Rastacat1

Boo is a standard yarn of teenagers hanging out in a remote and haunted place, this time in an abandoned hospital. As in most of these types of movies, some make it out alive and some don't. There is inventiveness in the manner of deaths, and also the destruction (albiet temporarily) of ghosts. The movie made me jump on several occasions and two friends I know who saw it loved it and another who had to stop around the 30 minute mark as she was getting too creeped out. There is a fair amount of blood and gore in the unrated version I saw, but no nudity. The acting was okay, if not enthusiastic, for a low budget horror with production values fairly high for this direct to video release.

This movie is hugely entertaining and the best homage to Night of the Living Dead, Bad Taste and The Evil Dead ever made. When strange weather phenomena occurs in a small Australian town, zombies start appearing. A small group of people end up in a house to fight them off but have to fight their way out as one of them needs medical attention. The rest of the movie is spent on fighting the zombies and revealing their origin. The gore and blood are plentiful and first rate. The effects are mostly "real" and cgi is at a minimum. There is comedy throughout but is more of the dry, Aussie/Brit variety so is not overwhelming or overly stupid. It made me laugh out loud on many occasions. The dialogue is pretty witty and there are many memorable and quotable lines. There is also a nice twist towards the end of the story and a good finish that wraps it up, while still leaving It open for a deserved sequel.

The vampires drink blood to survive but besides this they seem pretty human. They can tolerate daylight, but not direct sunlight. They also are not all that powerful, but the head vampire can summon one of his brood from afar, and no mention is ever made of immortality.

I liked everything in the movie until a scene where where the vampires are sent into turmoil by the hero making a sloppy sign of the cross on his chest in blood. The idea of the scene is fine, but a better looking cross would have been much more believable. Besides that, the movie creates a great mood and very watchable, fast-paced story. There is almost no downtime or slow or boring scenes. The Van Helsing like character of Professor Zimmer is unique in that he is a weirdo, reclusive drunk, instead of the dashing and able know-it-all Van Helsing.

The picture is decent enough in a 1.66:1 transfer, considering it is not anamorphic, but there were many scenes with an over saturation of red. The sound had many pops and crackles and the disk has only scene access on the menu. There are no extras at all, not even a trailer. Disk shortcomings aside, the movie surprised me with how effective it was and how watchable it was 39 years after release. If you can get the movie for under $15, I would definitely consider adding it to your collection.