London Voodoo

I caught this film at the NY Independent Film Fest in LA and, not knowing much about the film I took a gamble on the excellent poster (not the one shown here but the voodoo doll one). Wow! Did the gamble pay off! This movie has it all - superb acting, directing and script. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. What this film lacks in blood it makes up in depth of characterisation and story layers - the old lady's suicide pact with her dead husband, the psycopathic nanny, the insensitive businessman etc. etc. It'll keep you guessing until the end. It's been a week now since I saw this movie and I can't stop talking about it. If you're into slashers or zombie movies then this isn't likely to be for you but if you like European supernatural thrillers - GO SEE IT!

Dark Star

Whilst Rob Pratten has to be commended for making a truly independent british horror film, the end result, like most British independent horror films is a mixed bag in which the film makers undeniable talent and ambition is compromised by a lack of resources and self restraint. Lifting several cliched ideas from The Omen and Amityville Horror, London Voodoo tells the tale of an unlikely American couple who move to London in an attempt to salvage their relationship, but whose fortunes take a turn for the worse when they discover that their new home is haunted by a voodoo spirit. Whilst you can see the commercial logic in writing american characters into the lead roles, the unknown, ex-pat actors that Pratten cast, both deliver uncharismatic leaden performances and their characters are written in such a heavy handed, unsympathetic way that unfortunately this debut effort falls at the first hurdle. Once you get over this initial disappointment, there are moments and contributions that suggest what could have been, particularly Trisha Mortimer as the 'love-keeper' who manages to breath life into Prattens inconsistant dialogue and Voda Barnes who although over-written is suitably sexy as the Au-Pair. Comic relief is provided by the two decorators and supporting afro-carribean cast add flavour to otherwise dull proceedings. Also worthy of note are the businessmen in the office scenes, which demonstrate that when Pratten is not trying to make a load of spookery convince, he's actually quite a good writer/director. Shot hand held on 16mm with basic lighting the film has the look of a television special, the locations are functional as opposed to aesthetic and the synthesised score home-spun and cliched. The best production values can be found in the voodoo paraphanalia which suggest authenticity and a great deal of research. At 98 minutes the film is too long and would benefit tremendously from a ten minute trim, particularly the scenes where various voodoo practioners stop the narrative dead to deliver pages of expository mumbo jumbo in an attempt to give some kind of spiritual context to the proceedings. I gave this film 4 out of 10, shows promise but must try harder.

Voodoo is alive and fashionable in this novel, swank supernatural chiller! Engaging, to-the-point cinematography, Steven Severin's moody score, and a fresh, pensive story make London Voodoo an arty choice for the thinking horror patron. It's brooding, yet suspenseful, with good timing and a quick pace. This is writer/director Robert Patten's first of two independent feature efforts. Patten achieves a good balance between credible horror and reality that doesn't insult our intelligence.

Business executive Lincoln Mathers (Doug Cockel) and his wife Sarah (Sara Stewart), move to a posh London town house. It's everything they could want. Quaint, chic, and historic, with a pair of century-old corpses in the basement. Of course, the moldy cadavers aren't a selling point. Sarah discovers them during renovations. That's normal for an old historic house, right? Except maybe for the eyes-rolled-up-in-the-back-of-her-head seizure Sarah endures when she tampers with them Buried with the bodies are oddball religious artifacts. Sarah's damned curious. Her latest hobby is local historical research, and she wants to solve the cadaver mystery. Doug is overwhelmed with a new high-salaried, 16 hour-a-day, executive position. He wants Sarah out of his hair so he leaves her to it.

Makes sense.

Sarah's hobby turns out to be ... well, consuming. The cellar dwellers aren't actually dead, they just smell that way. They're an evil Voodoo priestess and her lover, slain by her prior followers. The un-dead duo decide that existing in their decaying, de-animated bodies under the basement floor is a bit boring. The priestess condemns Sarah's sumptuous body for a soul transfer, and she's taking possession now! Before you can say, "that old black magic," Sarah's mere presence sours milk and rots fruit.. She finds deep joy in collecting bits of Doug's skin and hair. Sarah prowls the flat like a puma in heat. clad in BDSM lingerie, nipples erect, an obsessive, determined look in her eye. When Doug postpones sex to read a prospectus sent home by the boss, Sarah rips off the cover page, stuffs it between her legs, then crams it in his mouth while cursing in Creole.

The friendly neighborhood Voodoo sect wants to help, but Doug dismisses them as crackpots. ( Not that they're any stranger than the way Sarah's been acting.) Doug's too distracted with his soul sucking finance job to do more than write off Sarah's shenanigans as a midlife crisis. But as Sarah transforms into an undulating, deviant, sexually insatiable vixen, family politics grow awkward.

That local Voodoo cult has a solution, if Doug will only listen. It's not a pleasant treatment option to say the least, but Doug had better wise up because the Voodoo vixen and her dead lover think Doug's man-flesh is just what the witch doctor ordered.

Viewers may remember movie composer Steven Severin from Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sara Stewart as Martha Wayne in Batman Begins.

Fans of the genre seeking other intelligent entries of the same quality as London Voodoo might also enjoy Don't Look Now (1973), The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988), and True Believer (1989).

An unpleasant yuppie and his bland wife find a couple of old corpses in their basement but refuse to involve the police or any other authority because she thinks that it's very curious and wants to know more.

A boring tale of possession and bad acting follows, sustained by a questionable script and a limping plot.

London Voodoo is plainly the worst low budget horror I have ever seen... and I've seen almost all of 'em!

I can't even think of enough bad words to describe it. Whoever made this film should be ashamed of themselves. Why would you put as much effort, time and money into producing such a pointless and boring piece of cinema? The film has nothing to hold the attention of fans of *any* genre let alone horror.

I've seen more interesting things crawling along the baseboards in camp restrooms. Good grief... I'm simply lost for words at how bad this is. Choose anything but this to fill up your time... anything!