Moon Garden

This childhood fantasy could scar most kids worse than Watership Down or Return to Oz. It is a child’s story, but it definitely is not for kids. The situation is gravely serious when five-year-old Emma falls into a coma, as are the circumstances surrounding her accident. To regain consciousness, she must journey through the nightmarescape of her subconscious in screenwriter-editor-director Ryan Stevens Harris’s Moon Garden, which opens tomorrow in New York.

Before Emma tumbled down the stairs, her mother, Sara, had intended to run off with her into the night, deserting her father, Alex. Initially, he seems fiercely domineering and prone to outbursts of rage, but as we see flashbacks of their lives together through their daughter’s eyes, it becomes clear their relationship is more complicated and emotionally fraught. It should immediately be established Alex is never directly abusive towards Emma. Much of his impatience and rage stems from Sara’s own severe bouts of depression and perhaps other mental health issues.

That is bad, but the macabre world Emma’s subconscious mind creates is even scarier. In creating this fantasy world, Harris clearly took inspiration from Jan Svanmajer and the Brothers Quay. The environment is highly textured and fibrous. Wolfgang Meyer’s cinematography is dark, but his golds and crimsons glow, in a manner reminiscent of William Cameron Menzies’ Invaders from Mars.

Harris’s narrative is simple, but every episode of Emma’s journey is probably loaded with symbolism, for those who are bold enough to dive in looking for it. This is guaranteed to become a cult film, because it is a remarkably singular vision, but you really have to be in the right mood for it.

Festival of Cinema ’19: Ghost in the Graveyard

Basically, it is just another name for “Hide and Seek.” Whoever is “It,” is called the “ghost.” Sometimes, it really is played in a graveyard, but that sounds like a tremendously dangerous idea, whether or not you believe in the supernatural. Of course, spirits are decidedly real and apparently somewhat angry in Charlie Comparetto’s Ghost in the Graveyard, which screens tonight during the 2019 Festival of Cinema NYC (formerly the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema).

Sally Sullivan was not away at the loony bin for the last several months, but that does not stop the mean girls at her high school from circulating ugly rumors. Their malicious scandal mongering is able to take hold, because everyone knows how young Sullivan was present when her classmate Martha died accidentally, amid a game of ghost in the graveyard, in the graveyard. There might even be a kernel of truth in what they say, considering Sullivan regularly sees Martha’s ghost.

Rather awkwardly, Sullivan is not so eager to set the record straight, even though she loves her little girl and her father and big bro are totally supportive. As for her mom, she vanished years ago, quite mysteriously. The same happened to the father of her chief maligner, Zoe, who also happens to be her main rival for the romantic attention of long-haired, stoner-ish Reed. Maybe that will be the basis of an understanding between them, or maybe not. Regardless, Sullivan will need allies when she learns the full extent of the forces at darkness at work in the quaint town of Mt. Moriah (fyi, named after the presumed location of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac).

Ghost starts out as a micro tale of juvenile haunting, but quickly segues into a full-scale satanic conspiracy thriller that is surprisingly intriguing. The problem is Comparetto does not have the Kevin Williamson knack for writing teen characters and dialogue. As a result, a good deal of the first half sounds flat and phony. Nevertheless, he deserves credit for going all in when it comes to the archetypal good versus evil stuff.

Kelli Berglund gets by okay as Sullivan, but Olivia Larsen is much more fun as the catty Zoe. The other teens mostly just melt into the background, but the adults are more colorful. Jake Busey is surprisingly poignant as Sullivan’s father Charlie, who knows considerably more than he lets on. Maria Olsen bolsters the film’s genre cred with her creepy appearances as Zoe’s mother. However, it is Royce Johnson, as the Sheriff, who really puts a stamp on the film when he gets Medieval on the forces of darkness. Seriously, he is more than enough to compensate for any of Graveyard’s shortcomings.

Even William Peter Blatty probably would have approved of the way Comparetto presents the eternal struggle between goodness, virtue and light against darkness, fear, and bad vibes. Genre fans need to give it a little time, but its merits emerge down the stretch. Somewhat recommended for fans of the Omen franchise and its like, Ghost in the Graveyard screens tonight (8/9), as part of this year’s Festival of Cinema NYC.

The Covenant: Catholics vs. Evil on VOD

Last month the great William Peter Blatty passed away. He was truly an American original, who changed the face of horror cinema. Without The Exorcist, an entire subgenre would not exist, at least not to any great extent. Just about every subsequent demonic possession movie owes a debt to Blatty and his creation, most definitely including Robert Conway’s The Covenant (trailer here), which releases today on VOD.

Sarah Doyle is having a really rough go of things. Her daughter recently died (but not of her terminal illness) and her husband committed suicide (after essentially accusing her of the murder/mercy killing of little Elizabeth). To buoy her spirits, her brother Richard has the bright idea of moving them back to their long vacant childhood home. However, it turns out the musty house is a bad environment—real bad. First, she starts having visions of Elizabeth, but she soon develops a case of full-onset possession.

Her brother was already alarmed by a creepy old Satanic cult leader, who keeps dogging him, making heavy, portentous threats. However, he the hard-nosed Father Francis Campbell might just be the right Vatican ghost-buster for the job. He is a little scruffy, but that perversely builds confidence.

Right, so Covenant is pretty standard issue possession stuff, looking in a problematically dingy, pedestrian manner, but it is elevated by a surprisingly strong cast. Monica Engesser has a rather alluringly distinctive look that is quite well suited for the grieving Hellfire hot mom. Clint James channels his western movie experience, making Father Campbell a Bible-slinging high plains exorcist, which is cool. When he says “we’re going to have to cancel Bakersfield,” you know its serious. Richard Lippert is all kinds of steely evil as the Satanist stalker, while horror regular Maria Olsen twitches like mad as the super-Christian across the street.

As in Blatty’s work, evil is very real in the world of The Covenant—down right seductive, in fact. However, it lacks Blatty’s Catholic vision of love and sacrifice overcoming the worst cruelty and depravity. For consumers, it is an okay time-killer, but for aspiring horror filmmakers, it is time well spent as potential cast scouting. Recommended or whatever accordingly, The Covenant is now available on VOD platforms, including iTunes.

Ravenwolf Towers: Full Moon in Webisode Form

In the lunar cycle, there are 29.53 days between full moons. Those of us whose jobs do not depend on the tides ordinarily do not keep track of such things, but fans of Charles Band and the particular style of his horror movie production company Full Moon Features now have a reason. His new web series will premiere a new episode every full moon, which will make its airings even less predictable than NBC’s NewsRadio in the late 1990s. Yet, if you are a diehard brand fan, you will probably be checking anyway. Casual genre viewers will also be amused by the Full Moon aesthetic applied to the Grand Hotel formula when Bad Mary, the first episode of Ravenwolf Towers premieres today on Full Moon’s Streaming site.

The titular hotel was once an opulent palace, but it has degenerated into a skid row flop, except for the top story. A family of apparently financially secure inbred mutants keeps the 11^th floor all to themselves and they expect management to respect their privacy. As of episode one, this now includes Jake, the new assistant manager. He is a bit of a sad sack, but he perks up when he meets Mary from the top floor clan, who happens to be rather attractive, like Ravenwolf’s Marilyn Munster.

Band helms a surprisingly atmospheric premiere, but thanks to his showman’s instincts, he also has the commercial sense to open with a sex scene, making Ravenwolf totally cable-ready and fanboy-friendly. Right from the start, he doles out some intriguing backstory and the run-down setting is rather evocative. The cast largely plays it straight, including Evan Henderson as the somewhat spaced-out Jake. Cult movie fans will also get a kick out of super-busy horror movie regular Maria Olsen chewing some scenery as Mabel, the duly sinister daughter of the freaky clan’s ailing patriarch.

Based on the thirty-one minute first installment, Ravenwolf definitely has potential, like a riff on the old James Brolin Hotel series, but with body horror, deformity exploitation, nudity, and at least two mad scientists. (We’ll let you know if subsequent episodes are open for review.) Of course, a season one DVD has already been announced, but in the meantime, Band and Olsen fans can keep watching the moon. For Full Moon subscribers, Bad Mary is now available on their streaming platform.

A Better Place: Your Sins will be Transferred

Jeremy Rollins is like a Biblical Wolverine. He does not merely heal quickly. All the physical damage inflicted upon him will be mysteriously transferred to the person his attacker loves best. Naturally, his [over] protective mother kept him sequestered and home schooled for vague reasons of X-Men style anti-mutant fear and prejudice, but frankly that never really makes sense. Regardless, Rollins will have to face his corrupt small town on his own after her premature demise in Dennis Ho’s A Better Place (trailer here), which releases today on DVD and VOD, from Monarch Home Entertainment.

As one might expect, Rollins is somewhat socially awkward, considering he has hardly had any interaction with anyone besides his mother. Yet somehow, Ned Bower, the boorish Sheriff’s son is just itching to bully him as soon as he steps out of the house. Fortunately, Jess the cute diner waitress intercedes on his behalf. She too has a rotten home life, which gives them something in common to bond over.

When Sheriff Bower is not reining in his son and intimidating Rollins, he does the dirty work of Sam Abram, the town’s banker, who is even more gleeful repossessing homes than Old Man Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life. In fact, he enjoys it so much, he has Bower frame-up vulnerable home-owners to expedite the process. Perhaps they also helped Ms. Rollins along with her heart attack.

There are clear Christian themes sprinkled throughout Better Place, but it is considerably less in-your-face than most Evangelical films. Unfortunately, it all comes out in the off-key, highly unsatisfying climax. For the most part, the cast is also more professional grade, particularly William Knight (the English dub voice of Danzo Shimura in the Naruto franchise) as Abram (so it’s a pity his character is such a cliché).

It is also fun to watch Tonya Kay vamp it up as Abram’s gold-digging trophy fiancée. Cult horror star Maria Olsen lends the film further credibility, but unfortunately she is largely wasted as Jess’s belligerent drunken mother Rita. As for the kids, they are rather a mixed bag. Mary Ann Raemisch shows some poise and presence as Jess, but Stephen Todt’s Rollins mainly just gives us surface awkwardness, with no sense of anything going on inside.

Compared to the average Kirk Cameron movie, Better Place is quite subtle and accomplished, but that is grading on a generous curve. When it comes to the actual viewing experience, the sluggish pacing cannot be ignored. It earns some credit, but it is still hard to recommend A Better Place when it releases today on DVD from Monarch Home Entertainment.