Horror

Fool me twice, shame on me. I watched HORROR without associating the name Dante Tomaselli to that home movie horror film DESECRATION. So as I sat there, falling asleep and wondering if I had laundry to do, it dawned on me that I'd seen this mish-mash of confusing non-plot and "disturbing" imagery before somewhere, then I remembered. I almost turned the movie off right there, but I believe in giving every film I begin a chance to turn around and improve before it ends. No such luck.

Bad acting from C-grade horror celebs and amateurishly directed and edited. From the other posts I've read here, at least Mr. Tomaselli is entertaining his friends, family and colleagues.

I was very impressed by Desecration...it had some of the creepier images I have seen in some time and the story held me...Unfortunately that was not the case with HORROR. Yes it had some great images and atmosphere but that is not enough to make a good horror film. No the story doesn't have to be amazing, but this film's story was weak...the dialogue was weak and the acting was weak...I am a firm believer that even the lowest budget horror films can and should have strong acting...strong actors are what actually sell the fright side of any horror film...This would have made a really good 10 minute short, or if it has a strong script and good actors, could have been a really great horror film.

I like horror movies. Don't let the title mislead you, this was not horror it was CRAP. A van full of losers escape from rehab and end up being pursued by bad visions, some evil folks and a Big Black Goat That Is Supposed To Scare You.

Slamming doors, horrible done "evil" pumpkin heads and an entire cast of characters you won't have a shred of empathy for.

I've seen worse, but not much.

HORROR is meant to be disjointed, disorienting, and disturbing. It succeeds at being all three. Like any nightmare, things jump around in chronology, or mutate into something completely different. The images -the goat, the jack-o-lanterns, etc.- are all part of Director Dante Tomaselli's dream / fun house approach to filmmaking. He prefers things off-kilter and gloomy.

The film's main character, Grace Salo (Lizzy Mahon) is at the mercy of her malevolent parents (Christie Sanford and Vincent Lamberti), who keep her drugged and imprisoned. Enter a trio of mushroom-eating teens, who arrive at the Salo place for a party. Due to the combination of drugs, the constant dream state, and the dark forces in play, the story twists around like a non-linear pretzel!

Since time and space cease to have much relevance, HORROR only makes sense on its own bizarre terms. Critics seem to take it far too seriously, as if the world may end after viewing it. Rabid fans take the opposite stance, as if this were the greatest horror movie ever filmed. Neither side is correct. In actuality, it's a decent little low-low-budget movie that gets high marks for heavy atmosphere and an overall sense of inescapable doom...

First of all, this is a low, low budget film. A basement film. A film clearly made by a gang of enthusiastic amateurs rather than a Hollywood production studio. The acting is basically what you'd expect from a movie starring your stoner friends. The sets are what you might find around town, or what a relative might lend you for the weekend. The camera-work, editing and cinematography, while occasionally inventive, are far from professional. Hell, even the special effects are rudimentary (when they're not flat-out laughable).

But I kinda liked it. I didn't love it, and I'm not even really recommending it, but it's definitely the most unique and troo-kvlt horror flick I've seen in quite a while. Basically, what you have is a bifurcated storyline in which two distinct threads unfold and eventually merge. In the first, a young girl struggles to understand her relationship to her spooky parents and the creepy old house she's seemingly trapped in. In the second thread, an escaped gang of teenage rehab patients finds themselves drawn into the same spooky house. Presiding over all this is the young girl's grandfather, a mysterious figure named Reverend Salo (played, for no good reason, by The Amazing Kreskin).

The plot of this movie, however, is inconsequential. Horror is almost entirely senseless. Like Suspiria (which it resembles but can't begin to compete with), Horror cares more about building atmosphere and presenting disturbing visuals than about telling any kind of coherent story. While one might hazard a theory this way or that about why the events of the film unfold the way they do, it hardly matters. I listened to enough to DVD commentary to realize that director Danta Thomaselli's explanation is far less enlightening than what the average viewer might come up with on their own. "This is a movie that challenges all reality," he says. Uhhhhh, yeah. Take it to the man, Dante.

Again, in spite of all that, I did like this movie. Its heart is in the right place, even if it doesn't have a brain in its head. The visuals are imaginative, unsettling and clearly tied to a personal sense of what horror is all about. And, at 77 minutes, it never gets a chance to wear out its welcome.

6/10 (though I get the feeling I'm being waaaaay too generous)