- Directed by Dustin Ferguson
- Written by Dustin Ferguson
- Stars Traci Burr, Eric Larsen, Brinke Stevens
- Run Time: 55 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP0p9yijOHY
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s made in an old grindhouse movie style, including previews of coming attractions. The grainy effect enhances the mood and smooths over some of the imperfections. It’s clearly a low-budget indie, but it’s a thumbs-up overall. We enjoyed it.
Synopsis
Coming Attractions: We watch some guys in hazmat suits unleash a horde of zombie skeletons upon the world. It’s a trailer for a new zombie film, and it looks both awesome and garbage at the same time: “Zombie Blastfighter.” This is followed by a trailer for a new demon possession film, “Don’t Eat My Flesh!” [We assume these are setting the “grindhouse” mood for the main show, not real upcoming films].
A woman wakes up and looks for Paul in the dark. She doesn’t find him, but she finds… something. Credits roll.
Sheryl leads Katrina and Ian through their house before handing over the keys. This is one of the few houses in the area with a basement. Sheryl warns them about the history of the place; Ian knew about it, but Katrina didn’t. Back in ’81, a couple lived there, and some local people burned him alive in the basement, thinking he was a Satanist. Then, just one year ago, a girl was killed here. Some of the locals swear that this place was built right on top of the gates of Hell. Sheryl offers them a big profit to sell to her so she can demolish the place. They decide to stay. Katrina asks about all the headstones out in the backyard, which is weird.
Ian takes a shower, but it doesn’t work; the water hasn’t been turned on. A strange woman enters the bathroom, saying she’s Jennifer, the housekeeper. Awkward! Heather, Katrina’s daughter, stops by and wanders down to the basement. Something gets her.
Ian tells Katrina about weird Jennifer, and they decide to keep her on for cleaning. They assume she must have come with the house but do wonder how she’s getting paid. Katrina says she wants to get a priest over to bless the house; Ian rolls his eyes and agrees to it. During the night, Katrina finds Heather’s phone downstairs.
We cut to a mysterious woman in black who wanders around with her cane. She comes to Katrina’s door and introduces herself as Henrietta, a neighbor, and she wants to come in. Henrietta declares that this house is cursed since it sits on one of the seven gates of hell. When Katrina’s phone rings, Henrietta suddenly vanishes.
Katrina researches the house online. She calls Father Tom to come to bless the house. The house, or something inside it, growls at Tom. Tom falls down and gets up with red, glowing eyes. He goes home and kills himself.
Sheryl makes a face. “Someone’s gotta end this curse!” She drives over to the house, takes a gas can out of the car, and pours it out. She somehow manages to set herself on fire instead of the house. Ian and Katrina hear a scream, but he says, “It’s probably just the house settling.”
The plumber arrives to turn the water on. A monster pops his eyes out. Night falls, and a bunch of zombies rise up out of the backyard graves. Ian and Katrina see them clawing at the windows, and he says, “We’ll be safe in the basement!”
Crazy Jennifer and the monster are down there waiting for them. Soon, they both have glowing red eyes. Elsewhere, Henrietta laughs in the dark.
Commentary
The DVD cover mentions Lucio Fulci, so Kevin predicted, “Someone’s gonna lose an eye.” He nailed it!
It’s all done in a 70’s grainy, grindhouse style. That choice and the “coming attractions” at the beginning work really well. It’s obviously low budget, but instead of trying to be something else, they’ve leaned into it and made the grittiness a feature. Some of the dialogue and acting is good, while others are not so much. Still, if you miss old drive-in films, this will bring you right back there. The soundtrack is also perfect for this kind of film, very “70s.”
I liked it!
#fulci #grindhouse #indie #zombie #haunted_house