Horror

First off, I am a fan of Dante Tomaselli's work, ever since seeing the creepy and bizarre "Desecration," with it's disturbing visuals and obscure dark/erotic overtones. (A film featuring zombie nuns from Hell cannot fail IMO.) His other film, "Satan's Playground" I liked immensely as well, and found it a fun, atmospheric classic of low budget horror. So what happened here, i wonder? "Horror" is a disaster, and seems like it might have been his first film. While the eye catching cinematography is there, the style, the weird atmosphere etc, this one is sabotaged by the most laughable makeup effects since Ed Wood was making films. The "ghouls" here look like the kids on Halloween after being made up by their mothers with food coloring and cookie dough! Props meant to be scary look like plastic decorations you would find on any suburban front yard around the holidays. None of the "actors" could land a part as a bush in a high school play, and Kreskin is more zombie-like than the laughable zombies who appear halfway through the film (for no reason whatsoever.) What a wasted opportunity, as there are good things about this film, like the beautiful cinematography, the seeds of a fascinating story, and an ending that is actually the best thing about the whole thing. I like actor Danny Lopes, who appears in all of Tomaselli's films so far. He was good as the teen loner in Desecration, and believable as the autistic boy in 'Satan's Playground," and has a definite screen presence. "Horror" also suffers from going the sellout route of using the tired "teens in a haunted house" setup. A few good scenes drown in a sea of underwhelming tripe, "Horror" is perhaps the only film in history where the most interesting character was a billie goat...

Fool me twice, shame on me. I watched HORROR without associating the name Dante Tomaselli to that home movie horror film DESECRATION. So as I sat there, falling asleep and wondering if I had laundry to do, it dawned on me that I'd seen this mish-mash of confusing non-plot and "disturbing" imagery before somewhere, then I remembered. I almost turned the movie off right there, but I believe in giving every film I begin a chance to turn around and improve before it ends. No such luck.

Bad acting from C-grade horror celebs and amateurishly directed and edited. From the other posts I've read here, at least Mr. Tomaselli is entertaining his friends, family and colleagues.

HORROR is meant to be disjointed, disorienting, and disturbing. It succeeds at being all three. Like any nightmare, things jump around in chronology, or mutate into something completely different. The images -the goat, the jack-o-lanterns, etc.- are all part of Director Dante Tomaselli's dream / fun house approach to filmmaking. He prefers things off-kilter and gloomy.

The film's main character, Grace Salo (Lizzy Mahon) is at the mercy of her malevolent parents (Christie Sanford and Vincent Lamberti), who keep her drugged and imprisoned. Enter a trio of mushroom-eating teens, who arrive at the Salo place for a party. Due to the combination of drugs, the constant dream state, and the dark forces in play, the story twists around like a non-linear pretzel!

Since time and space cease to have much relevance, HORROR only makes sense on its own bizarre terms. Critics seem to take it far too seriously, as if the world may end after viewing it. Rabid fans take the opposite stance, as if this were the greatest horror movie ever filmed. Neither side is correct. In actuality, it's a decent little low-low-budget movie that gets high marks for heavy atmosphere and an overall sense of inescapable doom...

Reverand Salo Jr. invites five teenage druggies who escape from rehab to come to his secluded house on a promise of salvation. Salo Jr. and his wife's daughter, Grace, is very unhappy, but keeps getting dreams and visions of her grand-father, Salo Sr. (Kreskin, whom I refuse to call him 'Amazing'). Some of the teens have adverse effects to the drug that Salo Jr. had given them prior to them breaking out of rehab. Both the plot lines will entangle before long. OK, about this film. Weird & obtuse does NOT automatically equate to scariness and Kreskin is not a good actor bring the whole movie down. Is it a bad film? That's debatable. Is it a good horror movie? hell no it isn't.

My Grade: D

DVD Extras: Director's Commentary; 9 and a half minute Behind the scenes featurette; on the set with Kreskin; Photo Gallery; "Desecration" video short; Extended Horror Trailer; and Trailer for "Desecration"

Okay, I first want to state that I had seen Dante's first effort "Desecration" and thought that it sucked. Of course it didn't totally suck, but it fails on the same level that "Horror" failed on - its beautiful crap.

I really wanted to love both films after hearing that this filmmaker was a Godsend to horror fanatics everywhere – so me being the huge horror fan I am was excited. My excitement was lessened after seeing "Desecration," and even more so after "Horror." "Horror" has so many flaws it would be impossible to name them all off, but I'll try. At the beginning of the film the audience is introduced to a group of stoners escaping rehab and venture off to Rev. Salo's house of horror, unaware that horror is what awaits them. Then one kid turns blue, pukes, and then never seen of heard from again after the camera cuts as all the blue guy's friends are trying to help him! What the hell? We as an audience are introduced to a character only to forget about? Why was he there in the first place? Dumb.

The editing is also done poorly. We as an audience haven't the slightest clue as to what the hell is happening - usually that would be effective, but in order for it to be effective the audience must feel for the characters, so it didn't help too much that the actors were on and off – but mostly off – and the delivery of the dialogue is bad... maybe because the dialogue given was god-awful. So, in terms of the effective "what the hell is going on?" scenario, I really couldn't care less.

It doesn't help when the ending makes no sense and is cheesy as hell.

Oddly, the set design and cinematography are unbelievably gorgeous, and the camera-work is terrific. The landscape of a snowy wilderness is both haunting and beautifully Gothic. The use of Christmas lights and ornaments is the perfect contrast to the eerie going-ons (I will admit, some of the more macabre moments are deliciously effective, just most are just plain stupid) and the lonesome, haunted look of some of the homes. The use of the POV shots, ala "The Evil Dead," are very cool… and the goat is creepy. More of the goat would have been more than welcome.

Sadly, overall "Horror" was just a perfect example of what we all hate in the genre some of us hold dear. I have noticed a lot of people, as well as critics, have loved this movie and admired its strangeness, but as much I love horror and generally strange surreal rides, I couldn't like this movie. It's still worth a look for its look, but (at least for me) there is nothing else beneath its beautiful, Gothic surface.

Hopefully Dante's next effort – "Satan's Playground" – will be more of a departure of what "Desecration" and "Horror" were: beautiful trash.

3 out of 10