Curse of Crom: The Legend of Halloween

This PG-13 style horror movie is surprisingly not dumb. I don't know why, but despite the low budget and tired mythology Curse of Crom is entertaining and fun for a light watch. It is reminiscent of silly horror movies of the 1980s like The Gremlins or Ghoulies. I would not recommend it outside of the Halloween season, though - its charm is limited to holiday specific movies.

A group of high school students are just average people, they aren't obnoxious and disposable like slasher characters. The main character Mary has the WORST Republican step-dad in the world, though. Can you imagine telling a 17 year old to drive for Door Dash every night to pay for college, he tries to force her to skip hanging out with friends or celebrating Halloween. I kind of wish he met a different end, to be honest.

It was a fun ride but watching 30 something actors playing scared high schoolers takes the edge off the spooky vibe. The monster is kinda cheesy, but the atmosphere is set up pretty well and the climax moments are pretty effective. For a no-name semi professional production company it was worth watching! The acting was pretty good and fairly believable with the main character being played convincingly by the lead actress. The only wooden portrayal seems to have come from the lead male actor who looks to be the oldest teenage in cinematic history who also seemed to be oblivious to the pretty overt love triangle that becomes apparent within the first ten minutes of the movie.. Sorry I watched it? No, not at all. Would I watch it again? Heck no!

I liked it. It's definitely not the best Halloween horror ever, but it's in an almost friendly and understated way entertaining. This is mainly thanks to the often deadpan humor with according funny dialogues and situations, and the overall good acting by the main cast. Chelsea Jurkiewicz is endearing as intelligent and exasperated Mary; Tanner Gillmann as bff Harvey is an absolute comic talent (and cute as a puppy!); and a special mention to Monica Moore Smith as the pristine and bewildered Stephanie. The story itself is a bit farfetched and complicated (an ancient Halloween demon pops up for some reason and has to be destroyed), but the sinister atmosphere with a ditto score is very effective. When the monster itself appears it's almost like looking at an ancient 60's horror flick, with someone in rubber suit in stead of topnotch CGI, but somehow that did't mar my appreciation, it gave it all a pleasant retro feel.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the script was actually improved as it was just natural, fun, and bad. It's been a long time that a low production movie has made me laugh and smile this much.

Don't expect to be scared, but expect to laugh at the actors being scared.

If I was convinced that the actors were intentionally acting poorly on purpose I would have given it 10 stars. There performances were perfect for the quality of the production.

It has just the right mix of good and bad to be a cult hit. I know I plan on watching it again. I'm still smiling thinking about it.

Just sit back and enjoy the bad.

Randomly picked this movie with zero knowledge or expectations, and it delivered brilliantly! Word of advice, turn off closed captions to avoid hints during some scenes. But yeah, this was just a fun, slightly spooky, good for the whole family type of movie. Zero blood, no nightmare inducing murder clowns, no serial killers... just a ghostly monster and a gang of teena to solve a mystery. Me and my oldest enjoyed the heck out of it. Highly recommended to anybody who wants some Halloween fun. The naturalistic acting was great, even when they cranked up the comic relief, it was just the right balance of serious and comedy. Just watch it, you'll enjoy it.