Terror em Sutterville

I think it's safe to assume that "Family Reunion" was produced with a very limited budget and the director, Michael Hawes, managed to use that budget carefully by creating a tastefully modest (perhaps too modest for its own good) supernatural atmosphere of ghosts and objects that move by themselves, cleverly avoiding badly done CGI or other atrocities. Without resorting to tacky visual or sound effects, this film manages to stay mostly on the serious side, except for a few delirious situations and some mildly bizarre dialogs.

In "Family Reunion", our main characters are the members of the Andrews family: Tom, the father; Kate, the mother; Erin and Billy, the children and, finally, grandpa Henry who tags along. The Andrews go on a trip to visit Kate's family for Christmas, but by Billy's request, Tom decides to make a stop at a ghost town called Sutterville. While they're there, the Andrews come across a policeman, who has just arrested a strange young man for vagrancy (weirdly enough, only Billy, the youngest member of the family, shows some outrage by the fact that arresting someone for vagrancy doesn't make too much sense). After this random encounter with the police, the Andrews decide to leave the place, but... craziness ensues, when the car begins to run by itself, taking the Andrews to the heart of Sutterville and leaving them stranded there (rudest vehicle ever). After this, the car battery dies, much to everyone's dismay, especially grandpa Henry, who seems to have an irrational aversion for Sutterville and channels his anxiety by smoking like a chimney.

Meanwhile, the young man who was arrested for vagrancy doesn't seem to be too concerned about the fact that they intend to keep him in a cell, as he constantly smirks and taunts the police officers. A lot of bizarre and gruesome situations occur around the young vagrant and as the police investigates his backgrounds, they come across strange information about his past that doesn't seem to make any sense. In the meantime, people begin to die in mysterious ways around the unidentified man.

As the Andrews try to find a way out of the oppressively quiet ghost town, they come across some of its bizarre residents, who seem to have something to say to the Andrews, but they don't really say anything outright. In the end, after a few nonsensical encounters with these locals, Tom will come across a dark secret from his past that connects his identity to Sutterville and some strange nightmares that he has been experiencing for years.

This toned-down horror flick is so subtle that it features no gore whatsoever, the body count is rather low and the few deaths that actually happen onscreen are so restrained, that "Family Reunion" could be easily endured even by the most faint-hearted. One of the most "brutal" deaths occurs when our bad guy strangles another character by using his powers, so the helpless victim acts like he is being suffocated by an invisible force, until he finally dies. Clearly, if this is the most violent death, one can easily understand the PG-rating. Besides this, there are basically no jump scares and the music, though creepy enough (in a "low budget production from the 80s" sort of way) isn't too invasive, either.

The acting is pretty artificial, which should be no surprise in a low budget horror flick, so it would be disappointing or, at least, out-of-place if the acting was outstanding. Most of the main cast members didn't act in other films besides "Family Reunion", except for Mel Novak, who isn't exactly an a-list actor, but did a lot of acting works and still remains active. Of course, even if the actors were amazingly skilled, they probably wouldn't be able to show it off in a film with dialogs like the ones we get here (and I am not criticizing, I am just pointing out a fact). Some of the best unintentionally funny interactions take place when Tom (Novak) begins to lose his temper and snaps at every single member of the family for every little thing. The humor mostly comes from the fact that, those of us who went on family vacations when we were kids, may remember our own parents losing their temper, just like Tom, after several hours inside a car with a bunch of loud kids fighting, yelling and asking "are we there yet?"... or maybe that's just my personal recollection.

Michael Hawes, the director, didn't do anything after "Family Reunion", and his only previous film is listed as "Terror in Sutterville", an Australian production, which I can only assume is somehow connected to "Family Reunion", given the fact that the word "Sutterville" is featured in the title. It's almost bizarre how unknown this film is, because even after a mildly extensive search on the Internet, I could only find a few reviews. I remember watching this flick during my teenage years, a time of my life where I'd binge watch obscure 80s horror flicks during the weekends. For some unknown reason, "Family Reunion" stayed with me for years, until I recently found it on the Internet. Watching it again after so many years made me realize that, just like I remembered, there really isn't anything special about it, but I was still glad to find it and it sure kept me entertained. Still, I am surprised by the fact that I even remember a flick that could be considered bland to a certain degree.

Though "Family Reunion" most likely will never get any recognition among horror fans, those who come across this flick will probably enjoy it, probably without wanting to watch it for a second time.

Action Film Star Mel Novak Sheds His Martial Arts Gi to Battle Devil Worshipers , Satanists , & even Demons from Hell in this Suspenseful Horror Hit as 'Tom Andrews' , Loving Father & Husband to 'Kathy Andrews' , Played by Pam Phillips , His Devoted Wife & a Caring Mother ! The Rambunctious Son 'Billy' is A.J. Woods & Young Teen Age Daughter 'Erin' is the Lovely Young Kaylin Cool , Both presenting Superior Performances ! In a Surprisingly UnderStated Performance Ken Corey is Evil Personified as The Drifter 'Clarence' : & The rest of the Cast is comprised of some Great Character Actors : There's Buddy Daniel Friedman as the Dangerous 'Skinhead' , Jack Starrett as the Local Law-Enforcer 'Charlie' , Janet Lee Orcutt as the Christmas-Spirited 'Bronson' , & Lovely Lucy Michelle as the Well Equipped 'Hooker' ! Of Special Note is the Interactions among the Andrews Family Members , especially between the Husband & Wife . Pam Phillips exhibits a wide range of Intensity & Emotions ; & Mel Novak's UnHoly Transformations in Character are a Pleasure to Behold .... The Work of a Consummate Actor ! There's Not too much Blood , & absolutely No Nudity , So It's a Family Friendly Christmas Horror Film , with a Fantastic Cast , which Results into a Very Under-Rated & Un-Appreciated Cult Horror Classic ! Well Done Michael Hawes , The Writer , Producer , & Director of this TimeLess Christmas Classic !

Christmas Eve, 1948: thirteen people are massacred while trying to sacrifice a child during a Satanic ritual. Forty years later, the ghost of the devil worshippers' leader attempts to complete the ritual.

Family Reunion feels a lot like writer/director Michael Hawes found a cool location - an abandoned town in the desert - and wrote a film around it. A bad one.

There is very little in the way of real plot, the majority of the film consisting of strange, supernatural occurrences experienced by the main characters - the Andrews family, who encounter the ghost town of Sutterville while on a seasonal road trip. The car breaks down, their luggage goes missing, a rattlesnake threatens to bite the daughter, the son meets a mysterious little girl, and the father starts to behave irrationally; meanwhile, a young man arrested by the local police escapes from his cell and makes his way to Sutterville...

The film attempts to wrap things up neatly in the final act by explaining why things are the way they are, but it's an extremely weak and unsatisfying resolution to a forgettable and very bland movie. To make matters worse, Hawes tacks on a silly final scene that makes no sense whatsoever.

Very little gore. No nudity. No scares. 2/10.

This film was obviously made for next to nothing. I've seen bigger budget films that were much worse. It's a good exorcise in 'down and dirty' film making. It creates a fair amount of 'ghostly tension' and managed to hold my interest. I especially liked the lack of blood and guts. But if that's what you like then wait for the final conflict. But just don't eat anything for at least an hour before ;-)

Having waded through the thousands of free horror titles on my cable system, I am naturally drawn first to Family Reunion (1989). The reasons? I had never heard of it, it came out in 1989, and it had no cover art. And, most importantly, my stupidity. Like a delusional fool panning for gold, I ended up with a so-so story about a family stranded in a ghost town. Tom Andrews (Mel Novak) drives the family - wife, two kids, and chain smoking grandpa - to the in-laws on Christmas Eve with a detour in the ghost town of Sutterville, Nevada ("Billy really wants to see it."). Grandpa reallllllly doesn't like this idea, but a supernatural force drags the station wagon into the town. The cause of all of this? A weird dude who looks like a bug-eyed early '80s Lars Ulrich who was picked up by the cops (including Jack Starrett) in the abandoned town (why the cops are patrolling a ghost town is never explained). Seems he ran a Satanic cult back in the day and was murdered 40 years ago. Writer-director Michael Hawes has only one other behind-the-scenes credit, co-writing the great One Dark Night (1982). He is in love with psychic abilities as the bad guy here has them too. But it is all handled so poorly. It is the kind of film where the wife wanders the abandoned hotel, finds a pentagram necklace and a ghost woman says, "Put it on" and the wife immediately asks, "Um, listen, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to our car battery, would you?" No "who the hell are you?" nonsense here; this woman wants answers! The kind of movie where I realize 12 hours later that the grandpa character leaves one scene and we never, ever find out what happened to him! The Christmas setting serves no purpose except for an end scene stinger where the family gets a present from the cult leader a year later. Ho ho boo! I liked the ghost town location and wish a better film had been made there.