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Overall Rating : 7/10
Directed By : Kenneth J. Hall
Mary Woronov (Chopping Mall)
Janet Tracy Keijser (House on Haunted Hill)
Shawn Savage
Athena Demos (Blood Gnome)
Stephanie Leighs (The Stink of Flesh)
Supplied By : BV Entertainment's The Fright Film Factory
Film Reviewed By : Rick Blalock
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| PLOT Young girls are disappearing in and around the Mary Magdalen Halfway House for Troubled Girls. Desperate to find out what became of her sister, Larissa Morgan goes undercover to infiltrate the Catholic-run institution. Once inside, she encounters Father Fogerty, a priest with a passion for punishment; Sister Cecelia, a nun with a dark past plotting an even blacker future; Edwina and her love-toy Cherry Pie; tough Latino Angelina and her home girls and a sinister handyman named Lutkus. It's not long before she's caught up in a twisted web of sadism, violence, and wanton lust before finally learning the ultimate secret of the Halfway House. |
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| THE REVIEW THE HALFWAY HOUSE is a surprisingly entertaining new film, that comes from Writer/Director Kenneth J. Hall. You may know Kenneth as one of the creators of the cult film PUPPET MASTERS and he has also had hand in the creative pot, if you will of many other B affairs. With THE HALFWAY HOUSE Hall, displays his obvious long term love of old creature features and old buried gems that some of us may have been too young to remember, or just simply have forgotten about. With this film he breathes new life into what was, and sort of gives it a new face of modernization, which is something new and different to today's horror market. The Plot revolves around Halfway a House called the "Mary Magdalen Halfway House for Girls" What makes this place so strange is that a number of it's female occupants have mysteriously turned up missing and no reason is to be accounted for, but it appears that an enormous green, one-eyed creature, who happens to live in a lower corridor of the house is hungry for female flesh and is quietly feeding one what it desires. Suspicious that her sister Annie's disappearance my be linked to these occurrences, Larissa Morgan, with the help of a newly acquainted Sergeant friend by the name of Dick Sheen, poses as a troubled young woman and goes under cover to get to the bottom of things. This film takes it's elements from many of all of the 60's and 70's exploitation films and turns it in to something quite promising as well as entertaining. Many films as of late have tried this very thing, the one that I most recently saw, PRISON A-GO-GO, tries to pull it off, but in my eyes ultimately failed to do.(they coincidently both star Mary Woronov as well). What Barak Epstein tried to do in his film, Kenneth J. Hall certainly does right in his, and i'd have to credit that to age, and to overall knowledge and experience. I'd like to take a minute to write about just how awesome this movie's creature is! The Director seems to know just how to take something that is so outrageous and unbelievable, and make it look so incredible that you forget that it's cheesy.... He did this with Carnosaur Ladies and Gentlemen, need I say more? The acting, no matter how good the movie seems to be is a mixed bag. Some less experienced than others and when they interact with one another, they sometimes tend to clash a little, but this is a B film, what do you want? Tom Cruise? I certainly don't but that's for another day and another time... With this movie, it's one of those where you have favorite scenes and favorite characters. First of all my favorite character, who I am not ashamed to admit of liking is the old greasy handyman that is Lutkus. Director Hall needs to look no further than his own family tree as the mad man is played with greatness by brother Cleve Hall. I guess I like Lutkus so much simply for the fact that he does stuff that i'd probably do, but wouldn't admit to doing! Another amazing performance from Mary Woronov, and who'd expect less? This woman has been in the genre for many years and absolutely loves to do it, and seems really classy, i've heard everyone mention "Brinke Stevens this and Brinke Stevens that" have they forgotten about Woronov? Mary Woronov Brings what is usually a boring religious figure( a Nun) to life with an eeriness that is actually worth witnessing. Her sidekick so to speak is a priest nut job perv, comically brought to life in THE HALFWAY HOUSE by Joseph Tatner as Father Fogerty, he does so many things sacrilegious that it makes a mockery out of religion itself and it's always funny to see that, as they truly always mock themselves in reality. Janet Tracy Keijser does an okay job as Larissa, her acting is by no means bad at all, just not a performance that really caught my attention all too well. Another performer that caught my attention though is Stephanie Leighs, who played a character I also enjoyed.... the virgin "Cherry Pie" Polowski, she's a very cute girl and I do hope to see her in more films in the near future. Even though I am stopping here with my acting evaluation, that does not mean I am selling the rest of the cast short, as they all did quite well for a low budget flick. |
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| GORE
METER 6/10 I was a big fan of how the deaths happened, the fun starts in this film when the killing begins! |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 6.5/10 The soundtrack was a great one, as it offered many up tempo tracks to go along with the pace of the film, it also speeds the film up a bit. I loved the song by Insecto Circus as well. |
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| SPECIAL
FEATURES RATING 7/10 This film has a great commentary track by the producer and director of THE HALFWAY HOUSE which offers quite the insight. Three deleted scenes also included, with them are explanations of why they were cut, We get a making of featurette that runs about 45 mins that offers a interview with the Director Kenneth J. Hall as well as casts members, this really opens the film up to the viewers and is actually a learning experience as you learn how they did most things in the film. There's also an uncensored trailer as well as the music video for "Halfway to Hell" by Insecto Circus. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Well, i'll say I really enjoyed this film, and Kenneth and crew's hard work definitely pays off here. The film may not be for everyone,.... this film calls for a unique sense of humor and apparently i'm fortunate enough to have one I guess....... go rent this, or better yet buy it! |
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