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Overall Rating : 8/10
Directed By : Mike Mendez
Dominic Purcell (Prison Break (TV) )
Josie Maran (Van Helsing)
Claire Kramer (The Thirst)
Marcus Thomas
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Mar. 21, 2007
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| PLOT While at a wake for an old chum, a group of friends decide to get drunk and dance on the graves, which leads to their lives being invaded by a trio of hostile ghosts. |
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| THE REVIEW In THE GRAVEDANCERS when one of their friends dies and they attend the funeral, they later return at nightfall to pay their final respects. When they return to the gravesite, Sid, one of the friends brings some alcohol into play. He also finds a card left on his deceased friend's grave. The card suggest that they not mourn but rather celebrate - in other words dance to celebrate life. The 3 friends at first are reluctant but then give into the suspicious note's words and they begin to dance on three graves. What they don't know is that the grounds in which they are standing are reserved for the individuals that society has wished to forget about. Harris dances on the grave of an adulteress ax murdering music teacher, while Kira dances on the burial site of a Judge whom moonlighted as a vicious and torturous rapist - while Sid on one belonging to a young pyromaniac rumored to have purposely killed himself and family in a fire. Weeks after the incident of that night the friends began receiving separate hauntings individually from what are believed to be the spirits of the ones buried in the three distinct graves. With the help of two Paranormal experts the friends(Harris is joined by his wife Alison) must band together to re-bury the remains of belonging to each of the angered spirits in order to stay alive. After seeing Mike Mendes' THE GRAVEDANCERS, I cannot even begin to tell you just how impressive it was. For the past week or so, as you know I have been reviewing all of the Horrorfest films, and the way that Lionsgate and After Dark has marketed them, they lead you to believe they are over the top and scary. But honestly speaking it is until now that any of them(I still have one left to do however) have really given me genuine chills. With that said, the frights and scares in this film are very well executed, and they do frighten you in the way that they should - and that is in a way in which you don't expect them. Not only this, but the film is really fun, in which the spirits frighten their victims in which they are known for. For instance the spirit that Harris angered by his careless dancing was accused of cheating with another mans husband, and was a music teacher - so she chooses to stalk Harris and his wife in their bedroom as well as mysteriously place the piano in their home. Sid's is a pyromaniac so he tries to catch sid in various fires and even eventually torches his residence - While Kira's spirit, a rapist bounds and tortures her in unorthodox ways, Out of the lot of the 7 films being released on DVD, I believe The GRAVEDANCERS to be the most solid as for as plot and overall film. I exclude THE HAMILTONS as that was pretty solid in itself and REINCARNATION as I have not seen it yet(that's coming next). I really liked that the film had a substantial back-story for each of the previous lives of the dead that have been angered, I feel the villains were introduced in such a way that you got fully acquainted quickly without having to spend a long and drawn out period of time, in which you may or may not tend to get bored with the film. From there after the introductions you are back into action, not losing a step in the film's rather fast pace. The acting in the film is above average, by seemingly the whole cast. While some people believe some performances were over the top...I disagree. Everyone in the film are both diverse and different but they all work on the same level to create a film with a good amount of Horror and even a little humor. I really did enjoy THE GRAVEDANCERS as it isn't often that a straight up Horror movie keeps me this interested(at least not often)until the very end. The film had a great story and I even admit some of the scares actually did surprise me. The film ends with some CGI animation, one of a giant head that chases the survivors out of the house and another which is a hand that grabs a victim. Some people have complained that it looks "dated" and old school, but to me it looks kind of cool to be honest. Overall I really liked this film as it is really one to keep your your eyes open awaiting the next of it's many scares. |
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| GORE
METER 3.5/10 Most of the gore is shown in the flashbacks which display the killers past life. I really liked the ax to the head and neck handed out by the ax murderer. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 to be honest I don't remember much of the score - just that the opening theme was fairly suspenseful and I did like the creepy Piano playing. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM With the Horrorfest films all being indie pictures it's a shock that THE GRAVEDANCERS is such a film, I say this because the film looks and feels top-notch, visually and in it's execution. It's got the suspense and scares many films try to have but fail to deliver - not to mention it's fairly new and original story. It's not the greatest film by any means nor is it perfect, but it is a very entertaining Horror film - I highly recommend! The After Dark Horrorfest set (available individually, or as a boxed set) will be released on March 27, 2007 |
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