The Hamiltons

The Hamiltons 2005 (Theatrical "R", After Dark Horrorfest) – Directed by The Butcher Brothers, Winner of the Santa Barbara Intl Film Festival and the Malibu Film Festivals.

The Hamiltons are an unusual family that recent lost their parents. The family now consists of older brother David, who is struggling with his homosexuality and the pressures of running the household, the twins Darlene & Wendell, who are devious troublemakers, and younger brother Francis, who is coming to terms with his family and his place in the world.

The film starts out explaining that The Hamiltons siblings recently lost their parents and they have moved several times within the past couple of years. Twin Wendell soon kidnaps two young girls and it becomes apparent that The Hamiltons are not as they seem. Sensitive Francis grows weary of their ways, but is scared to be alone. Does he decide to do the right thing or stick by his family no matter what?

This is not by any means a typical horror film, but a thinking person's horror film. Those looking for gore and scares will be disappointed. It has an original story with great dialogue showcasing real problems within every family. It is ultimately a very accurate portrayal of a real family dealing with growing pains that features a slight twist at the end. During the end scene, you hear Francis giving a creepy voice-over almost giving it a documentary feel.

Cory Knauf gives a solid performance as Francis, the young man that has so much to say, but cannot. He really shows how torn Francis was in his decision and the isolation felt by many teens struggling to find their place as they hit adulthood. Mackenzie Firgens gives a great turn as twin Darlene who is vicious and sexy at the same time. You will love the scene where she chases Kitty through the house. (And maybe the one where she kisses her own brother!?!)

My only quibble is there is minimal gore and violence. During violent interactions, the camera turns away, so very little is caught on film. There is also an opening scene with Brittany Daniel that looked frightening at first, but there were some jittery camera movements and it fizzled with no pay out.

Bottom Line: The Hamiltons is a subtle "horror" film with a slow pace. This is more of a thinking man's (or woman's) horror film. Gorehounds should pass.

Rating: 7/10

Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com MySpace.com/HorrorYearbook

This was one of the films from the After Dark Horrorfest and like most of them it was incredibly poor. The film is painfully slow. It might have worked as a 30 minute short but as a feature film it bored the hell out of me. The film tries to set up this mystery as to what it is they are doing and why they are doing it but by the time it was revealed I had already lost interest in the story.

Also, the acting in this film is incredibly poor, especially the older brother, who at times is laughable. This film was obviously made on a low budget but I can forgive the low production values. You work with what you've got, lots of great films have been made on a tiny budget (night of the living dead). However, what I can't forgive is a lack of talent. The writing and acting were downright horrible and if that's the case then the budget is irrelevant because the film is going to suck. They were clearly trying to make this an art house film but instead they just made a stinker that will put you to sleep before the first hour.

This is the second movie I saw for Horrorfest this past weekend, The Gravedancers being the first. Gravedancers was better. I can only guess from watching this that the production must have been quite limited. I will admit the story started out interesting but really fizzled for me in the end. We weren't really given time to sympathize or understand any of the characters which only made each of their erratic characteristics even more annoying. I have to mention that there was also a bit of mis-casting with a 12-year-old boy acting as Sheriff. The only reason I sat through the whole film was to find out what the big secret was, which turned out to not be all that interesting. Some more background about the family would have helped but they didn't really seem like a family at all to begin with.

To me, this film is so amateur that I couldn't even see putting it on DVD. The four rating is for the initial potential the story might have had. This was one to skip for horrorfest.

This was a very interesting film. I'm not much of a horror/slasher fanatic, but I can appreciate a good story line. This one has a pretty decent plot behind it, but something was lost along the way. I enjoyed the way it was shot--with the younger brother's video project changing it up a bit from the norm. The family includes a set of twins and I think the relationship between the two of them is pretty bizarre, but actually it added a lot to the film. The character Lenny keeps us interested throughout the whole movie, trying to figure out who/what he is, and that was a totally off-the-wall twist. Francis is a relatable character--young teen full of questions and despair, and his development throughout the story was worth observing. It's definitely a strange one, but I got a real kick out of it. I especially like the ending sequence(s) where they start to explain themselves..totally weird. I recommend it, if nothing else, just for the laughs.

Plot

Trying to move on with their lives, and keep their family together after the untimely demise of their parents, the four Hamilton siblings are left all alone to fend for themselves. At first glance, the Hamiltons seem like an ordinary family, and they will do everything in their power to adjust to their new neighbourhood; however, troubled Francis' video camera reveals that there is more to the grieving newcomers than meets the eye. After all, is it normal to keep people captive in your basement

Cast

Nobody I was familiar with.

Verdict

I made a booboo, I watched The Thompsons first, I didn't realize it was a sequel! That I quite enjoyed so upon booting The Hamiltons up I was fairly excited, whoops that was another booboo.

The Hamiltons focuses on this dysfunctional vampire (Of a sort) family. The trouble is the film is cheap, looks cheap, sounds cheap, is cheap and though I watch a lot of indie movies and am generally unphased by this The Hamiltons came across unforgivably so and was very distracting. I wish it had distracted me more then I might not have noticed how terrible the rest of the film is, it's lifeless, it goes nowhere, the characters are wretched and the narration is so tacky it takes you away from what you're watching (But not in the way you'd want).

This isn't a vampire film, this is barely horror.

Rants

Let me be clear, I'm not overly fussed about budgets. A few years ago I remember watching one called Rednecks vs Aliens? I think. It looked like it had been recorded on the oldest VHS recorder imaginable and by someone who was having a seizure from start to finish. But this didn't matter because the film was oddly enjoyable. I don't care about budget but I've always said, keep in line with your budget. If you have a three figure budget, don't make a movie about aliens invading earth.

Breakdown.

Ugly Lifeless Poorly made.