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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Mick Garris
Tyron Leitso (House Of The Dead)
Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future)
Tony Todd (Candyman)
Nicola Lipman
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : August. 9, 2007
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| PLOT It is called Highberger House, a place for unpublished writers to live and work without distractions while they continue to pile up rejection letters. But this building is haunted by more than just the specter of failed authors: There is the ghost of a beautiful woman in the hallways who cries out in fear and desire. And there is a beast in the walls that owns her body and soul, and now fiends for the blood of his creators. |
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| THE REVIEW In the episode titled VALERIE ON THE STAIRS, Director Mick Garris adapts a story written by Clive Barker, that tells the story of a haunted retreat for unpublished authors. Rob Hanisey is a struggling author whom has had recent relationship problems. To escape everything and have a peaceful environment in which to write his next book, Rob takes up residence at Highberger House. Highberger house is basically a large building that houses a number of Authors whom wish to concentrate on their writing, and above all else, they hope to get published - Despite meeting a few strange characters, Hanisey believes the house will provide the perfect environment for is work, that is until he begins to hear strange noises at night. While writing one night, Rob finds himself suddenly distracted by a young woman crying on the stair, and when he goes to inspect he finds what he believes to be the young ghost of a beautiful woman named Valerie. From then on, Rob is essentially haunted by what he had seen and it isn't long before he has visions of the young woman being guarded by a beast-like creature that lives within the walls of Highberger...a creature whom seems to have control of Valerie. When Rob confronts the other members of the house they seem to share no knowledge of a young girl named Valerie, nor the Beast, but when Rob discovers that one of the men staying at the house not only knows of Valerie and the creature, but he is also writing about them, Valerie and the creature emerge and the creature begins claiming lives one by one. It is then that Rob finds out that the story of Valerie was actually a joint venture written by all of the authors staying at Highberger, and somehow their ficticious creations have came to life, and the Beast in particular does not want to see the end of his story written. When it comes to story adaptations, Director Mick Garris is no stranger to them, in fact he has adapted a number of stories by Stephen King. I have always been a little "hit-and-miss" with Garris, a like some, I don't like some, when it comes to his films. So when I went in to watch VALERIE ON THE STAIRS, I went in with an open mind not knowing whether i'd like it or I would'nt. But I was really surprised to find a story here that was half decent. The idea of even the house for unpublished authors was an interesting idea in itself, but couple it with the crying ghost of a woman along with the Beast that owns her soul....well that just made it that much more interesting. I'm sure that the plot of an author in a film's character coming to life has been done before, in fact I am certain it has, but I just can't think of any titles right now. Many of the reviews for this one have been basically split down the middle so to speak, some liked it, and some didn't(which kind of points back to how I feel about Garris' work) I found myself on the end that liked it with this one. As with all of Clive Barker's stories VALERIE ON THE STAIRS, is a different kind of story, and even though I don't have a clue what the ending was about, as it didn't make sense to me, I enjoyed the rest of it pretty much. The sets utilized in this episode were simple and effective, with the house being the exterior to an interior that was far darker that serves as sort of a dimension for the Beast character played by Tony Todd. the rest of the shots where lit with great emphasis when we see Valerie, often giving the film an elegant appearance, and it also adds a depth to the overall story. The overall acting was also great, as the cast had a few known names including Christopher Lloyd from the BACK TO THE FUTURE series of films and Tony Todd from CANDYMAN as the Beast. But the main focus if left on Tyron Leitso(whom portrayed Simon in Uwe Boll's HOUSE OF THE DEAD) as he portrays the films main character of Rob Hanisey. Although not the greatest, I thought his performance was decent as he and Clare Grant shared good chemistry on screen. Speaking of Clare Grant, although she does not have a lot of lines in the film, she is ever-present. The role called for a striking beauty and she was definitely an ideal choice to say the least - and with a great nude scene, her great body definitely does not hurt at all - she's the type of beauty you don't soon forget. Overall this episode was a fairly entertaining effort. It does take a viewer awhile to get into the whole thing, but it isn't long until the film'd unique story has you watching at full attention. |
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| GORE
METER 5.5/10 The gore in this one isn't really abundant, but it is really, really eye-catching and effective. A ripped out spine and a vicious clawed scratch highlight the films gore. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 I wasn't a big fan of the scoring, it was decent but for the most part I just felt it didn't always flow well with the film.... |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM As I have said, I liked this episode, it was really easy to follow and mildly entertaining - any fan of Clive Barker's work should enjoy the unique Horror story. This DVD will be available August 14, 2007 |
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