Cassadaga

The movie was not received well at the Frightfest festival in Glasgow in general. You can see why of course, especially towards the ending, when things got ... well a bit out of hand, you could say. The laughter that befall most people was definitely not intended by the filmmaker. The supernatural elements in it mostly work I'd say, if you let yourself into them of course.

It's a tough sell and I think you'll have to have a heart for that kind of movie. I didn't particularly think this was great, but I also didn't think it was as bad as some people thought. It comes down to if you think this will be worth your time.

The makers had a great concept, but sadly failed to really go anywhere with it. It could have been a cool, sick horror movie, but the truly disturbing part of the story (which is also what the movie is advertised for) completely stays in the background.

We hardly get to know or see anything about the killer and his work and thus are left with many unanswered questions, most importantly: his entire background story is hardly worked out. But also, for a character this sadistic he chooses a very unimaginative way of actually killing his victims.

The side story about Lily being haunted is completely superfluous and adds nothing to the movie, but it takes a lot of time and attention away from what should have been the actual storyline. To top it off, the movie derails even more in the end with an utterly inept cop and other ridiculous twists that the writers clearly needed to bring the movie to its end.

Had they focused on what this movie should have been about - a psychopath serial killer turning his victims into marionettes - it could have been great, but in stead we got a fairly bland ghost movie with a twist. It sucks that this concept is now ruined for future movies, because there was great potential there. But Cassadaga failed to deliver in all aspects.

CASSADAGA is a movie that tries to have it all but ends up coming away with nothing. It starts out as a traditional ghost story with a deaf girl losing her little sister in a car accident and afterwards finding herself haunted by the spirit of a disturbed spirit. About halfway through it veers off into needless torture porn territory and becomes much, much worse.

CASSADAGA has a good sense of creeping dread going for it but that's about all it does have. It lets the lead character be defined by her disability because without that she'd be a totally forgettable and uninteresting person. It doesn't help that the supporting cast are entirely bland in themselves and will quickly disappear from memory once off the screen.

The ghostly elements of the film, although predictable, are better handled than the shoddy torture scenes of the most routine serial killer imaginable going about his business trying to make life-life puppets from dead people. It's needlessly unpleasant, and helps sink the whole project. The expected chase scenes between killer and 'final girl' are as routinely staged as possible and the whole film has a familiar Hollywood vibe to it despite it being an independent production.

Every once in a while, a low key movie comes along and makes you realise that there are writers and directors out there who enjoy making films, and more importantly, make them right.

Cassadaga is one of those.

Anthony DiBlasi works his magic over Bruce Wood's excellent story,. much in the same vein as Dread, but here, he manages to keep the suspense going right until the end. It's easy in this genre, to fall into the trap of letting the horror and gore overtake a great story, and in Cassadaga, the temptation to branch off to this must have be huge, however DiBlasi sticks to his guns, and directs us through the prickly path of the story mixing romance, horror, tension and chills in equal amounts to leave the viewer completely satisfied.

The casting of Kelen Coleman is a perfect - it's not often you watch a movie and instantly click with the lead actors, but Kelen's personality shines through from the start and the empathy immediately connects viewer and actor.

I don't like reviewing movies and putting spoilers in, and I'm not about to start now, suffice to say, that the suspense is carried through the entire film, and done brilliantly, and whilst the ending may not be as big a surprise as you may expect, it's delivered perfectly, closing off a superb chiller.

If you come across this little gem, don't pass it by, as you'll be missing out on an excellent film - grab it with both hands, sit back and let yourself go - you won't be disappointed.

7/10

I thought this movie had a plot that had some potential. A deaf girl tries to figure out the identity of a serial killer who turns girls into marionette dolls.

This is low budget. Everything has some level of issue. Not all the acting is great. Not everything about the story flowed smoothly. The effects aren't top notch. Even with the issues, I kinda liked parts of it.

I think that if you are going to watch low budget you have to lower your expectations. I think that for being low budget this is a fairly decent film. It needs work but it isn't awful. This is really going to have to be judged on your personal tolerance for low budget. I've seen worse so I'm giving it 5 stars.