Black Mass

The previous reviewer was incorrect. The original title WAS Black Mass. Prior to that Hellshock was also bandied about. I ought to know-I was in it. For a low budget film it was done quite well. All the gear in the film was authentic. It was shot in a small town in North central PA in May of 2005.You know IMDb some films don't require 10 lines of description.A prologue was added when the name was changed to the da'vinci curse. Later it was released in Japan as Army of Wolves. It has gone through several title changes and has been re-edited to adhere to various markets. But the original Black Mass was a decent Twilight Zone- esque supernatural thriller.

It takes some major suspension of disbelief to become truly immersed in Black Mass, the latest in a long line of horror features from the minds behind Camp Motion Pictures, but once you've broken past the obvious budget constraints, you'll find a very satisfying little film.

The film is set in the midst of World War II, when battle was at its height. A group of GIs find themselves trapped in the midst of a violent gunfight and eventually take refuse in a lone church, deep in the woods. There, strange, supernatural things begin occurring and the men begin to believe that they are not alone.

The acting is all well above average for a film of this budget, but the movie could have benefited from some younger talent. The men featured in the film are all uniformly good, but seem much too old to be playing military grunts.

The effects are impressive, given the budget, but occasionally try to reach further than they should. In particular, a tank battle comes off as extremely fake, reminding me more of a toy commercial than an intense military battle. On the other hand, a bombed-out shelter and sky full of planes both look amazing, and special care is taken with the occasional CGI supernatural ghoul.

All-in-all, this is an impressive outing, and would have gotten an even higher rating if the effects hadn't tried too hard. While I commend the filmmakers for trying to make the film contain everything a WW2 feature should, pushing it too hard makes the occasional sub-par effect all the worse.

Still, even with the occasional fault, I give Black Mass a strong "7". Its a very impressive film from a clever bunch of filmmakers, and I look forward to see more of their work in the future. This one is well-worth a viewing.