Maskerade

What if your dream turned out to be a nightmare? After Jennifer's (Deloach) boyfriend Evan (Colletti) surprises her with a new house for her birthday strange things begin to happen. This is a hard movie to review. It is not that bad, but it drags, a lot. It's another haunted house because of something buried in the land movie that is not that bad, but it would have been a good "Fangoria Series" movie at an hour long, trying to stretch it out for an hour and a half really hurt the movie. If you are looking for a decent horror movie that is a cross between suspense and a slasher, this is a good choice. If you are looking for a very scary movie then I would go for something else. Not terrible, not great. I did like the ending though. I give it a C.

Would I watch again? - I doubt it.

Please don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this movie. I just wanted to enjoy it a lot more than I did. See, in an age of remakes, I feel like it's really hard to find fun, original material so it makes it so much more rewarding when you do. But there's few things worse than feeling like you got the old bait and switch. And that's sort of how I feel about this movie.

Sure, the story and plot aren't exactly a rip off, it's just that someone wasn't trying hard...at all...to make it original. It's a stalk-and-slash movie (Haloween, Friday The 13th) where a guy makes masks out of his victims at an old, abandoned farm house (Texas Chainsaw Massacre). I wish there were more to it, but not really. That being said, don't let that alone turn you off of this movie. It really isn't without it's charms. The kills are fun, the actors actually do a pretty good job in their roles, and the effects are surprisingly good. If you want to just sit on the couch (preferably with some sort of adult beverage) and have some fun, this isn't the worst way you could do it. You just have to get past the relatively well-tread plot.

I had never actually heard of this movie before I watched it,so I had pretty low expectations....maybe that's why I enjoyed it as much as I did....Not that it's a masterpiece by any means, but it's worth checking out....The acting is fine, the special effects aren't bad, plus I always enjoy when they bring in a horror movie icon like Michael Berryman....If you're not overly critical,you might actually enjoy it......

Another slasher film. They still make them, I still buy them for about 10 pence. This one involves an annoying couple who have just bought a house that needs a bit of fixing up. You know, a bit of re-wiring, some double glazing. They might want to think about getting rid of undead serial killer in the back garden too.

No serial killer is worth anything unless he has some victims, so this couple's annoying mates show up to get killed. You know the type – They're younger than you, better looking than you, have more sex than you. Kind of makes you want to kill them, remove their faces, and wear them as masks yourselves.

So just like recent slasher films such as Stitches (okay), Blood Cabin (good), Madison County (pretty poor), The Bunnyman (ok) and The Rockville Ripper (ok), the killer chases folks around the house/barn/garden, they get the drop on him and fail to do anything about, blah blah you know the drill. Nothing much new to see here, although the 'using the victims faces as masks' thing kind of works.

While not overly great, the movie "Maskerade" wasn't overly bad either. It had enough material to prove entertaining enough for a single watching.

The story in "Maskerade" is fairly horror / slasher movie cliché. Roughly summarized; a group of young people go to an old house (in this case, they buy it) with a vile, dark history. They awaken something wicked from its slumber, unintentionally. And now they are being killed, one by one. End of story. And it is pretty much straight from the 'how to make a slasher movie' handbook. Nothing new here in those terms.

The acting in the movie was good, and there were some interesting names on the cast list. Those including Michael Barryman (playing Fred), Terry Kiser (playing Mr. Peck), Treat Williams (playing Mr. Tucker) and a very short appearance by Jason London (playing Arthur Bronw). These people were the most impressive, but the young cast did a good job as well. Most memorable was Nikki Deloach (playing Jennifer), though.

As for the gore and guts in the movie, well it isn't a splatter-fest. The movie has just enough gore and gruesomeness to keep you interested, without being too much.

The biggest turn-off in the movie, if you will, was how it too much like other classic horror / slasher movies such as "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween". How you ask? Well, the "Halloween" part would be with the mask. Sure, Meyers used a firm-set rubber mask, while the killer in "Maskerade" wears a mask from people's faces. Oh wait, back it up here, can you say "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" anyone? And as for the "Friday the 13th" part, well when Jason Voorhees saw what he believed to was his mother, he froze up and stopped, as did the killer in this movie when Jennifer was wearing his mother's old dress. No, no, no! You do not "borrow" these things from classic movies, you make up your own stuff. This really brought the movie down in value and worth.

One thing that the movie should get praise for, though, was the ending. Now, I am not spoiling it in anyway by revealing stuff, but I will say that it is a typical Hollywood horror movie ending, but with a really great 'twist'. I liked that ending, and it almost, just almost, brought justice to all the other stuff that went wrong in the movie.

Overall, then "Maskerade" is good for a single watching, so if you have nothing better to do one evening, and if you like horror / slasher movies, then give "Maskerade" a chance. Despite its faults, it still is a decent enough addition to the genre.