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January 15, 2014

Movie Review: As Night Falls (2013, Breaking Glass/Vicious Circle Films)

...you've heard it all before, but it just has to be put out there, once again...Man, what's with kids, these days?? I mean...really, huh?? You painfully bring them kicking and screaming into this world...you reluctantly, though devotedly cater to their deliberating infant needs...you tolerate, and sometimes cater to their self-serving 'gimmee, gimmee, gimmee", if at the very least, just to keep them quiet...you lavish and spoil them with baubles and toys and things, only to have them reciprocate with wanting eyes of 'more, more, more' and 'is that all there is'...you begin to sound not unlike a vocally rapid-fire tobacco auctioneer, impatiently and frustratingly calling after the child, with '...no, no, No, No, NO!! NO!!' and '...come here, here, Here, Here, HERE!! HERE!!' and '...stop it, stop it, Stop It, Stop It, STOP IT!! STOP IT!!' Like, where's the gratitude, right?? It's not a wonder, that some parents go absolutely batshit crazy (...well, they do, right?), take a sharpened axe in hand (...well, they DO, right??), and in terrorizing and relentlessly barnstorming pursuit, take matters into their own hands, in...in...uh, let's just say 'taking care of business'...even well into a ghostly afterlife. As ludicrous and horrifically excessive as such a scenario sounds, in the interim...and although no specific reason is afforded the viewers of 2013's "As Night Falls", as to why the crazed and enraged spectral parent protagonists are crazily unabashed in violently snuffing out their child, even on a ghostly ethereal plane...our wayward observers, our cast of characters, herein these ghastly proceedings, just might serve the situation best, by either staying out of the way, and letting things take their course...or standing their ground, and fighting. What do they do, you ask?? As that guy on that old game show once anticipatorily shouted out, "...survey says...?!!"...



...a little girl, screaming at the top of her lungs...running frantically through the woods...her old-fashioned girly dress suggesting a time, some decades ago. Her pursuer?? A large, juggernaut of a man...drawing a heavy breath, with teeth angrily gritted...a scowl, to match his growl, as he begins to catch up. The girl trip...falls...the axe in the grizzled man's hands comes up for a fatally intended chop...the girl screams again, and...


...some fifty years later, Lizzie Croft (Deneen Melody), her sister Holly (Lilly Cardone), and her somewhat boyfriend, Otto (Dwight Senac), are spending some time together, in a house in the woods, which reportedly harbors a mysterious past, associated with a homicidal set of backwoods parents, who may or may not have killed their daughter, at one time, before eventually perishing, themselves. Not hardly deterred by these sinister and macabre stories, the Croft siblings...with an occasional visit by Lizzie older brother, Charlie (Joe Davison), a juxstapositioned ranger of the local area...settle into the creaky abode, joined by some wayward friends, who have nothing on their minds, but waxrapsonically banter about pop culture trivia, a well as doing some heavy duty partying. However, given the film title's suggestion, the initially laughable ghost stories become horrifically real, as the ghost of a little girl tries to warn the family of horrors to come...in the form of the girl's equally ghostly parents...ghastly, decayed spectres...angry and maniacal...still having an axe to grind...and the 'invading' Croft family, and associated friends, stand in the way...and, one by one...well, you get the picture...
...one might think that there might be 'trouble in paradise', when the distributing powers-that-be, try to recycle a film which already saw it's 'day in the sun'...or more specifically, it's 'night under a full moon'...some three years previous, in hopes of garnishing further attention. Indeed, even this ardent viewer, who tries to keep a thumb on the pulse of the horror genre, on both the major and minor ends of the spectrum, had not heard of this particular title, during it's initial run, in 2010. However, in now having engaged the recent re-uphelding of "As Night Falls", the overall feel of the film seems rather ambitious and modest...a moderately chilling little horror excursion, which tries it's very best to be something far more than what one might expect, for a film of this ilk, given it's badged stigma of meager production values, dime-store resources, hokey special effects and untried performers. Taking those expectations into account, it seems that the only real flaw herein, is the writing, with a smattering of ideas exuded in this film, not fully explained, or fleshed out...
...for instance, it's never really explained why the ghostly psychotic patriarch and matriarch (...featuring an unrecognizable Debbie Rochon), took a turn for the worse, in assuming their crazed psychosis...or why such enraged psychosis chose to make the parent's daughter, the target of their rage. Or even how this little backwoods clan was even able to carry on the chase...and as such, target the present 'invaders', the hapless siblings, now taking residence in their home...well into the afterlife. Or at some point, to call upon dark forces, revive the dead, and increase their numbers. Such vagueness in story, or even outright omittance...well, one cannot help but wonder, but eventually not care about the ghostly protagonists...even the plagued-upon little girl. This type of vague storytelling might genuinely work in some genre films, given certain circumstances; however, the way things seem to be set up, herein...well, you kinda want to know...and yet, are invariably left in the dark, in that regard...
...however, literary failings aside, there's surprisingly reciprocative balance, in these macabre proceedings, with regards to the 'alive and (ass) kicking' characters, which...compared to the villainous factor...come across as much more interesting, fun and relatable. A colorfully diverse cast of characters, with a penchant for moments of free-spiritedness, as well as obsessive pop culture trivia (...hey, how can one go wrong, with a genre film, where one of the slacker/partier characters is named Pennywise), almost reminiscent of a similarly flavorful Kevin Smith flick, the overall performance expectations shouldn't be too surprising...effective, but pretty much by-the-numbers...though truly, director Joe Davison might have considered remaining more effectively behind the camera, rather than taking (...thankfully) brief moments in front of the lens, in his 'umfed' performance as older 'ranger' brother, Charlie...


...equally effective, though quite fleeting, to the point of being somewhat negligible and punch-pulling, are the special effects and make-up, which are...eh, respectable, but overall, one can't help but feel a bit dissatisfied, in the 'been there, done that' sense...


..."As Night Falls"...a good try?? Eh, yeah...guess so. There's a lot to be said, critically, as far as the storytelling, but given the arcane and macabre situation...throw in some colorful, likable and relatable characters...slap, slather and slosh on a respectable, albeit economical amount of the red stuff...and the result?? Very much like Chinese food...blandfully tasty, appealing and filling, in the onset...but in an hour or so...why, you just gotta have more...in an eye-rolling, 'sheesh' kind of way.....

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