The Gravedancers

Mike Mendez's follow up to his kick butt movie The Convent is a mixed bag of tricks. some work, some don't. Gravedancers tells the creative and original story of a group of friends reunited by a funeral. On the night of the occasion they get drunk and accidentally dance on some graves releasing the evil spirits in the wrong side of the cemetery. The spirits of a rapist/murderer, a pyre maniac and another murderer. The friends are haunted by these ghosts according to the curse for a month. And as the month comes to a close the paranormal attacks become stronger and stronger as the ghosts try to take the people with them. It's an intriguing concept and much fun is to be had with it. The performances are all decent, the story is creative and the movie is a little slow at the start but is wildly inventive and macabre once it gets going. Everything in the film is done with a winking eye so you can appreciate the film without feeling to guilty about it. The makeup is cartooned and freaky while the cgi is a little fake looking but an understandable necessity with a low budget especially in a film of this caliber. My main gripes however don't come with the film, it's more with the way it was released. You know i didn't mind shelling out 9.50 for this movie but I'm mad as heck that the film's sound transfer was messed up and sounded mono, and the film quality was amateur looking. It wasn't even fine tuned or polished by After Dark. what could've been delightfully freakish come across humorously because of the films lighting. It's dreadfully bright which kind of kills the suspense of a horror flick. The film looks like a rough cut and should have been really touched up before getting a theatrical release. Because they had a good product but ruined it with no effort at all. This doesn't bode well for their film company or the continuing success of a festival of this sorts. But in conclusion I would just like to say although not on the par of a worthy theatrical release this is definitely worth a look on DVD.

I was lucky enough to see "Gravedancers" at Another Hole in the Head film festival in S.F., if you were not one of the lucky members of the audience, keep your eyes peeled for the DVD you won't be disappointed.

For fans of director Mike Mendez, who's know for adding comedic elements to his films, "Gravedancers" is a slight departure from his previous work on films like "The Convent". This time Mendez goes the straight horror route and it works out magnificently. While there are moments of genuine levity, it never distracts from the film, as proved by the screams echoing from the audience at the Roxie last night. "Gravedancers" is a unique take on the rather stale "haunting" formula, and is full of self-aware characters in a well rounded script that doesn't send stupid people into stupid situations.

I was shocked at how great the film looked, if you held this film up next to any of those crappy bloated multiplex horror flicks starring some blonde ditz from a forgettable UPN/WB show, I think you'd have a hard time figuring out which cost more. The atmosphere is perfectly creepy and has many moments that will have you squirming in your seat. Great sound effects and prosthetics add to create some truly creepy ghosts, and probably the best use of a "floating ghost" since the original "House on Haunted Hill". It may have taken almost 50 years but at least somebody has made ghosts scary again. Three cheers for Mike Mendez.

...till I'm sure that you're dead!(B.Dylan) Profanations have become frequent nowadays and it is a burning subject which deserved a responsible writer and a reliable director.

The movie fails twice: mediocre story,poor acting,awful directing relying on horrible (and non-scary) special effects.The movie hits rock bottom when they hire ghost busters (from a famous university of course),one of them is the unfortunate Tcheky Karyo in what is perhaps the worst part of his career;he is abetted by a bubble head assistant (collaborator,she says)."The night of the living dead" has still no contenders in this field.

I didn't know what to expect from the so called horror fest this weekend but I liked the trailer for The Grave Dancers so I picked this one to go see at the theater. I liked the way the movies characters both live and ghostly inter acted together and how the story moved and flowed through different characters' personal issue. The film had really good make up and the camera work and shooting was a real eye opener. It was well done. The story at times was predictable at times but the last few scenes really kicks it into high geared as the ghosts let it be known that they are not happy and become completely visible. At times it was a actually funny but I like to be positive and not just trash films because you have to have a level of respect for anyone who creates a film and gets it into a theater of any kind. I did like the fact that the writers didn't feel they needed to be a complete gore slasher type film, so often now blood and guts is king and I don't always need to see all that if it isn't needed to pull off the story. I recommend this film to anyone looking for a good horror type film that doesn't have to have blood coming from all angles to make you feel a little spooked.

The former friends Harris (Dominic Purcell), Kira (Josie Maran) and Sid (Marcus Thomas) reunite for drinking after the funeral service of an old friend that died in a car accident. When the bar closes, Sid proposes to go to the Cresent View Cemetery to say farewell to his friend and drink more. Once there, Sid finds a letter in a tombstone, reads it and they dance on three graves. On the next days, weird things happen in the house of Harris and his wife Allison (Clare Kramer), but Allison believes it is Kira, who has a crush on Harris, stalking them. They go to Kira's house and find her wounded in a completely destroyed place. Later Sid calls them and they are introduced to the paranormal investigators Vincent Cochet (Tcheky Kayro) and Frances (Megahn Perry), who tell them that Sid read an ancient spell that cursed the trio and brought back the ghosts of the graves from the damned sector of the cemetery where they danced. He also discloses that Harris and Allison are being haunted by an insane ax murderer pianist; Kira by a sadistic rapist; and Sid by a pyromaniac. They have to break the curse or survive for an entire cycle of the full moon when the curse would finish, while the ghosts are getting stronger and stronger.

Yesterday I saw "The Gravedancers" on cable and I really liked this horror movie. The supernatural ghost story is original and scary, having right doses of humor and funny moments, and the acting is reasonable. This is the first time that I see the idea of bringing ghosts back from hell through the disrespect to the grave of the dead, and I found it great. This movie is highly recommended to fans of the genre. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Carta Para a Morte" ("Letter to the Death")