Reviews From the Horror Chamber-- J-ok'el: The Curse of the Weeping Woman, The Eye of Menw

Welcome to Reviews from the Horror Chamber. I am your chamber keeper, Anthony Thurber. Well I've found out some great news today as I was working on the Film Arcade myspace page when I came across a blog posting from Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman that you and especially Troma fans that have been waiting for. Yes I'm talking about the DVD release of Kaufman's latest film Polutrygeist. The film will street on October 28th. Now this is where you come in. Also in that blog post, he is looking for your help. He wants you to run to your video store and demand that Poultrygeist be stocked at your store. Please, if you are a true fan of horror, help Lloyd Kaufman get his film picked up by contacting your video store and demanding that you want Polutrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

Also today , I received news from a myspace bulletin that Skinned Alive (aka. Eat Your Heart Out) will be having it's final theatrical run before hitting DVD on August 26th. The screenings will take place at the 941 Theater in Philadelphia. The film starts playing there, this Saturday and will run until July 11th for more information on times, you can visit the 941 theater website at http://941theater.blogspot.com/. So check the film out, of you are in the Philadelphia area

Also, yours truly is starting a new interview column on Film Arcade called 10 Questions. Also note that I have the right to add more questions, if I feel like it. This will be my interview column, which I will be interviewing filmmakers and actor mostly on their projects and themselves too. So keep a watch out for it. Now on to the reviews.



The Curse of the Weeping Woman: J-ok’el
Year: 2008
Director: Benjamin Williams
Stars: Tom Parker, Ana Patricia Rojo, Dee Wallace
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Maverick Home Entertainment
Running Time: 88 Mins
Review Rating: Zero Stars



The Curse of the Weeping Woman: J-ok’el is about a young American (Tom Parker) who comes back to Mexico to see his estranged mother (Dee Wallace) when his half-sister is mysteriously abducted. He soon finds out from one of the locals that a local legend known, as J-ok’el might be responsible for the abduction. This makes him more eager to find her before the legend claims another victim.

The Curse of the Weeping Woman: J-ok’el is a very dull film that gives a new meaning to the word “boring”. This film felt like a film that should have been played on the Lifetime channel. Director Benjamin Williams’s direction felt lifeless, as it felt like the air was coming out of my room when watching the film. Instead of putting any life into the film, he probably just sat back and just directed the most tedious scenes that you will ever see in a film. Williams’ direction of the actors weren’t much better. The acting in the film was horrible also. The cast. including Dee Wallace. was probably wondering why they even signed up for this film. They looked like that they were uninterested in the material. It also didn’t help that the actors didn’t put any effort to their characters, as they were lifeless throughout the film. The score for the film didn’t help it either, as it was so unenergetic to the point that I wanted to fall asleep.

The story, which was created by Williams and the screenplay written by Jeremy Svenson, Peter Theis, Andy Whitaker, and Alondra Salinas, was just as horrible as the direction and the acting. The screenplay was dull and it felt like there was no action happening, as I thought that I was supposed to be seeing ghost movie not a Lifetime film. The dialogue the writers wrote felt dull and tedious. But the main reason why the screenplay was a complete and utter failure was the fact that it had no scares whatsoever and the action was predictable. It was to the point where I was thinking to myself: when is this film going to be over. Thankfully, this review is just about over.

The Curse of the Weeping Woman: J-ok’el is nothing but a film that will drain your will to live, while your crying for your money back.

The Eye Of Menw
Year: 2008
Director: Charles A Christian III
Stars: Giovanna Galdi, Daniela Galdi, Anthony McFadden
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Back 2 Ninety 9 Productions
Running Time: 27 Mins
Review Rating: 3.5 Stars




The Eye of Menw is a short horror film about a young woman, who is currently in a successful relationship with her boyfriend. She comes home one day to find a mysterious box sitting on her kitchen table. She opens it up to find a skull. It’s not an ordinary skull, but one that holds the power to see the future. She decides to look into the eyes of the skull to see her future. During this, something terrifying is released. Now that mysterious entity is out to play games with her, as she begins to lose her mind, is this really happening or is it something in her head?

The Eye of Menw is very dark and gothic horror film. Director Charles A Christian III direction was very good. I liked how he used the digital video format in which he shot the film and then took the color out and made this a black and white film. It was perfect for this type of film because the black and white picture does a good job in making the atmosphere of the film dark. He relies on using old school horror methods to drum up the darkness that is needed for the film. Christian also did a great job directing his lead actress Giovanna Galdi. I thought, her performance, in this film was the key to the film’s success. She did a great job playing this frightening character that’s being tormented by this violent spirit. She also did a great job in keeping my interest in the film, as she was on screen by herself for most of the film. It is a very hard to keep the viewer’s interest by just having one character on screen, but you need charisma from the actor or actress, to keep the viewer interested in these types of films and she kept my interest throughout.

The screenplay written by Christian III and Andrew R. Berchick was good. The development of the story was good. They did a very good job creating the lead character, as they made her strong, while being frightened for her life. The writers focused more on atmosphere, like they used back in the old days of horror films. It was very effective for the film’s story. They also did a great job making the atmosphere, very dark and creepy. It allowed the writers to build some suspense to the story, as the mysterious presence haunts the main character.

The Eye of Menw will make you think twice before you look into the eyes of a skeleton.

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.

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Next week, You’ll finally get hear my thought on Funny Games and I’ll review one of Brett Piper's early films Drainiac, which was released in a remastered edition, last week from Shock-O-Rama Cinema. Until then, have a frightening day.