Reviews From the Horror Chamber -- "Trapped Ashes", "Knock, Knock"

Welcome to Reviews from the Horror Chamber, I am your chamberkeeper, Anthony Thurber. You may have been wondering why I didn’t have an edition last week. Well, I’ve been pretty busy here on filmarcade.net with all the interviewing and the movies that have been sitting on my self at home. So that’s why you haven’t seen a new column as of lately. Also I’m changing a couple of things with this column. First, this column will be bi-weekly from now on. I’m doing that so I can devote more time to reviewing other films beside horror and interviewing people in my weekly column called 10 Questions. Also, the column is going to shift to mostly review horror films that are either festival or direct to DVD releases. Don’t worry I’ll still cover other big screen horror films like “Mirrors” and “Quarantine” as I want to focus more on the indies. Well with that said, now on to the reviews.

Trapped Ashes
Year: 2008
Directors: Joe Dante, Sean Cunningham, Ken Russell, John Gaeta, Monte Hellman
Stars: Lara Harris, Jon Saxon, Henry Gibbons
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Running Time: 104 Mins
Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/trappedashesthemovie

Trapped Ashes is a horror anthology is about six strangers that take a Hollywood studio tour. They decide to take a tour of the haunted house there. Soon, the group along with their tour guide is trapped inside the house. In order to get out of the house they must tell their most horrifying stories, in order to leave the house.

Tapped Ashes is “Tales of the Crypt” meets the old Showtime series “The Hunger” (not to be confused with the movie directed by Tony Scott). It may not be the greatest anthology out there, but it does enough to get somewhat of a favorable review from me. The film has five segments to it, so I reviewed each by segments.

The Girl with the Golden Breast was a good start to this anthology. Director Ken Russel does a good job directing this segment. I liked how, he directed the surgery scene, as it was grossest scene in the film. He also makes the images bizarre and erotic at the same time. His direction of the actors was good, as they did a good job with the material. Writer Daniel Bartok screenplay was mostly good. He goes a good job taking shots at Hollywood and the way casting directors view people on the basis of their looks. Also, he’s able to keep your attention with this story, by adding weird elements that make you want to stop and watch. The Phoebe character was developed very well. He makes the character so obsessed with being a star that she was willing to do anything to be one. He also adds some personality to the character, so the character isn’t a totally one-dimensional. Overall, this was a good start to the film.

The next segment was Sean S Cunningham’s Jibaku. This is the first film that Sean S Cunningham has directed since Terminal Invasion starring Bruce Campbell back in 2002. This one I enjoyed a lot. Cunningham does a very job blending live-action and Japanese anime. It helps the story have a dark and demonic tone to it. Also, he did a very good job with the erotic scenes, as it helped made this segment creepy. The acting in this one was also very good. I liked the fact that both actors Lara Harris and Scott Lowell did a pretty job establishing their relationship with each other. Bartok’s screenplay was very good here. He develops, the relationship between Harris and Lowell characters through this story. Also, the eroticism was very good here as I could not get my eyes off of.

The third film in this anthology is Stanley’ Girlfriend directed by Monte Hellman. This is the weakest film of the bunch. Why did Bartok allow this to be included in this film, is beyond me. This film didn’t feel like a horror film, as it felt like a boring melodrama. Hellman’s direction was very dry and bleak. He doesn’t bring any of his personality into his direction. The acting weren’t good either. The actors seemed disinterested and mumbled their lines at times. The screenplay wasn’t good at all. I thought, Bartok really got lost here, as this disrupted the film’s rhythm in a big way. He didn’t have any eroticism or create any interesting characters. I didn’t care for anything in this story, as the characters were bland and pace was very slow. Also there was nothing to be horrified about. I was saying to myself at times that this is supposed to be a horror movie. not a boring drama that sucks the life out of you. Enough with this crappy segment, as I have a couple more to cover here.

The fourth and final film in Trapped Ashes is “My Twin the Worm” directed by John Gaeta. This film was good enough to save this film, after having to endure the previous one. I liked how the film had cool special effects, which created the horrifying images of the pregnancy. His direction was good. I liked how Gaeta moves the action along, and allow the characters to be developed. The acting here was much better than in the previous film. I liked how the actors do a good job with their characters, as the performances help contribute to the segments success. Barton also did a good job developing the Natalie character, as we got to know the character and helped explained why she comes off as this Gothic type character.

The film also has a wrap around story called Hysteria House, which was directed by Joe Dante. I was really hoping for something better than this from him but still he does a good job directing these wrap-around segments. He also does a good job directing Henry Gibson, as he comes off as this creepy character. Even though, the performance was good, it helped gave me an idea to the ending of the film, before it ended. Still this did serve it’s purpose.

Overall, Trapped Ashes is the not greatest anthology film ever made, but the film does enough to keep your interest.

Review Rating: 3 Stars

Knock, Knock
Year: 2008
Director: Joseph Ariola
Stars: Kim Taggart, Antonio Mastrantonio, Sal Sirchia
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Studio: Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Running Time: 90 Mins
Official Website: http://www.knockknockfilm.com/


Knock, Knock is about a kid that was burned inside a funeral home when a bunch of high-school players accidentally set the fire, Now years later, he’s back to exact his revenge on those people, who left him there to die, but in a different way, by killing their kids. Now, the only people that can stop him is a beautiful detective and an retired drunk cop, as Rico is out to make those people who left him for dead, suffer.

Knock, Knock is an intense and scary film. The film kind of reminded me of those slasher films of the 80’s with the blood and hot women. Joseph Ariola direction was very good. I liked how the film was intense and frightening from the get go. He does that by making sure that the camera-work in the film was fast paced, where you only get a specific image for a second. It helped make the action quick and the images disturbing and graphic. Ariola’s direction of the actors was good for the most part, even though at times the acting felt a little cheesy, but wasn’t a major problem for me.

The film’s strongest point was it’s screenplay, which was also written by Ariola. I liked how he focuses on the murders and the investigation, instead of focusing on the victims and their lives which most of these films do. It helps make this film not feel like a slasher film at times but more like one of those serial killer films. What I really liked about how Ariola approached this film was the fact that he made the film scary at the same time. The scares were very effective, as it keeps you on the edge. It also made his story interesting and the twists work. The character development was good for the most part, as he does a good job going into the detectives and the creepy janitor characters, as they were interesting.

Knock, Knock is a frightening film that will make think about answering the door.

Review Rating: 3.5 Stars

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 check my review of “Wicked Lake” at: http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/07/wicked-lake-review-written-by-anthony.html. And my interviews with Michael Raso at: http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/07/10-questions-with-michael-raso-part-one.html and http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/07/10-questions-with-michael-raso-part-two.html and Hal Masonberg at: http://www.filmarcade.net/2008/07/10-questions-with-hal-masonberg.html

Until the next edition of Reviews From the Horror Chamber, have a frightening day.