Carnage

One of Andy Milligan's better efforts, this is basically a cash-in of Amityville Horror done in Milligan style, a low-budget production and a less slick but competent version.

That it is a cash-in is evident from the plot, religious icons, and specifically from the wholesale repeating of the infamous shot of the spooky Amityville house in ever-increasing zoom cuts used to emphasize the fact that it's a haunted house. However, this is done in an amateur style here.

Much else about the film is amateurish, but done with intensity so that it is enjoyable nonetheless. There's plenty of moments where you'd think a little bit more effort would have greatly improved the production, but then that would be hindsight. Who really knows what obstacles such a low-budget effort has except those involved? Acting is also typical of low-budget, though not without merit, especially the actress playing the Mother-in-Law, she's particularly good and attractive as well.

The gore quotient is fairly high, again done with minimal budget, so some effects are good and some are lesser. There's such items as hand chopped off, decapitation, disemboweling, stuff that was typical for the time. This can be gotten cheaply on a DVD from EastWest DVD as a double feature with Class Reunion Massacre, also a very decent low-budget shocker that has gained a cult status, so it's a DVD worth getting.

My review was written in April 1986 after watching the movie on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.

"Carnage" is an old-hat, poorly made horror picture, shot in New York in 1983 under the title "Hell House". Filmmaker Andy Milligan, whose heyday was about 15 years earlier with pics like "The Ghastly Ones", delivers pure corn here and the feature went directly to home video without a domestic theatrical release.

Leslie Den Dooven and Michael Chiodo portray newlyweds Carol and Jonathan who move into a bargain house (a la "The Money Pit") where three years earlier a groom killed his bride and then committed suicide. Of course the site is haunted by that couple and many visitors are killed in gory fashion while inanimate objects move around amid other supernatural happenings.

For unexplained reasons, Carol and Jonathan love the house and won't leave no matter what mayhem occurs. Not surprisingly, they also become eternal residents. Picture is padded with inconsequential footage and a boring subplot involving a pregnant friend of theirs, Ann (Chris Baker) whose marriage is on the rocks.

Gore is exaggerated and phony, while special effects shots are amateurish. Milligan's use of a background score made up of library music makes the film seem at least 20 years older than its copyright date.

I should start by saying that "Carnage" was my introduction into Andy Milligan films. Not only are his films just terrible, but they are actually a lot of fun to watch, if you can get yourself prepared for them. "Carnage' is definitely no different. With some of the worst acting and special effects ever, I found quite a lot to like about this grade "Z" film.

The story starts with a couple living in a somewhat mansion. Something terrible has happened as they both kill each other in a loving? embrace. A year passes and the house is sold to a newly wed couple. Instantly, things aren't how they should be as objects move by themselves. Things start out on the subtle side but then get worse as people start dying. Some in rather gruesome form.

This is probably the worst haunted house movie ever made. The objects that move around are obviously used by strings and the sort. But that isn't what makes the special effects so bad. There is a few scenes that are in question here. Example: two burglars brake into the basement of the house in the middle of the night. When weird things start happening, one of the burglars starts climbing out of a window. An axe floats towards his hand and hits him with just the handle. Magically, his hand falls off in a bloody mess. Also, a scene where a priest is running out of the house and a butcher knife hits him in the shoulder, the next scene the butcher knife is in his head. This is the type of silliness you see in the movie.

The acting is pretty boring. I don't know if this is the actors fault as they weren't given much to work with and let's face it, Andy Milligan is just not a good director. Anyone acting under his directing is not going to exactly shine. It is this problem that makes the movie mostly slow and uninteresting if you aren't ready for it.

Altogether, this was a bad movie. It doesn't mean it wasn't fun, it was just bad. It is the type of film you get some friends together with and watch to crack jokes with. 6/10

A newlywed couple moves into their new home and are ready to settle into their new life together.After settling in,the couple begins experiencing some strange occurrences in the home and discovers the truth behind them.It seems the former owners of the home were a newlywed couple that committed suicide years before and are now haunting the place.Extremely unconvincing and badly acted haunted house flick cheaply made by Andy Milligan.There is some disgusting gore including the scene of intestines being pulled out of a man's stomach as it is cut into with scissors.Only for fans of grindhouse trash.5 out of 10.

I bet this film had a great poster. They must've spent the money on something.

This is an ultra-cheap knockoff of films like The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist. It's about a newly-wed couple who move into a new house in which the previous tenants – another newly-wed couple – died in a sort of suicide pact. It's not exactly like this is an original concept. The problem Carnage has primarily is that its ambition vastly outstrips its budget and talent. There are many, many ghostly occurrences depicted but 90% of them seem to be bits of furniture and gardening equipment moving slightly. Scary kettle! Scary paper! Scary candle! It's basically atrocious. There are a few gore scenes spliced into the story to liven things up but they are not exactly convincing; especially the scene where the burglar is disembowelled – his guts looks suspiciously like Chinese noodles. None of this would matter so much but the pacing of the film is bad and the overall effect is one of boredom.

It's difficult to recommend this unfortunately.