Welcome to Reviews from the Horror Chamber. I am your chamber keeper, Anthony Thurber. I would love to rant about something but yours truly is currently nursing an ankle sprain, so here are my reviews for this week’s edition.
Crimson
Year: 2008
Director: Richard Poche'
Stars: Erika Smith, Stuart Brazell, Elizabeth Di Prinzio
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Poche Pictures
Running Time: 67 Mins
Review Rating: 4 Stars
Official Website: http://www.crimsonthemovie.com/
Crimson is about a young woman named Sammi (Stuart Brazell), who is on the run from murderous vampire, Rachel (Erika Smith), in the middle of the night,
after she destroyed Rachel’s coven of vampires. She is bruised and left for dead when a group of young female nursing students find her. The group decides to take her back to their sorority house to get medical attention. Soon they discover that their good deed turns into trouble when they find out that Sammi is on the run from Rachel. Rachel is willing to kill everyone in her path to exact her revenge on Sammi.
Crimson is a very dark and well-acted vampire film. I have to give credit to director Richard Poche’ for not this turning this film into a campy T & A fest, which could have easily been. He does that by focusing on directing the action, which was all right and also had a decent amount of gore that wou
ld satisfy vampire fans. But what makes this film good was his direction of the actresses, since this is pretty much an all female cast here. I thought the actresses did a fine job with their performances. Erika Smith is an actress that I’ve pretty much followed back to her first films, Bite Me and The Sexy Adventures of Van Helsing (Both film available from Alternative Cinema) back in 2004. It's amazing that she continues to have these good performances (Sinful being her best film to date). She was very good this time playing the main villain, as she was seductive and sinister here. The film also had some good supporting performances from Stuart Brazell and Elizabeth Di Prinzio, which helped made this film entertaining.
The screenplay from Daniel Chant and Mark Grant was very good,
along with acting. I liked how the writers decided to make the female characters strong, instead of treating them like other female characters that are often seen in low budget horror films. The writers do that by having some of the characters in some sought of personal conflict throughout the film, like being on the run or drug addiction or alcoholism. It helps make the characters strong and makes them conflicted instead of being used for some sort of exploitation. They also do a good job developing the story and the characters that are in it, as it contributed to the film’s success.
Crimson puts the vamp back in vampire with its story and very good acting.
To purchase this film, you can go to: http://www.crimsonthemovie.com/purchase.html. Please also note that the film has been picked up by Passion River for distribution. The film will be out on July 8th.
DVD Extras:
Behind the Scenes
Blood Oath
Year: 2008
Director: David Buchert
Stars: Natalie Hart, Roger Horn, Katie Vaughn
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Albatross Films
Running Time: 78Mins
Review Rating: 4 Stars
Official Website: http://www.albatrossfilm.com/
after she destroyed Rachel’s coven of vampires. She is bruised and left for dead when a group of young female nursing students find her. The group decides to take her back to their sorority house to get medical attention. Soon they discover that their good deed turns into trouble when they find out that Sammi is on the run from Rachel. Rachel is willing to kill everyone in her path to exact her revenge on Sammi.Crimson is a very dark and well-acted vampire film. I have to give credit to director Richard Poche’ for not this turning this film into a campy T & A fest, which could have easily been. He does that by focusing on directing the action, which was all right and also had a decent amount of gore that wou
ld satisfy vampire fans. But what makes this film good was his direction of the actresses, since this is pretty much an all female cast here. I thought the actresses did a fine job with their performances. Erika Smith is an actress that I’ve pretty much followed back to her first films, Bite Me and The Sexy Adventures of Van Helsing (Both film available from Alternative Cinema) back in 2004. It's amazing that she continues to have these good performances (Sinful being her best film to date). She was very good this time playing the main villain, as she was seductive and sinister here. The film also had some good supporting performances from Stuart Brazell and Elizabeth Di Prinzio, which helped made this film entertaining.The screenplay from Daniel Chant and Mark Grant was very good,
along with acting. I liked how the writers decided to make the female characters strong, instead of treating them like other female characters that are often seen in low budget horror films. The writers do that by having some of the characters in some sought of personal conflict throughout the film, like being on the run or drug addiction or alcoholism. It helps make the characters strong and makes them conflicted instead of being used for some sort of exploitation. They also do a good job developing the story and the characters that are in it, as it contributed to the film’s success.Crimson puts the vamp back in vampire with its story and very good acting.
To purchase this film, you can go to: http://www.crimsonthemovie.com/purchase.html. Please also note that the film has been picked up by Passion River for distribution. The film will be out on July 8th.
DVD Extras:
Behind the Scenes
Blood OathYear: 2008
Director: David Buchert
Stars: Natalie Hart, Roger Horn, Katie Vaughn
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Albatross Films
Running Time: 78Mins
Review Rating: 4 Stars
Official Website: http://www.albatrossfilm.com/
Blood Oath is about a couple that is looking to have a healthy child. Th
eir attempts to have one of their own failed. All hopes to have a child failed, until they meet a mysterious woman who offers them an offspring, but for a price. Now, the child is all grown up and roams around the woods, killing anyone who enter it’s home. Soon a group of friends, deicide to spend the weekend to seek out this urban myth by visiting that house. But their weekend of fun goes south, when the offspring starts to terrorize them, as they soon will by preying for their death unless they find a way to kill her. Tina Krause (Witchouse 3: Demon Fire, The Recovered) and Tiffany Shepis (Nightmare Man, Nymph)
There are many slasher films that tend to follow the same formula, with hot scantly- clad babes and over the top gore, but there are a few that try to separate themselves from the typical boring formula film by adding things to it. This is one of them. Blood Oath is a bloody scary slasher film. Director David Buchert direction was good. He does a good job making sure that the shots are down pat, especially with the killing scenes, as they were scary
and the gore was, in your face. It was one of those films that the over the top gore really helped the film, as the scenes were directed very well. It made the film fun and scary. The acting in this film was pretty good. Buchert does a good job directing the actor’s performances, as they came off as characters that are terrified, instead of stupid people that you would find in movies like One Missed Call (aka One and ½ Missed Hours of My Life) and Cruel World (with the world’s most annoying horror villain).
The screenplay written by David M. Smith was very good. His script d
oes a good job in developing this mysterious killer and the people that are in her path. I liked, how the main characters weren’t those cookie-cutter characters that you find in some of the stupidest slasher films. The kill sequences in the film were written very well, as the buildup was good and came out of nowhere at times, which helps the film bring out some tense moments. Smith also does a good job bringing some psychological elements to the film, which helped with the film’s twist, which made the film more enjoyable.
Blood Oath is a very gory horror film that brings out the scares and blood.
eir attempts to have one of their own failed. All hopes to have a child failed, until they meet a mysterious woman who offers them an offspring, but for a price. Now, the child is all grown up and roams around the woods, killing anyone who enter it’s home. Soon a group of friends, deicide to spend the weekend to seek out this urban myth by visiting that house. But their weekend of fun goes south, when the offspring starts to terrorize them, as they soon will by preying for their death unless they find a way to kill her. Tina Krause (Witchouse 3: Demon Fire, The Recovered) and Tiffany Shepis (Nightmare Man, Nymph)There are many slasher films that tend to follow the same formula, with hot scantly- clad babes and over the top gore, but there are a few that try to separate themselves from the typical boring formula film by adding things to it. This is one of them. Blood Oath is a bloody scary slasher film. Director David Buchert direction was good. He does a good job making sure that the shots are down pat, especially with the killing scenes, as they were scary
and the gore was, in your face. It was one of those films that the over the top gore really helped the film, as the scenes were directed very well. It made the film fun and scary. The acting in this film was pretty good. Buchert does a good job directing the actor’s performances, as they came off as characters that are terrified, instead of stupid people that you would find in movies like One Missed Call (aka One and ½ Missed Hours of My Life) and Cruel World (with the world’s most annoying horror villain).The screenplay written by David M. Smith was very good. His script d
oes a good job in developing this mysterious killer and the people that are in her path. I liked, how the main characters weren’t those cookie-cutter characters that you find in some of the stupidest slasher films. The kill sequences in the film were written very well, as the buildup was good and came out of nowhere at times, which helps the film bring out some tense moments. Smith also does a good job bringing some psychological elements to the film, which helped with the film’s twist, which made the film more enjoyable.Blood Oath is a very gory horror film that brings out the scares and blood.
Lights, Camera, DeadYear: 2008
Director: Tim Reaper
Stars: Wes Reid, Amy Lollo, J.C. Lira
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: White Lightning Productions
Running Time: 77 Mins
Review Rating: 3.5 Stars
Official Website: http://www.lightscameradead.com/
Lights, Camera, Dead is about a pair of filmmakers, who are looking to shot their own feature length horror film. The pair of filmmakers encountered many problems, from an awful audition process to shooting the actually film where the cast and crew were disinterested and bitchy with them, to the final editing process. Soon the filmmakers snap, as they gath
er the cast and crew for world premiere of their film at an isolated farmhouse in order to try to finish the rest of their film, by killing the cast and crew that didn’t appreciate their film, in the first place.
Lights, Camera, Dead is the horror genre’s version of “Living In Oblivion”. First time feature director, Tim Reaper does a good job taking a look at what is like to make one of these ultra low budget films in a dark and humorous way. He also does a very good job with the direction of the actors, as there was chemistry with each of the actors, especially with Reid and Lira characters. Their chemistry with each other, is one of the film’s highlights, as everytime they were on screen together, the film was entertaining.
The screenplay written by Tim and Monica Reaper was all right for the most part. One of the main reasons this is a good film was the fact that the dark humor was dead on. One example of this was the first ten minutes of the film when the story was focusing the horrible auditions. They did that because that’s one of the pitfalls of low budget filmmaking. I liked how they also how they told the story in chronological order, which helped the story of the film be interesting. The humor was funny. If there was one major problem with this, it was the fact that none of the deaths felt scary. Maybe, they weren’t trying to achieve as they let the dark humor be the focus, so I won’t speculate any further.
If your looking for scares, then this is not the film for you, but if you are looking for a film with dark humor and a good amount of blood, then you’ll like this film, just like me.
If you’re a filmmaker and interested in having your horror film reviewed in the horror chamber, you can reach the Chamber Keeper himself at horrorchamber@filmarcade.net or if you have any film in any genres that you want Film Arcade to review, send us an email at screeners@filmarcade.net.
Also, don’t forget to add the official myspace home of Reviews From the Horror Chamber at http://www.myspace.com/reviewsfromthehorchamber.
Until next week, have a frightening day.
er the cast and crew for world premiere of their film at an isolated farmhouse in order to try to finish the rest of their film, by killing the cast and crew that didn’t appreciate their film, in the first place.Lights, Camera, Dead is the horror genre’s version of “Living In Oblivion”. First time feature director, Tim Reaper does a good job taking a look at what is like to make one of these ultra low budget films in a dark and humorous way. He also does a very good job with the direction of the actors, as there was chemistry with each of the actors, especially with Reid and Lira characters. Their chemistry with each other, is one of the film’s highlights, as everytime they were on screen together, the film was entertaining.
The screenplay written by Tim and Monica Reaper was all right for the most part. One of the main reasons this is a good film was the fact that the dark humor was dead on. One example of this was the first ten minutes of the film when the story was focusing the horrible auditions. They did that because that’s one of the pitfalls of low budget filmmaking. I liked how they also how they told the story in chronological order, which helped the story of the film be interesting. The humor was funny. If there was one major problem with this, it was the fact that none of the deaths felt scary. Maybe, they weren’t trying to achieve as they let the dark humor be the focus, so I won’t speculate any further.If your looking for scares, then this is not the film for you, but if you are looking for a film with dark humor and a good amount of blood, then you’ll like this film, just like me.
If you’re a filmmaker and interested in having your horror film reviewed in the horror chamber, you can reach the Chamber Keeper himself at horrorchamber@filmarcade.net or if you have any film in any genres that you want Film Arcade to review, send us an email at screeners@filmarcade.net.
Also, don’t forget to add the official myspace home of Reviews From the Horror Chamber at http://www.myspace.com/reviewsfromthehorchamber.
Until next week, have a frightening day.
Good reviews. Have not heard of any of these films.
I saw the film last Saturday. I found the film to be highly entertaining. The humor was dead on, making the movie's dark humor truly funny. And (you are correct) the movie was bloody but not particularly scary.