Chucky_Jr

Jason wakes up after 30 years and goes on another killing spree. Meanwhile his father is out getting revenge on the people responsible for his son's death.

For a fan film, the production values are very high. This is not something an amateur shot with friends in someone's backyard, but a film with professional directing, cinematography and special effects. They even went the extra mile of getting people who worked on the official films involved such as Steve Dash, C.J Graham, Harry Manfredini and Tom McLoughlin. Thumbs up for that.

The writing could've been a bit better. There are several things that feel random or poorly explained. No proper resurrection for Jason, he just suddenly wakes up. Elias' motive isn't consistent, he mostly kills people for revenge, but also random bystanders who never did anything to him or his family. Jason impales someone who later reappears unharmed with no explanation. The open ending suggests maybe these things will be explained in a sequel. But I would prefer it to mostly stand on its own without having to get answers from a sequel that isn't even guaranteed to happen.

Special effects were great. Lots of gore and inventive kills where little to no CGI was used. The costume for Jason was also good. They went with a custom silicone mask and a detailed and realistically aged hockeymask. My only gripes were that the black fabric in the eyeholes is often visible and he should've been much more rotted and skeletal after being dead for 30 years. But a full zombie bodysuit like in Part 7 was likely to costly for their budget, so I can forgive that.

Acting was mostly decent. The younger cast members do a good job for the most part, but real standouts are the returning actors from past films such as C.J Graham and especially Steve Dash. The latter is a blast to watch, and conveys the sheriff's annoyed and bitter attitude really well. This was Dash's final role and he went out on a high note.

A devil worshiper wants to use a woman as the mother for a devil offspring, but she escapes and seeks help from a group of friends in a old mansion. The Satanist resurrects a horde of mummified corpses and orders them to attack the woman and her friends.

The film was made on a low budget and it shows in some of the acting and effects. The pacing could've been better, but once the zombies show up it gets fairly entertaining. There is a lot of creepy atmosphere in the horror scenes and it feels very inspired by horror films from the 70s and 80s. The rubber masks used for the zombies are very reminiscent of films like Creepshow and Burial Ground for instance. Good choice of location as well.

Overall, for something made by people with little experience and money this was a well done film.

A demon from another dimension kidnaps a boy and tries to raise him as his own. But when the child becomes an adult, he begins to resent the demon and travels back home. Other demons follow him back to earth and raise an army of zombies. The monsters invade his hometown and kill everyone they come across.

The Demon's rook is clearly made by a big fan of horror and special effects. There are a lot of impressive creature designs and splatter scenes at display here. The prosthetics and masks used in the film have a neat retro-vibe to them and are a breath of fresh air in a time where cgi-overuse is frequent in modern cinema. The cinematography is very stylish as well and reminiscent of films like Creepshow and Suspiria with all it's colored lights.

But it seems the director was so occupied with trying to make a film that looks good, he forgot about making a coherent story. The plot is somewhat difficult to follow at times and there are too many scenes that only consist of one-dimensional characters being introduced and then just get killed minutes later.

The hero and his girlfriend are fairly fleshed out and developed, but nearly all of the secondary characters are slasher movie stereotypes such as rednecks, bimbos or drunks. There is a female artist who seems to have some kind of psychic link with the demons, but this is not developed much or explained. Which would have been more interesting to see instead of another scene of an expandable teenager getting eaten alive.

The story also could've needed more buildup and a better climax. The ending is very anti-climactic and the villains are defeated ridiculously easy.

The Demon's rook is a gory retro-styled splatter with lots of practical effects that will entertain horror fans, but viewers who crave a film with more interesting characters and a more well-constructed story might skip it.