Talisman

This plays like a Bizarro-world version of a Women-in-Prison movie. You remember Bizarro world from Superman comic books and Seinfeld episodes: everything is like our earth, but in an imperfect (really whacked-out) way. In this case, the classic Reform School, which in our reality would be full of nubile young girls who get hosed down, is full of nubile young men. There is a food-fight in the dining hall, a lock-down and even a trustee character who apparently is coercing his roommates into providing him with um...companionship. But when the plot should head toward showers and/or a breakout, the inmates/students start getting sacrificed on the apocalyptic demonic altar in the basement and then... Well, it's never as seedy as one might hope, but you've got to give Charles Band credit for trying something different.

Granted, this is not one of the better movies to come out of Full Moon since their departure from Paramount. It isn't one of the worst, either. David Decoteau (under alias), directs this seemingly gothic movie. I say "seemingly" because, where is is dark and dreary (which I liked that), it still doesn't develop into the dark, gothic opus it really could have.

I have noticed...Quit a few Full Moon films take a really good idea, and destroy it with low budget films, full of bad acting, bad directing and silly scripts. I really feel they should allow outside talent. Anyway, this was a good idea, which is described in other reviews, so I will leave it out. The sets were very dark and gloomy, the cemetary was kinda creepy in that European cemetary kinda way. The Fallen Angel, was kinda silly looking, but worked on the budget. The blood spraying was utterly silly and the 2-dimensional CGI flames were just pitiful.

This really could have been a decent movie, given a bigger budget and a director that really understand the subject matter.

5 out of 10

If you like horror movies, you have probably seen this movie, done better, before. The special effects were weak, mainly red glowing eyes, and hearts being burned out of chests. The acting was half-hearted at best, the actors seemed bored by the whole affair. The basic premise of the movie, is two teenage siblings, separated by a mysterious event in the past, hold the key to stopping a (very small) cult from helping a fallen angel destroy the world. Naturally this happens at a boarding school somewhere. The accents in the movie were awful. The fallen angel resembled a constipated Uncle Festor from the Adams Family, but he was the most menacing and convincing character in the movie. Interestingly enough the talisman the movie is named after is a large pewter-looking necklace, that features an upside-down cross superimposed on an upside-down pentagram. There wasn't any real character development, so who cared who died or didn't, so it wasn't dramatic or spooky. There wasn't enough camp to make this it cheesy. No black comedy, to make it a cult classic, so I guess this just has to be a bad movie. Watch the original Satan's School for Girls instead. I think that may have been the inspiration for this anyway.

Arriving at a strange European college, a student finds that a series of bizarre incidents around the school is the cause of a summoned demon that is trying to open the gates of Hell to unleash Armageddon on mankind requires his services to complete the ritual and tries to stop it.

While this one may not be one of the best entries out there, there's some decent stuff here. One of the better facets here is the film's rather nice setup offering a lot of details that are brought together here. With the overall discovery of the demonic incantations being applied by the staff and students at the facility, the connection with the family backstory involving his missing sister and the fateful accident with his parents, and the interconnected tales within everything here, it all serves well enough here to generate a highly enjoyable setup that has a lot to like. Making the least likely person the head of the whole apocalyptic plan was a bit of a stretch to believe thinking about afterward, but it keeps the viewer hooked into thinking anything can happen as there's a lot of mystery wrung out of this that captivates what little attention that could have been given, and the storyline is pretty clever. The other effect aspect of this one is the rather effective atmosphere that comes about due to the fine apocalyptic setup. The overall mixture of sorcery and black magic, especially with the rituals being prepared here for the final ceremony, combines with the location being a great setting for some Gothic atmosphere. This comes about with its darkened hallways, eerie cemetery, and expansive rooms within to make for some decent moments at times when this one really gets its solid plot going as there's some general creepiness on display here. That's all given an emphatic boost with the graphic demon attacks involving the being viciously ripping people's hearts out that delivers some solid low-budget blood splatter for gore to help overcome the lack of other real effects here. With a fine Gothic-tinged finale also coming into play here, the film does manage to have some generally appealing factors going for it. That said, there's still plenty to dislike here. The main stumbling block is from the exceptionally short running time that barely gives this one an hour-long running time, with a rather inane amount of time spent on flashbacks that aren't that exciting or thrilling and never seem capable of giving the film any energy as it meanders on from one scene to the next. There is also no suspense whatsoever involving a rather unimposing supernatural killer that doesn't evoke fear at all. There were plenty of opportunities to provide some cheap thrills and instead relies on having some supposedly scary demon with glowing eyes popping up sometimes to kill people for a sacrificial ritual to give off scares. He never did, and his power simply sticking his hand inside your body and pulling out your heart in one piece was entirely laughable. When added to this one's low-budget gloss, comes up rather lacking in the end.

Rated R: Violence and Language.

Full Moon were never going to make award winning stuff but regardless they started several successful franchises and made some watchable stuff. Though to be fair considering how fast they pounded films out statistically that was bound to happen.

Talisman is one the lesser known works and for good reason. It revolves around a young man sent to an obscure school as students begin to get picked off one by one in an occult ceremony.

The stuff is very clichéd, immediately upon seeing a new character I predicted him to be the arrogant popular rich kid and low and behold that's exactly what he turned out to be.

Standard weak sfx, mediocre story and phoned in performances galore can be found in this 90 minutes of meh.

Not the worst Full Moon production but an instantly forgettable one all the same.

The Good:

Has that Full Moon charm

The Bad:

Undeededly homo erotic in places

Weak sfx

Clichéd

Poor finale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

If Booboo Stewart and Mark Dacasos had a baby it would look like Billy Parish