All Hallows' Eve

OK before you go all on me, saying that this movie is horrible. I know. It is don't worry. But you know it has the right amount of goofyness to make it decent. Is it scary you ask, well somewhat yea there are a few great scares that I won't forget and guess what there are barely any jump scares! This film relies mostly on atmosphere and outfits to scare you and it works well besides the really fake looking alien. But that's fine it's an indie flick. The acting actually isn't too bad, it has horrible moments but it's pretty solid. It was directed really well for a first timer. And that's another reason for the high score. If this was a higher budget film I woul give it a 5 or 6. But it's really fun so you know I'll cut slack. But I did have my few gripes 1: it was very slow and repeating at times mostly during the 2nd tape. And the last one isn't really a gripe but an opinion, not enough Art the clown!!!

Given the overwhelming popularity of shockfests like Martyrs and the Saw series, the nearly universal disapproval of this film is itself shocking. It's strange how some films can make their mark for the very things that cause others to be rebuked. All Hallows' Eve is low budget and has its mistakes, but overall is a wonderful, very scary exploitation horror film with a memorable villain and surprisingly good production values.

All Hallows' Eve is an anthology film. Like most horror anthologies such as Tales From the Darkside: The Movie, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Trick R' Treat, All Hallows' Eve has three main stories plus a wraparound story that ties them together. Director Damien Leone chose this format to showcase his pre-existing short films ("The 9th Circle" and "Terrifier"), so only the second story and the wraparound are totally new. The film opens with a woman babysitting two children on Halloween night and the discovery that someone has sneaked a VHS tape into one of the children's trick-or-treat bags. Reluctantly the babysitter plays the tape and the first of three stories begins.

With regard to reputation, there seem to be three primary complaints about the movie: 1) The director used previously created material, 2) The film is excessively gory, and 3) The acting is bad. Each of these is easily negated. First, most people have not seen the two short films, so the director seized his chance to have them viewed by a large audience. Completely understandable. Second, yes the film is graphic, but certainly no more than a hundred others released in the past decade, many of which were very popular. Third, the acting is actually pretty good. It's definitely strong enough to let the audience suspend their disbelief, which is after all the name of the game.

If there's one thing I've learned from reading reviews and posts on IMDb and elsewhere, it's that people will complain about anything. The truth is that All Hallows' Eve is a tense, entertaining horror film alive with creativity, realistic effects, and inspired direction. Its rating on IMDb (as of this writing) is unfortunate and unfair. If you want a polished horror film that's long on plot and every shot perfectly framed, see something else. If you want to have a good time and be scared, see this.

I gave it a 6. don't watch this expecting much and you might enjoy it. I liked the idea of this film, but not the execution. most if the actors were really bad. The one actor that really impressed me was the clown. He's very funny. It's a shame he's in this movie. I would have liked to see him in a well done slasher film. So this is an anthology film. the first part is OK. it's starts off cheesy and boring but ends very well. would have also liked to see the villains in that part a bit more. the second part is awful. definitely the worst part of this movie. the acting, the story, the aliens....all boring. also the clown wasn't really in that one. the third part is the best part of this film. it's like the ending of a slasher film where the villain follows the last surviving girl. the clown here plays a big part and doesn't disappoint. it tries to look like a grindhouse film and fails but that's OK. the babysitting story where the babysitter is watching these films is OK. what I didn't like is that it ended very quickly. the clown taunts her a bit and then the movies ends. so this is not the worst way to spend 80 min. also the effects are very good. old school. no cgi. blood, decapitated heads, and the usual. watch it for the clown and lower your expectations. it's cheesy fun, if you're into that.

The 4.6 rating seems a bit low, but this movie isn't a masterpiece. Actually it's pretty far from being a masterpiece, lol. The acting was really awkward at certain points and some of the material is really questionable, but that f***ing clown is freaky as hell. And I'm not one of those types that are "afraid of clowns." But... the awkwardness of it all actually sort of enhanced the feeling of creepiness, in a weird way?

Also, how they linked and wrapped up the story was really clever. It didn't help that something crashed outside my window when the movie was over.

I usually don't watch movies below a 6.0 rating and I would never watch a movie below 5.0 (yes, I'm that type of person), but I was bored and I thought the clown looked scary so I gave this movie a try. Really glad that I did.

Never heard of this flick until I watched Terrifier (2016). And seeing this cover I immediately picked it up because this was the original flick with the scary clown. It isn't as good or say, gory as Terrifier but still worth watching.

The story you will have seen a thousand times. People watching an old VHS to see some story on it, and by the end they are on the VHS. So it starts off rather on a low base of scares and horror and effects are one the cheesy side but it's until the last story that this low budget turns intoa gory flick. Naturally Terrifier is based on the last part and killings and slaughtering are the same. Nevertheless, it's worth to see how a flick can evolve in 3 years time.

So a flick that starts way below mediocre but the further it moves the better it gets, recommend it for horror geeks, gorehounds better skip it and move towards Terrifier.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5