The Bell Keeper

A cheap B-movie horror about some friends going out to film in the woods in search of a legendary bell. The story goes that those who ring the bell are thereafter cursed by a demon, and of course these numbskulls have to go and see for themselves what it's all about. It's business as usual for the genre, with a small cast and only middling scares, although it's surprisingly well paced which means it's more watchable than some. The biggest surprise here is a rare foray into the horror genre for former wrestling star Randy Couture, best known for THE EXPENDABLES movies; he gives the best performance here and is quite likeable.

A film with four teens - 2 girls and 2 boys who are dating couples - plus Liam, who is the brother of one of the other guys. There is also a weird filling station woman, 2 dumb-ass redneck local cops, a girl looking for her missing brother and an immortal called Hank the killer.

The film begins with the two couples being typical whining females and unfunny males. They are a cringe quartet who are totally unlikable and whom you hope are killed off as soon as possible; because they just get on your nerves.

From that bad start the film goes on and on and on, but does not get any better. Its a shame really because I thought that the plot outline was good, a story that could have made a decent film. Unfortunately there was just nothing in the input given by any of the cast and, it just dragged on slowly. To me it rated as a C film and I stuck with it to the end and was very thankful when it ended.

No tension, no scary moments, no shocks and no horror...so no point to it having been made!

Not much of a plot here.. all we really need to know is that there is a cursed bell that random adventurers go and ring, and that's bad. A dude named Hank with a cauliflower ear is gonna kill those in range to hear it. There is a reason for all this, but you have to watch it to find out why. It's pretty cheap, draggy and nonsensical, but it does have just enough quirkiness to keep it mildy entertaining. We have Randy Couture, with a straight forward performance, and a quick run in with Bonnie Aarons (The Nun) being the most fun. The Liam and Brittany characters were decent, the Sheriff being the worst. Couture groupies might like this the most.

Randy Couture in the starring role, the plot revolves around a bell keeper. This movie was painstakingly boring. A waste of my time, I enjoy a good horror film but this was pure dribble on a modest budget. Couture could do so much better, or maybe he should just stick to wrestling. I am hoping he puts out better movies, because this flop is not going to break any box office records. The acting was sub par from all involved, but I am glad too see Chaz Bono in some of these horror movies. I blame the writers & directors, Couture needs to do a well written zombie movie. That might help his career.

The storyline in "The Gate Keeper", as written by Joe Davison and Luke Genton, was actually a fair enough script and storyline, which felt like something you'd see in a 1980s horror movie. And I have to admit that I liked that about it, as it was a nice touch to the movie.

The movie even had the classic hiker out looking for a lost sibling, complete with a missings person flyer and all. That was definitely a nod towards the tropes often seen in 1980s and 1990s horror movies.

The acting performances in "The Bell Keeper" were actually good. I can't claim to be thrilled about having the likes of Randy Couture on the cast list, and in such a pivotal role nonetheless, as I never did take a liking to him or his acting skills. There were a couple of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Mike Manning and Bonnie Aarons. I will say that the actors and actresses, in general, put on good performances throughout the course of the movie.

"The Bell Keeper" is the type of horror movie that you watch once, then bag and tag it, never to bring it out for a second viewing. While it was an adequately watchable movie, it was by no means a scary horror movie. And I think that was mainly because of the non-distinct killer that the Hank character (played by Randy Couture) was.

My rating of "The Gate Keeper" lands on an four out of ten stars.