Grave Danger

This movie is a parody of B-movies. The director is a connoisseur of them. You have all the elements of a B-movie. There is plenty of gore. There is some good acting. The soundtrack is good as well. You've got plenty of hunting and killing. You also have no lack of nudity in this film. This is a labor of love. It's interesting how Jim Haggerty has taken his previous films and showed them in this one. At times, it feels as if one is in a parallel universe where people watch only Jim Haggerty films. He has progressed from the days of The Slasher to this movie. The production values have increased. The film has also improved. Give it a try.

Jim Haggerty has come up with a winner for this, his third film. A homage to low budget horror anthologies, the film contains three vignettes and a wrap-around story to tie the whole thing together. We begin the film by meeting Becky, who receives a phone call from an anonymous threatening stranger. He demands that she listen to a story, then tell him one, then listen to a third. In our first story, we meet Victor, a man who thinks he is being followed by a man in a tuxedo that only he can see. There is a lot of ambiguity in this story- is the man real, or only in Victor's imagination? The acting in this story was good, with Jae Mosc really shining in the lead role. The other actors were not quite up to par with his performance, but overall, everyone did well, and Haggerty really conveys a sense of confusion, suspense, and dread with this tale. There were a few issues with the lighting in some scenes, but for a movie of this budget, it is to be expected. The second tale is the story of housewife Carol, and her overbearing and abrasive husband Jeff. Vic Martino does such a great job as the Jeff, he practically steals the whole show- he is spot on and most of his raving is hilarious. Haggerty doesn't allow this to veer into cartoonish behavior altogether however, as he makes sure to include the meanness aspect of such behavior. Very smart move on his part. Back to the story, Carol finds a tribal statue in a store, and brings it home, which causes a 180 degree turnaround in her behavior, and leads us to the shocking conclusion to this tale. The segment seemed like it dragged a bit, but not enough that i would say it detracted form the film for me. Haggerty saved the best segment for last, and that is the tale of retired ventriloquist Abe, and his sick wife Isabelle. Bud Stafford and Kaye Bramblett give the best performances in the film as Abe and Isabelle, and i almost thought they were real-life husband and wife. Cathy St George also does a great job as the therapist. Haggerty adds a very human side to this story, and by not being afraid to bring up some topics of real life concern and emotional weight, he lifts this story up far past the level where it could have stayed. As for the story itself, Abe comes out of retirement to help pay for Isabelle's medication, gets hired to perform at a party for some (mostly) obnoxious youths, and we learn why Isabelle had reservations about Abe working with his dummy Phineas again. Haggerty also makes a statement with the behavior of Jenny (the nice girl, whose birthday party Abe is hired to perform at) and her boyfriend, and "friends", a group that make pond scum seem like convent dwellers. Bud and Kaye excluded, some of the acting in this segment was a bit hit or miss, and again there were a few issues with lighting. Also, the voice of Phineas is such that it is sometimes difficult to understand what he is saying. None of this stops this from being the best segment in the film however. We end by returning to the wrap around segment, where Becky learns with surprise who her phone tormentor is, and then Haggerty throws in one last twist to end the film. One thing not mentioned so far is that there is quite a bit of humor in the movie, and Haggerty knows how to make it work in the context of this genre, which is a skill he develops further with each film he releases. There is also quite a bit of nudity and a fair amount of gore and violence, but Haggerty is smart enough not to overdo it with any of these aspects, and keeps the film pretty well-balanced throughout. Overall, this is fun movie, you can tell that a lot of hard work and enthusiasm went into making it, and it makes you look forward to see what Haggerty has in store for us with future releases. One also can't help but wonder what kind of film he could make if he was given a bigger budget to work with. We can only hope that at some point that opportunity will present itself.

Although released in 2009, the film strangely has the look of a late '70s campy horror anthology. Maybe it's the low budget, maybe it's the treatment.. Whatever be the reason, viewers watching this sort of film are expected to know what they will be watching, so complaining is out of question.

Vic Martino rocked as Jeff - the over-bearing husband, and so did Bud Stafford, as the ventriloquist. Almost all the female leads in the film landed up naked at some point of time or the other. And because they were not too well-toned, or particularly picturesque, the prolonged nudity became an eyesore after a while. Debbie was masculine and expressionless, Kate was just a pretty face, with no figure to speak of, Ann Yoo was tall but quite obnoxious, and Kaitlin Owens, as Jenny, couldn't act for nuts. In fact, I was waiting for Cathy St. George (the therapist) to strip sooner or later, but all she showed was her ample, pumped up cleavage and wonky lips.

There is a lot of ambiguity in the film, as pointed out by other reviewers, right from the beginning till the end. In fact, the way the ventriloquist drives off in a chauffeur-driven limousine at the end, puts a question mark as to whether he was actually a pauper, or was it a huge charade? In fact, the whole movie seems to be a charade, as the people in it are not quite what they seem to be.

I've watched all of Jim Haggerty's films and this is by far the most superior. It is incredible how he could pull this one off with a low budget because it has the look of a much higher budgeted film. His lead actors are all excellent. I love his idea of having a main plot line of a telephone stalker and a young woman and then spinning off this situation to three separate vignettes and coming back to the main story. I did think the last vignette could have been shortened, but it is compelling just the same. It is really interesting to watch Haggerty's development as a film maker. I also wish he would appear more in his films. He does a cameo here and his instincts are hysterical. If you are a fan of this genre, this is really fine. Enjoy!