Tag: BOO!

Director: Anthony C Ferrante

Writer: Anthony C Ferrante (Screenplay)

Starring: Trish Coren, M Steven Felty, Jilon VanOver, Dee Wallace Stone, Happy Mahaney, Nicole Rayburn, Josh Holt

Plot: A handful of college students get trapped in a haunted hospital on Halloween.

Tagline – You Don’t Have A Ghost Of A Chance

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Simple Fun Horror

Story: Boo starts on Halloween night, four friends Jessie (Coren), Kevin (VanOver), Marie (Rayburn) and Freddy (Holt) head to the old abandoned haunted hospital, where Emmett (Mahaney) has rigged a few tricks for the night to scare the girls. Little do they know that Allan (Samluk) has recruited his father’s old partner Arlo (Wayne) to help search for his missing sister in the hospital.

As the friends split up in the hospital, they start to learn about ghosts that haunt the hallways, with Jessie getting flashbacks from her past and the killer which once walked the halls.

Thoughts on Boo

Characters – Jessie is the reluctant girlfriend to go into the haunted hospital, she sees a ghost on the way in and it isn’t long before she has living memories of what happened in the hospital, she starts to put the pieces together about the truth. Jacob is the murderous ghost walking the halls of the hospital, he has been killing visitors for years waiting for his own release from his own nightmare. Kevin is one of the friends that has been planning this haunted night for the year, he is the boyfriend of Jessie, though he isn’t a good boyfriend with his actions behind her back. We get the generic group of people outside of this group inside the cast, the slutty friend, the quiet one, the defensive brother and the one trying to make up for his mistakes.

Performances – Trish Coren in the leading role is fine, she isn’t as convincing as you would like in a horror lead, but this is a problem with most of this film, none of the acting reaches the levels you would expect to see in a film that is meant to be a haunted horror film that can always create colourful characters.

Story – The story follows a group of people that end up locked inside a haunted hospital with ghosts that want out and they will kill to get their freedom. This story does fall into the haunted hospital generic storytelling process, it is watchable, though it is filled with generic characters, it does have the idea of haunting being clues to the truth, which slowly builds to a final showdown, only most of the story to be the errors of most horror films, splitting up being picked off, though we do get a unique way to show how the ghost possession people can be shown.

Horror – The horror in the film is hauntings and exploding bodies, it does work for the film, making it entertaining for the horror audience, though the fake jump scares don’t help this film.

Settings – The film uses the singular location of the haunted hospital, this gives us plenty of long corridors and creepy rooms for the characters to wonder through.

Special Effects – The effects are surprisingly interesting with the first shock value of what the ghost is capable of and then the ghostly characters work for the creepiness of the film.

Scene of the Movie – The first revel of what happens with the ghost.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The characters aren’t flushed out enough.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun easy to watch horror movie that gives us simple haunting moments and a unique spin on the haunted hospital idea.

Overall: Easy to Watch.

Director: Luke Jaden

Writer: Luke Jaden, Diane Michelle (Screenplay)

Starring: Aurora Perrineau, Jaden Piner, Jill Marie Jones, Rob Zabrecky, Charley Palmer Rothwell

 

Plot: A torn suburban family refuses to heed the warning of an innocent prank left upon them which causes an unknown supernatural force to wreak havoc.

Tagline – You’ve been chosen.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Shock Value Horror

 

Story: BOO! Starts when the suburban family, James (Zabrecky), Elyse (Jones), Caleb (Piner) and Morgan (Perrineau) receive a mysterious Boo parcel, which is a Halloween prank, only the legend behind it requires you to pass it on.

As tonight is Halloween, everybody wants to go out in their own separate way, with Elyse looking or a drink, James heading to the library, Morgan wanting to spend time with her boyfriend and young Caleb left home alone, where he starts experience strange goings on, only they all start experiencing something horrific, is this just the night or has the curse of the prank caught up with them.

 

Thoughts on BOO!

 

Characters – Morgan is the teenage daughter that is going through the stage of breaking the rules, wanting to spend time with her boyfriend over her family, she will argue back against them at all times and soon starts getting tormented on this night. Caleb is the youngster child of the family, he gets left alone even though he believes something evil is within the house, he does have a creative side, though it does seem like he may have a few learning difficulties. James is the father of the house, he is the one that starts researching the truth behind the prank using his religious beliefs to get his family through the problems of the night. Elyse is the mother that does have a secret from her past, she likes to go out for drinks still, while trying to reconnect with her daughter before it goes.

Performances – When it comes to the performances the four main actors all struggle to make the big impact required because of how the story plays out, we get the generic performances of the rebellious teenager, the youngster that just knows just where to go, the grieving mother and the distant father, never making anything fresh to the character.

Story – The story follows a family that comes under terror after they don’t pass on a chain prank which will soon sees the family needing to face their demons to escape. The story does seem to have problems early on, it is strange because each four members of the family are just an important as the rest on screen time, which means each character gets moments to have horror which means we do get an odd scene here and an odd scene here, that never feel connected. We do get hints of foreshadowing through the film which is head to the direction we conclude. The lack of connection does work because it does show how the family is starting to fall apart and will need to reunite to figure out how to get out alive.

Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film does look for shock value over with the jump scares which just use false jump scares too early, the mystery does come from just what is going on and why the family has been targeted.

Settings – The film is mostly set in the house which again manages to show how the family isn’t connected anymore.

Special Effects – The effects in the film do get used well for when they are needed, coming off as one of the strongest aspects of the film.

Scene of the Movie – An eye for an eye.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The false jump scares.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that tries to reflect a family falling apart with the idea they can be haunted by their demons without being able to communicate which could consume them, it does struggle to put that point over though.

 

Overall: Horror that just doesn’t click the way it wants to.

Rating