Blood Sacrifice

Much better then you would expect and bearing no relation to the first two films. This film is about a woman interrupting the slaughter of a goat during a sacrifical ceremony. The African tribalsman decides to get even by sending a monster after the woman and anybody that is connected with her. Straight forward horror film with a good amount of atmosphere and scares is well made on a shoestring budget.

Rated R; Nudity, Violence, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.

Curse III: Blood Sacrifice is quite an entertaining film. As of yet, I have only seen this one and Curse I in the series. I hated "The Curse", because I felt it was one of those "quick films" to try and make Wil Wheaton a star. I had read that none of the sequels had anything to do with the original, so I figured that I would enjoy this. I did. I figured the budget was low, and I always enjoy when filmmakers work well on a shoestring budget. A women interrupts the sacrifice of a goat. The leader of the tribe summons a curse from the sea to pay her, her friends, and her family back. The movie was well done, and the East African scenery was a nice addition to an already well done film. Christopher Lee was in fine form, and the film made some sense unlike the original. The "sea creature" was a little cheesy, but the mystery and suspense made up for the cheesy, low budget special effects. It's one of those films that leaves you guessing about what might happen next. "Curse III" is definitely one of the best purchases I made. See this film, I guarantee you that if you don't like it, you won't hate it!

Unrelated to "The Curse" (1987) and "Curse II: The Bite" (1989), this in-name-only sequel stars Jenilee Harrison of 'Three's Company' fame as Elizabeth Armstrong, wife of a farmer in 1950 East Africa. She and her sister meddle in a tribal ceremony (they don't want to see a goat get sacrificed), much to their regret. The local witch doctor (Dumi Shongwe) summons a powerful demon of the sea to slaughter these foolish whites for their interference.

Co-written and directed by Sean Barton, a veteran editor whose credits in that capacity include "Return of the Jedi", "Curse III: Blood Sacrifice" is actually a pretty enjoyable B horror flick. It gets most of its impact from its on-location shooting in South Africa, and has a very good atmosphere. It can also get rather gory at times. Barton and company are wise not to give the monster too much screen time; it's largely unseen until the end, and when we finally get a good look at it, it's got a reasonably impressive design (by Chris Walas, the effects man who gave us the Gremlins and the 1986 version of The Fly). The music score composed by Julian Laxton & Patric van Blerk is another big plus. "Curse III: Blood Sacrifice" goes through its paces with skill, building up a decent body count and giving us an incendiary finale.

One doesn't exactly feel too much sympathy for the victims, but at least some of the cast deliver okay performances. Harrison has some appeal as the heroine. Henry Cele has a powerful screen presence as the character Mletch. Co-star Gavin Hood, who plays Robert, may be better known now as a director of such movies as "Tsotsi", "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", and "Ender's Game". The true star power in "Curse III" is provided by ever-reliable Sir Christopher Lee, who doesn't get that much screen time despite his top billing. But he makes every moment count.

Overall, not bad at all. The novelty of the African setting helps to make up for the routine storyline.

Six out of 10.

I should point out that "Curse III" is not, despite the name, a sequel. I know this is confusing.

The story is set in Africa in 1950 and is, despite this, a slasher film. A British colonist has married into a family of idiots. When his wife and her sister are on a drive, they come upon a tribe about to sacrifice a goat to their gods. However, the women insist on taking the 'poor goat' and therefore incur the wrath of the tribe. Not surprisingly, soon folks start getting hacked to pieces...and for our supposed amusement.

I know that slasher films are popular with many folks, though I find them very dull because they are all essentially the same. Despite the change of locale and African gods aspects, this is just a slasher pic...complete with gratuitous nudity, stupid people you wouldn't mind seeing die and lots of blood. It's pretty mindless, though for the genre it's reasonably well made. Plus, it features Christopher Lee in a supporting role...which is something. Overall, I didn't enjoy the movie but perhaps slasher pic fans will.

A likable cast and and decent location photography make this low budget horror film watchable. Jenilee Harrison (Suzanne Somers' replacement, Cindy, on "Three's Company") plays a 1950s great white huntress in Africa who interrupts a sacred tribal ceremony, so the tribe unleashes a demon-like creature to torment her. To add a bit of gravitas to the low budget cheese-fest is the great Christoper Lee, still in his career slump before Peter Jackson sparked a late career revival for Lee with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I also noticed in the credits Gavin Hood as a supporting actor, who's now better know as the director of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Enders Game" and other big Hollywood projects. This film's director never directed another film, but he didn't do a bad job. He was actually the editor on some pretty cool movies including "Quadrophenia" and "Return of the Jedi." Overall, this is nothing to go our of your way to watch, but it did have a scrappy, entertaining Charles Band/Full Moon Features kind of vibe that was enough to hold my interest.