AfterDark Horrorfest

I ended up renting every film in the AfterDark Horrorfest series, and surprisingly enough I wasn’t all that disappointed in what I ended up seeing. Sure, they were pretty much direct to video, but each had good qualities. That may sounds like trying to hook someone up on a blind date with someone with a “great personality” but really, these each had bits that I liked, even though there were some I liked way more than others. I’ll talk about them here in the order of least to most liked.

Penny Dreadful – A young woman suffers from an extreme phobia. She cannot ride in a car because when she was younger she was involved in a horrible accident. Now her therapist thinks it would be a good idea to drive her in her car into the mountains to help her get over her fear. Of course the therapist picks up a stranger, and naturally, blood and gore happen. There isn’t much redeeming here at all – the acting, the effects, the whole plot. Nothing.

Wicked Little Things – A widow and her two daughters return to her husband’s old family home place out in mining country only to find out it is haunted by some very pissed off zombie children. Not much scary here just a lot of gore. The acting was sub-par.

The Hamiltons – This ended up being better than I expected. A young kid is full of angst about his family, troubled with how they behave. They murder, move a lot, chain young girls up in the basement. The acting was pretty sub par but the story ended up being pretty decent.

Unrest – A young woman starts her first weeks in medical school and right off she has issues with her cadaver for anatomy class. Is it her imagination? Is it real? Why are her classmates going crazy or turning up dead? I liked this one quite a bit, at least until it got all weird “ghosty” at the end. Otherwise, the creep factor was high and the acting was decent.

Dark Ride – This one is pretty straight up slasher. Some college friends are out on a trip for spring break, and on the way they come across a flier for the “Dark Ride.” The Dark Ride was closed several years ago because of a lunatic killing some twins while they were on the ride. Now, they have reopened the ride, and will the kids survive when they sneak in to stay the night? Overall the actors were decent, the scares okay. This one really scored higher on my list because the acting, sets, everything seemed to be a higher quality than the rest.

The Gravedancers – A guy passes away, and three of his closest childhood friends come to the funeral. They decide the only way to truly mourn their friend is to go out and have a good old-fashioned wake at his grave. This of course leads to nothing but trouble when the three friends discover they have desecrated the graves of some very unhappy ghosts. This one has pretty good acting as well, and it really held up until the end when the CGI kicked. Then it looked like a really bad B-Movie.

The Abandoned – A woman discovers she has inherited property in Russia from her birth mother who she never knew. She travels out to the isolated farmhouse only to find another man there who has claims to the property himself. Why does the farmhouse seem to be haunted? Why is she having visions? Why can’t she get off the island? This one was chocked full of atmosphere, creepy characters, and good acting. The end got pretty confusing but I enjoyed it none the less.

Reincarnation – Of course the Asian entry to the AfterDark fest would be my favorite. A young Japanese girl wins a part in a new horror film that is based on a true life killing spree of a professor at Tokyo University. The girl keeps seeing ghosts and once the filming moves to the actual hotel where the killings took place, things start to get really, really creepy. This one is sufficiently creepy and atmospheric, although it did get confusing at times.

Overall I wasn’t overly impressed with the AfterDark Horrorfest movies, but there were a few worthwhile moments in the bunch. I’d never actually purchase any of them on DVD, but renting them wasn’t so bad.

Rating: 4 Purrs overall