Offerings

Offerings is of course a very blatant ripoff of the core idea of John Carpenter's classic Halloween, almost scene by scene at times. However, it is not without some merit when held on it's own accord.

It's major shortcoming falls with some of the acting performances. Some are really great while others are just really amateurish. This is probably due to the fact that the movie was made in Oklahoma, I think, somewhere in the Midwest anyways. There are two performances in the movie that really stand out as memorable. The cemetery caretaker (or gravedigger was it?) is the first one. A really funny offbeat performance that is meant to be funny and succeeds, and the actor is only in a scene for a minute or less. The 2nd performance was the Deputy Sheriff, which was overacted to the point that it worked perfectly that way. Again, it was a very small performance that lasted only a minute or so. The guy who played the Sheriff also deserves an honorable mention.

Offerings is a pretty fun slasher movie to watch just for a good laugh. It's not really what most people would call scary, but I like it just for the cheese factor.

For those interested, Offerings is now available on a budget DVD from Madacy Entertainment. Very professionally done, it even includes animated menus and the theatrical trailer...wooooo!

Offerings is a good horror flick that is worth seeing! The film was put together nicely, and scary too! When you first watch Offerings, you notice that it relates to the Halloween film...right down to the story line and even the music. Even though this film practically ripped off the formula from Halloween (metal case escapes, goes to his hometown, seeks revenge), all-in-all, Offerings is a fun, yet cheesy film filled with cheesy killings.

--If you have friends over while watching this film, make sure your not eating pizza or at least give a quick glance at the toppings.

--Like many slasher films, this one has only one cop dedicated to the case, and he is so nerdy and dumbfounded, it makes it all the more hilarious. A funny scene is when he apprehends a kid from trespassing and the kid says his name is "Ben Dover." It takes the cop 2 minutes to finally realize the punchline. Lines like "What's all this I hear about an ear?" adds to his gumpy character.

--Only thing that was annoying about the film was that the two lead girls always stayed in the house even though body parts were showing up around the house for a few days. It was like they were confined into the house. The ending could have had more explanation too. It even makes you feel sorry for the killer (in a funny sort of way).

--Overall, Offerings is not that bad of a film, it's definetely worth your while.

6/10

Much of this movie from a genre perspective is slow and un-propelled. The killer is utterly dull as well. But there are incidental sections of it that are worthwhile. There are some fun perverse little moments such as a female feeding her friend dog food or a pizza with human meat. Also a section with the two females watching a horror movie by themselves and commenting on how the female in the movie acts. It predates Scream (1996) and indeed the movie more or less devolves into a parody of itself. There is also a lot of black humour in the dialogue and some of the killings are creative. If the pace had been different this could have been a lot more fun and memorable. Note: the trailer appears to have shots of an alternate version of the last killing.

A young boy gets pushed down a well by some brats, kills his mother, gets sent to an asylum, breaks out as a teen, and returns home to get his revenge on all the kids who tormented him. In the meantime, he leaves little presents for the one girl who was kind to him.

We all love John Carpenter's Halloween, but Offerings loves it a little too much. The music is almost identical, every night time scene is bathed with that same blue light, and some of the story beats are the same, but that's sort of it's charm. If anything, this goes to show you that you can't recreate something no matter how hard you try.

I was on the crew. I worked special effects and mic placement. I was also "tall guy". This film was just an excuse to party. There was nothing serious about it. It was meant to be a bad spoof.And yes, Halloween similarities were discussed. There were a ton of people working on this thing just to have fun. Several crew members are in the classroom scene. I made sure I had something else to do that day. After it went to video, I got a small check. BTW, the director plays the doctor in the asylum.

There were 2 needles. The one that drew fluid wouldn't behave for a close up, so the camera didn't show the forehead. The chunky fluid came in from the top. The sparks on the fence were from a squib box I built. The exploding head shadow was a watermelon with a nose. A push rod gave it the extra splatter. My friend and I drove around all night looking for dead ducks. As the night went on, everything looked like a dead duck. When the sun came up, we just went to a farm and got some chickens. Luckily there was a dead duck at the pond for the shoot. I can't remember what was on the pizza. It was something strange from a meat department. I remember frying it up. I also made the dog food that got sampled.

Working and playing with that crew was one of the best times in my life.