Curse of the Forty-Niner

My copy goes by the name of Miner's Massacre.

I can't read the credits. Is that a bad sign? What else can they screw up?

Three couples who, quite frankly, seem to hate each other, go on a camping trip in search of some lost gold. What they don't know about is the curse of the Forty-Niner, Jeremiah Stone. If someone steals his gold, his ghost comes back to kill them. Wait. "I Want Me Gold!" This is cribbed straight from the pages of Leprechaun. Anyway, they steal the gold, get hunted, and find out from a hysterical, overwrought Aunt Nelly (Karen Black) that they need to return it to stop the curse. A few things amused me. Jeremiah bites off his own finger for no reason. A fender bender turns into a massive two car explosion. And Aunt Nelly has apparently never heard of stop, drop, and roll.

During the 80s, U.S. horror industry had a boom of the slasher genre after the success of "Halloween" in '78 and "Friday the 13th" in 1980. The decade saw not only their numerous sequels, but also the countless imitations and further explorations in the sub-genre. While most of those films were of average quality, it still can be considered one of the most active periods of American horror cinema. "Curse of the Forty-Niner" is a late addition to the genre, as even when it was made right after 90s revival of the genre, it has many of the elements of the 80s old school slashers.

The movie starts with a young man named Jared (Shadrach Smith) who discovers the treasure of a dead miner in a remote town in California. He calls his sister Claire (Carrie Bradac) and the rest of his friends to share the gold, but when the gang arrives Jared has disappeared. Soon they'll discover that the dead miner, Jeremiah Stone (Vernon Wells) has risen from the grave to protect his treasure and they will face his rage.

Veteran make-up artist John Carl Buechler directs the movie combining the typical elements of a slasher like a group of inexperienced people, an isolated location and an apparently invincible serial killer. Familiar with the genre (he directed Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood back in 1988), he follows the slasher formula to the letter so we get our fair share of inventive killings, gore, partial nudity and comedy; everything with a distinct 80s feeling that strangely works fine with the 90s style of film-making. It is like a perfect mix between both kinds of slashers.

However, it also carries the flaws of both styles, delivering a weak storyline with stereotyped characters that serve to no purpose other than to be killed by the monster. With a cast that seems to had been chosen based on looks only, the film goes downhill and quickly becomes another clichéd repetition of the plot that has been done many times previously; which is a shame because Buechler has done better and the original premise of the film was perfect for a modern supernatural slasher. In the end the overall product feels as if Buechler was trying to copy what makes modern slashers successful but instead he get all the flaws those film can have.

The acting skills of the young cast ranges from average to bad, as the some of the actors are void of any charm or ability to make the two-dimensional characters likable. Exceptions to this are the veterans appearing in small supporting roles such as Kaen Black, Richard Lynch and John Phillip Law. Stephen Wastell and Alexandra Ford are the only members of the young cast who actually give a great performance and Wastell is superb as the comic relief of the film. These two young actors are the only ones actually giving decent performances and actually make you care for their respective characters, basically stealing the movie to the actual lead characters played by the wooden couple of Sean Hines and Carrie Bradac.

All these flaws seem to leave the film without any redeeming quality, but still, the film has several good things that are worth to point out, like the overall look of the film, which is of a good quality although the poor CGI effects look bad when contrasted with the good make-up the miner has. John Carl Buechler manages to keep the film interesting and while definitely not a good director, he gets the job done.

"Curse of the Forty-Niner" is a mixed bag as it has enough flaws to make one forget about its good stuff, leaving it as another mediocre film in Buechler's uneven career. Hopefully Stephen Wastell and Alexandra Ford will get better roles as they show a lot of potential as actors. While maybe not a good movie, fans of 80s slashers may find something worth of their time in this flick. 5/10

"Curse of the Forty-Niner" doesn't really deserve a long and detailed review, so I'll just make some random observations about it:

• Cool opening credits.

• No plot.

• Is there anyone who's ever seen a horror film before and can't guess, within the first 20 minutes, who will survive and who will not among this group of walking stereotypes?

• Hey, that newcomer (Alexandra Ford) is pretty hot!

• Richard Lynch (made-up to look about 100 years old) and John Phillip Law have fun, tongue-in-cheek cameos.

• Karen Black has a bigger role, but she's not fun - she's rather embarrassing.

• Martin Kove is on-screen for about 40 seconds, but still got his name on the video cover. Did they pay him for this appearance or was it the other way around?

• I hate cheap computer-generated effects in horror films.

*1/2 out of 4.

CURSE OF THE FORTY-NINER opens with the unholy resurrection of the title character (Vernon Wells), who immediately begins his murderous rampage. Wells is cranky because a group of young prospectors have arrived in his town to dig for gold.

Deaths by pickax, hook, and machete await.

As a throwback film celebrating the slashers of the 1970'-80's, all of the necessary elements are in place: A homicidal madman with a story and a grudge. A gaggle of youthful, randy, mostly brainless victims. A series of brutal murders, usually committed in "interesting" ways. Pretty much by-the-numbers, but fun in spots.

Co-stars horror luminaries, Karen Black and Richard Lynch...

Well, this 2002 movie titled "Curse of the Forty-Niner" (aka "Miner's Massacre") is a movie that I hadn't even heard about before now in 2021, 19 years after it was made, as I happened to stumble upon it by sheer random luck. And yeah, of course I sat down to watch it, as it is a horror movie that I hadn't already seen. Sure, I wasn't harboring much of any expectations for the movie, so writer Antonio Olivas and director John Carl Buechler had every chance to impress and entertain me.

And while "Curse of the Forty-Niner" was a watchable movie, it was hardly an outstanding foray into the horror genre. Writer Antonio Olivas seemed to build his storyline and plot around things that have been done countless of times before this movie, so he was sort of playing it safe I suppose. A gamble perhaps, but one that ultimately dragged the movie into mediocrity.

I had no idea that it was actually Vernon Wells that was playing the part of Jeremiah Stone, the undead miner. But then again, of course he was covered completely by prosthetic make-up.

The acting in the movie was adequate, but it was actually nice enough that they had managed to get the likes of Richard Lynch and Karen Black to show up in the movie.

For a horror movie then "Curse of the Forty-Niner" just didn't cut it. There was nothing scary about this movie whatsoever. I kid you not. This movie wasn't even remotely scary. Sure, if you are a complete newcomer to the horror genre, then perhaps you'll find an ounce of scary stuff here. But for a life-long horror veteran, this was a mere walk in the park.

The special effects in "Curse of the Forty-Niner" were adequate and served their purposes well enough. However, do keep in mind though, that the special effects will not knock you over from your seat. This was not a grand spectacle of special effects.

All in all, "Curse of the Forty-Niner" was watchable, but it was not an outstanding or memorable movie to grace the horror genre. It is the type of movie that you will watch once, and then forget about it and never return to watch it a second time.

My rating of "Curse of the Forty-Niner" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.