What a great combinations of House on Haunted Hill, Session 9 and Death Tunnel. This movie had some great acting, great set design and cinematography, a very confusing yet disturbing plot and some scary moments that make you cringe. The movie is about eight people who know each other who are led to an eerie house were they find a time capsule containing all of their childhood toys. They soon find out that this house was once an old hospital that was home to cruel and inhumane experiments that somehow connects to them. What was good about this movie was that there where some pretty seeable scares they that still surprise you. This movie plays with your mind as it does with those eight people who are trapped.
I'll start off first with the acting. There were great performances by Traci Lords, Frank Whaley (Vacancy), George Newbern and Gabrielle Anwar. I want to especially say that some of the best acting in this movie comes from Anwar and Dina Meyer. I could not rate George Newbern since his role and character calls for a very seldom and calm performance, mainly because he plays a Father. Frank Whaley does a superb acting job as a very angry, skeptical man but take in mind he played in Vacancy and World Trade Center so he had a experience. Gabby Anawr does a splendid job getting into her character and really puts effort and feel into that persona, which is tormented by horrible memories. Dina Meyer does a very okay job in the beginning but near the end her acting level raises and shows what she is truly capable of doing. Traci Lords does a spectacular job but when acting in movies like Blade, The Tommyknockers and Tales from the Crypt, who wouldn't be? The set, which is a very old decaying hospital, was very well formatted. Unlike hospitals from insane asylums or general hospitals, this one was very "kid friendly." This aspect added to uncomfortable and disturbing feel that the hospital had. Like many other haunted hospital movies before it, there were cryptic pictures and data files; there were corridors that led to nowhere and corridors that led in circles. There were three rooms that gave me the chills simply by the way that they looked: the children's playroom, the bathroom and the bedroom. It reminded me deeply of the movie Session 9, but it had the psychotic feel of House on Haunted Hill. There was one set piece that had me pretty freaked out and that was on room with all the plastic over the furniture, than the furniture started to move.
The scares were very heightened in this movie and came out at some of the most random and quiet moments. There were a lot of psychological scares and some unique scares that I cannot place into any category. A great example of fear with a sense of helplessness would be when the group finds the time capsule in the attic of an old barn and inside is all there precious childhood memories, not knowing how they got there. Something about this scene, something deep, gave me chills, and the corpse inside of it didn't help at all. Some of the scarier moments are when the "ghost kids," who remain faceless throughout, kill the group members and then the after effect of the murder. The random "popping-out-of-no-where" scares and the jump out scars. The physiological horror like running down a corridor and finding out that you have been running around in circles down the same corridor and not finding a way out. The horror of not knowing were something is going to grab you, the suspense of knowing something is coming but you can't do anything about it. All of these great horror aspects made me really enjoy this movie, and my theater audience would agree strongly.
All in all, I, as well as my theater buddies, loved this movie despite some minor faults and clichés. It added a new twist and structure of a plot line that had been reworked over and over again; it added some unclassified horror aspects and developed its characters very well. I would recommend this movie to horror fans throughout the world especially for those who love horror movies with mind games and inopportune, in a good way, scares.
I'll start off first with the acting. There were great performances by Traci Lords, Frank Whaley (Vacancy), George Newbern and Gabrielle Anwar. I want to especially say that some of the best acting in this movie comes from Anwar and Dina Meyer. I could not rate George Newbern since his role and character calls for a very seldom and calm performance, mainly because he plays a Father. Frank Whaley does a superb acting job as a very angry, skeptical man but take in mind he played in Vacancy and World Trade Center so he had a experience. Gabby Anawr does a splendid job getting into her character and really puts effort and feel into that persona, which is tormented by horrible memories. Dina Meyer does a very okay job in the beginning but near the end her acting level raises and shows what she is truly capable of doing. Traci Lords does a spectacular job but when acting in movies like Blade, The Tommyknockers and Tales from the Crypt, who wouldn't be? The set, which is a very old decaying hospital, was very well formatted. Unlike hospitals from insane asylums or general hospitals, this one was very "kid friendly." This aspect added to uncomfortable and disturbing feel that the hospital had. Like many other haunted hospital movies before it, there were cryptic pictures and data files; there were corridors that led to nowhere and corridors that led in circles. There were three rooms that gave me the chills simply by the way that they looked: the children's playroom, the bathroom and the bedroom. It reminded me deeply of the movie Session 9, but it had the psychotic feel of House on Haunted Hill. There was one set piece that had me pretty freaked out and that was on room with all the plastic over the furniture, than the furniture started to move.
The scares were very heightened in this movie and came out at some of the most random and quiet moments. There were a lot of psychological scares and some unique scares that I cannot place into any category. A great example of fear with a sense of helplessness would be when the group finds the time capsule in the attic of an old barn and inside is all there precious childhood memories, not knowing how they got there. Something about this scene, something deep, gave me chills, and the corpse inside of it didn't help at all. Some of the scarier moments are when the "ghost kids," who remain faceless throughout, kill the group members and then the after effect of the murder. The random "popping-out-of-no-where" scares and the jump out scars. The physiological horror like running down a corridor and finding out that you have been running around in circles down the same corridor and not finding a way out. The horror of not knowing were something is going to grab you, the suspense of knowing something is coming but you can't do anything about it. All of these great horror aspects made me really enjoy this movie, and my theater audience would agree strongly.
All in all, I, as well as my theater buddies, loved this movie despite some minor faults and clichés. It added a new twist and structure of a plot line that had been reworked over and over again; it added some unclassified horror aspects and developed its characters very well. I would recommend this movie to horror fans throughout the world especially for those who love horror movies with mind games and inopportune, in a good way, scares.