocking out reviews the same day I start then. I'm glad that I am getting back into them though. I started off this month by getting another review done for Top Horror Movies Club. I finally got around to watching Rubber, so check it out if you would like to see what I thought of it. Right now I'm working on getting a couple of interviews going again. I'm also nearing post 950, so I took some time yesterday to figure out how to plan that out. I'm nine away after this review, so it will be a little ways to go yet. Anyway, since I have had my Netflix movies here for a while, I decided to take the next one off the pile which happens to be Totem (1999).

Alma (Marissa Tait) find a cabin in the woods and goes on in. She finds there five other people who don't know each other, but appear to be waiting for her. There is Paul (Jason Faunt), Leonard (Eric W. Edwards), Roz (Sacha Spencer), Robert (Tyler Anderson) and Tina (Alicia Lagano). All of them was going about their day when suddenly they felt a compulsion to drop everything and go to this cabin. They aren't sure why they are there, but they have discovered that there is some sort of force field that keeps them in the area. Alma discovers a cemetery that has a strange totem in it. Before long one of their little group is found dead. Or maybe she isn't since she still mumbles information to the others. According to her a ritual is taking place to bring back some demons that once came close to ruling the earth. There must be three victims and three killers. Will they figure out how to break the ritual in time?

According to Netflix, Totem has a run time of 80 minutes. When the movie ended more or less right at the 60 minute mark, I was a little surprised to say the least. Not that I was really disappointed though. Totem was directed by David DeCoteau and was released by Full Moon Pictures. In fact, Charles Brand is credited with the story, and Benjamin Carr with the writing credit. The story itself starts off okay, but it quickly goes down hill. The totem itself looks to be made of stone, which they even admit in the story that totems are usually made from wood. The totem looks more like a book shelf then anything else with the demons on shelves. With each kill, one of them will come to life. Now considering that these things can control people, they did make six people show up after all, you would think it would be easy for them to get these people to kill each other. I guess I was expecting to see a battle round each time, but that wasn't the case. Certainly would have made the movie more interesting though.

One of the guys is supposed to be an Indian, even though he doesn't look like one and has an accent that makes him sound like someone from overseas somewhere. The first dead woman that can still mumble apparently speaks in some Indian language that he can understand. Even though it sounded like the same thing mumbled each time, he was coming up with all kinds of things she was saying. Then out of nowhere is film footage from the film The Vikings (1958) superimposed over some flames that is supposed to help give some back story to the demons. This was apparently supposed to be a dream sequence.

There isn't much to be found for gore effects. Some blood is found, but very little. Glass or something like that is sticking out of one guys neck, but it doesn't look very real. The main effects go to the demons, which you can see partly in the movie poster. The demons appeared to be puppets that were either the hand type or controlled by strings. The camera usually didn't show them much, which was a good thing since they don't look all that great. Lot of people had problems with the acting. Maybe because I was partly zoned out for this one, I didn't notice it as much. I didn't really have much of a problem with the acting since I was busy making fun of other things about this one.

Totem was a movie that came close to being "so bad it's good," but it does miss the mark. I had a chuckle with the way the puppets looked and how they were being controlled. I don't really want to say that people phoned this one in, but you get that sense. I know it was most likely a very low budget film, but I would hope they could still have found a way to make these things a little more convincing than they looked. If you are curious about Totem then check it out. With it only being an hour long, it isn't like you will be wasting too much time on it. If you decide it isn't for you though, then good call. I can't suggest this one. The only reason I'm not giving it my lowest rating is because I at least had a little fun with it.
2 out of 5 Romance saves the day. Who came up with this rule?