Fallen Angels

Fallen Angels is an unusual horror film. It moves fast, has demons and cool kills, quite a few actually, and immerses you in a great story. With Screamfest you have to appreciate the wide range of films that are all in one genre but yet span so many differences. Hatchet plays like an original 80s slasher film with style and wit, Feast is an awesome monster romp, and Behind the Mask was a great mockumentary. Bringing me to the new Fallen Angels, a very creepy and elaborate demon movie with a great cast, featuring all the genre greats, and an even better story. From the start, I didn't know what I was watching as the film moved from one location to the next introducing themes and characters that ultimately all tie together in a very satisfying and original ending. The effects are awesome, Bill Moseley did rock! in a very different role for him, and all the actors fleshed out characters that are different from what we normally see as cannon fodder in films. Plus, the main location of the prison is both breath taking and chilling. My only complaint is with the score. Sometimes overbearing, is is somewhat powerful but very overpowering, sometimes less is more guys. At times sexy (love the dominatrix) and at times scary (love the Bill Moseley vs. Kane Hodder scene), Fallen Angels is always rewarding for telling a great story with cool creatures. The final frames are very unusual for the genre but provide a great cinematic experience.

I tried, I really did, but this movie couldn't hold together long enough to keep even the most rabid horror buff in their seat. The movie starts off with a crazy scene and then jumps to some other point in the film; one of the many disjoints that loses you and leaves you wondering why. It's like this fill is some absurd puzzle the audience has to try and put together themselves, it might have made more sense if I put the DVD player on shuffle and watched it that way.

Acting was fairly decent, but at times really boring. The action scenes were over-done, yet quite gory, so you might get some recompense for the crappy plot. In the end you'll simply ask yourself why you even bothered sticking with it, as that will be an hour and a half of your life you'll never get back. Avoid unless you want to donate the money to the production of another crappy flick like this one.

The plot: In an abandoned prison, several people end up hunted down by demons.

There are some interesting elements that work in Fallen Angels, but, overall, the movie is dragged down by bad acting, bad writing, and bad directing. If you're a big fan of cult movies, then you'll probably be drawn in by the numerous cameos. However, if you're interested in seeing anything more than semi-famous B movie stars, I think you're going to be very disappointed. A bigger budget would have fixed some of the problems, but it would still be a clichéd, derivative ripoff of Clive Barker's Hellraiser.

One of the more annoying aspects of this movie is the amount of silly Christian propaganda and sermonizing. If you're a Christian, then I guess this probably won't bother you much. I have no problem with movies using Christian mythology and symbolism (such as The Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby), but, when they start getting preachy, I rapidly begin losing my patience.

Instead of watching this amateurish movie, I'd suggest you check out Hellraiser or Hellraiser 2. If you're truly desperate for low budget, gory Hellraiser ripoffs, you can even try the later sequels, but I wouldn't recommend it. I might also recommend a somewhat recent movie called Necromentia, which I liked more than many other reviewers.

I've been looking forward to Fallen Angels for a long time, as I loved Jeff Thomas's other movie, 13 Seconds. While 13 Seconds had it's flaws, mostly in the acting and dialog, I thought it was a brilliant movie. It was a good story, a great twist ending, and some seriously creepy filming.

Scenes like the reflection in the doorknob and the upside down creature in the airvent were brilliance in their simplicity. I put 13 Seconds near the very top of my list of favorite Horror movies.

So I was really looking forward to his follow-up film, especially since it seemed he had more money to put into it, and had a slew of Horror Cult legends in the cast.

And while Fallen Angels wasn't a bad movie by any means, I was pretty disappointed. It looked like there was more focus toward making scenes just for the sake of putting familiar actors in the movie then there was in telling a good story. Many of the characters aren't even around long enough to make any kind of real impact or let the viewer make an emotional investment in them.

The great Reggie Bannister was here, then gone. Michael Berryman had a quick scene. Christy Hemme, who looked great, was in the film for all of 7 seconds, with no dialog. It seems like the addition of so many 'names' took away from the overall quality of the film.

Also, much of the film was too dark. It was difficult to see what was going on in some scene. I know the film was taking place in the sub-basement of an abandoned prison, and it's supposed to be dark, but the lighting could've been better.

I did enjoy the movie though, although it's probably not one I'd watch again and again like 13 Seconds. The scene with the Medium was very well done, probably my favorite in the movie. The ending 'revelation' was pretty cool, although it's execution came off a little bit hokey, and some of the kill scenes with the teeth pulling were pretty intense.

I will say it was a much better horror film then the garbage the big budget movie studio's have been pushing out for the last several years. Mainstream horror has really lost it's way over the years, unless another mindless, by the numbers, Saw sequel is your thing. I'll take a good indy flick from the likes of Jeff Thomas or Dante Tomaselli over that nonsense any day of the week.

Jeff Thomas is a very talented film maker. All you have to do is watch Fallen Angels and especially 13 Seconds to see that. And I have a ton of confidence that by the time he's finished, he's gonna have a long line of great horror films under his belt.

But for his future work, he needs to focus on making a great movie and telling a good story more then making a film that tries to jam as many Kane Hodders and Reggie Bannisters into a 90 minute film as he can.

Oh...and Peter Brady? C'mon Jeff.

That being said, I'll be eagerly awaiting Jeff Thomas's next film, whenever and whatever that may be.

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Kenny

I ordered Fallen Angels from Amazon and watched it from beginning to end including the commentary. I was very impressed on how the movie did not seem like an independent film. The entire film flowed smoothly and kept my interest the entire time. Law and Order is one of my favorite television series so I personally enjoyed the "CSI" type plot. I especially enjoyed how each part of the movie kept you guessing what was going to happen at the end, it made you want to keep watching. The ending really surprised me but it made sense how each piece of the film fit and came together at the end. The ending truly required a lot of thought as it had theoretical and religious meaning. I thought the acting was fabulous and each actor did a great job portraying their character. It takes someone with true talent to make this type of movie. I highly encourage anyone who enjoys horror films to watch Fallen Angels. I will be looking forward to more films written and directed by Jeff Thomas.