Grave Halloween

Grave Halloween (2013)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A young woman (Kaitlyn Leeb) agrees to be a part of a documentary covering a mysterious forest in Japan known as "Suicide Forest." This place is known for countless suicides that have happened there including the girl's mother but while the group tries to determine the cause, they soon realize that angry spirits are there. GRAVE HALLOWEEN, on a technical level, is actually rather impressive and supports some rather gory death scenes and some fine performances but there's still no doubt that it's just a weak imitation of some much better movies. This pretty much plays like a cross between THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, THE RING and just about any other Japanese ghost movie. The biggest problem is that the thing just isn't scary and all the "jump" scenes just don't add up to anything. There are countless times in the film where the documentary makers spot something on their camera and these scenes are meant to make us jump. Well, they never do and instead of being scary they just seem rather forced and eventually boring. As the film moves along we get to some rather bloody death scenes and these are especially gory when you consider this was made for television. Another thing working against the picture is that once the mystery starts to play out you realize that you simply don't care about anything going on or anyone involved. As I said, the performances are better than average with Cassi Thomson really standing out among the cast. Hiro Kanagawa is also very good in his role as a man who leads the group through the woods. Director Steven R. Monroe (I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE) knows how to shoot a film and make it look profession, there's no question about that but hopefully his talents will be used for a better picture.

GRAVE HALLOWEEN has an EXCELLENT setting: the real life Aokigahara Forest in Japan, also known as the Sea of Trees or the Suicide Forest. It's a place at the foot of Mount Fuji where people commonly go to kill themselves, a bit like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. A shame, then, that this low budget ghost flick was filmed in a Canadian wood instead; despite the attempts at authenticity this is a film that feels fake throughout (a Japanese university entirely inhabited by westerners doesn't help).

In any case, the story turns out to be a disappointment as well. A teenage girl and her buddies travel into the forest to discover the site of her mother's suicide, only to find themselves picked off messily one by one by a vengeful spirit. Yes, it's the usual long-haired Japanese ghost nonsense again, except it lacks any kind of thrills whatsoever in this Canadian TV movie. You have the SyFy Channel to thank for that.

The script is derivative, the dialogue a disappointment. The mangled childhood tragedy, revealed through poorly-edited flashbacks, is a non-starter, and there isn't a single member of the cast to get interested in either. The mildly Asian-looking American actress in the lead role, Kaitlyn Leeb, is best known for playing the three-breasted woman in the TOTAL RECALL remake, so that gives you some idea of her acting ability...

"Grave Halloween" is sort of a very odd mixture between Japanese and Western horror. And the end result is entertaining enough, although not particular scary.

The story is about a group of Americans in Japan, who venture into a forest that is known for the high number of suicides that have been taking place there. Maiko (played by Kaitlyn Leeb) is there to return her dead mother's belongings and to perform a ceremony to grant the spirit of her dead mother final rest. The forest seems to be unending and plays tricks on those who venture inside.

As entertaining as "Grave Halloween" was, then the movie never really got off more than a mediocre launch. The hybrid between traditional Japanese ghost movies and Western horror didn't really pan out as nicely as it could have been. And as much as I enjoy zombie movies, then the spirits haunting the forest should have been ghost entities, but they were more zombie than ghosts. And this ultimately took something away from the story.

The acting in the movie was alright, given the story and the script that the actors and actresses had to work with. Kaitlyn Leeb really carried the movie quite nicely.

"Grave Halloween" is actually one of the more nice SyFy horror movies, but it was just lacking something crucial to make it outstanding.

If you enjoy the SyFy original movie line and are somewhat familiar with the Asian ghost cinema, then "Grave Halloween" could be entertaining for you. It was well worth a single watch, although the movie hardly has enough material to sustain more than a single viewing.

"Grave Halloween" scores a mediocre 5 out of 10 stars.

Grave Halloween (2013) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows an expedition and research project in a forest known for suicides, over 100 suicides per year to be exact. One of the researcher's mothers committed suicide in the forest and while she looks for answers, the answer may put the rest of the research group's lives at risk. This movie is directed by Steven R. Monroe (I Spit on Your Grave 1 & 2) and stars Kaitlyn Leeb (Locked Down), Cassi Thomson (Left Behind), Graham Wardle (In the Land of Women) and Dejan Loyola (iZombie). The storyline for this is a bit unrealistic with the numbers they share and how the issue hasn't become a national/international concern. The acting in this is very mediocre and nothing special. The horror elements are very blah but the kill scenes are actually entertaining and pretty good. I really liked both the makeup and special effects. This is one of those movies if you can ignore the storyline and acting you can enjoy some worthwhile kill scenes. I'd score this movie a 3.5-4/10 and only recommend watching it with the appropriate expectations.

For the SyFy Channel, who have produced countless bad movies with the odd tolerable one, Grave Halloween is not so bad at all. It is filmed and edited competently and the setting is quite creepy. The music does have the appropriate amount of eeriness, the death scenes are gory and really very chilling and the acting especially from Cassie Thomson and Hiro Kanagawa is above-average. Extra plaudits also for the details of Japan and the Japanese laws and customs being spot on, and for the homages paid to The Evil Dead, The Ring and The Blair Witch Project without blatantly ripping them off. Grave Halloween is not without its flaws though. The characters are not very well-defined at all and at the end of the day there's not really anybody despite the acting that you find yourself caring for. The dialogue lacks flow and can sound downright embarrassing at times("that's super comforting" is something you'd hear a stereotypical high school student say). And with the story, there is a good idea somewhere that is not translated quite so well on screen, the back-story and the Japanese culture are intriguing but the mystery and horror elements- which are more important- are not. The mystery elements are not paced very securely and feels too predictable and lacking in suspense and tension to really convince, and the horror suffers also from predictability and not everybody looking as though they properly care for their predicament. Grave Halloween wisely uses its special effects minimally, but when they are there at best they are just okay and too many times also rather shoddy. The ghosts evoke some chills, but did anybody else think that they looked a little more like zombies rather than ghosts? All in all for the SyFy Channel, Grave Halloween is not bad but as a movie taking that it's SyFy out of the equation for a minute it is one that is alright but left wanting. 5/10 Bethany Cox