kannibalcorpsegrinder

Struggling with her life, a burnt-out nursing student decides to join a group of friends performing a special ritual to kill themselves and then come back to life to observe what happens after death, but when they realize they've brought a malignant figure after them and have to stop it.

This was an enjoyable enough if overall problematic genre effort. Among the better qualities here are the measures included that provide for a rather fun way of mixing together several different scenarios. The original idea of the ritual that must be performed including special rituals, preparations, and safety measures that will then allow them to be able to contact their specific deceased relative, making for a fun time here to understand their motivations and reasoning to undergo everything, including the whole concept of killing themselves. That this triggers a literal personification of the Grim Reaper to chase after them for breaking the rules of entering it's domain makes sense with the second half making use of the series of encounters present to discover they've been attacked by these supernatural forces including the demonic cat setting up encounters involving their deaths being made to look like suicides. These manage to provide some likable factors here, as there are a lot of issues holding it down. The biggest drawback to this one is the immensely sluggish pace that never once leaves this one with an uninspired and plodding setup. The central idea of everything starts well enough to get her to the group looking for a nurse to help them complete everything, but going about it while making the first half feature nothing of interest until after the fifty-minute mark, while they get everything in order, is just painfully, abysmally dull and pointless. That leaves this to rush through the final half, stalking and killing them in some rapid encounters to make up for how the first half lays everything out. That everyone who performs this is so monumentally stupid and ignorant of what they're doing is another big issue as their inability to see what's going on around them yet continuing to trust everything makes it feel very stupid and uninteresting, and with the film's equally obvious budgetary limitations in play, are what manage to bring it down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

Curious about a special story, a group of friends decide to investigate the truth about a series of rumors involving a mad doctor's experiments and genetic mutations taking place in the area, and when they stumble upon his whereabouts realize that they're intended to be the next experiments.

This was a solid and enjoyable, effective indie outing. One of the finer features with this one is the old-school setup in its approach to the storyline, which is a fun way of paying homage to the previous outings in the genre while offering something unique and different. Not only is this strikingly well accomplished on a technical level with the old-school black-and-white photography capturing everything in that kind of environment, but there's also a way of bringing about the urban legend of the doctors' experiments that have affected the locals. With his work becoming quite prominent in the area, under the numerous reports and investigations into his history of cruelty towards others, which all become enjoyable enough for what's at stake. By the time they get to the special laboratory and are exposed to what's going on, there's a lot of fun to be had with the slow realization about the horrific experiments conducted by the doctor. Featuring the maniacal doctor looking to genetically mutate and transform others into bizarre, grotesque monstrosities, which is what gets paid off here with the deformed outcasts of the experiments. Seeing the malformed, inhuman beasts with animal traits including fur, fangs, unnatural appendages, or other signs of clear-cut animalistic outcomes gives this a solid touch that's decidedly playing into the formula found in those old-school genre classics, leading to a series of impressive images throughout here. These are all enough to make for some positive factors here, even though there are some factors keeping this down. The main issue here is that there's such a disappointing tempo and pacing on display that the film is severely difficult to get into. The opening stretches on forever with the group going around the countryside enjoying sexual shenanigans, trying to investigate the past, or wandering around the forest looking for something that it takes a while to get going, even with all of this material preparing everything for what's to come. It all brings the storyline together rather nicely, but it does so at the expense of ensuring the film gets off to a fine start, much like the finale, where it doesn't feature a big brawl or battle with the doctor or his creation to leave. It just tends to meander around on several long-winded dialogue scenes that end up slowing this to a crawl. Alongside the cheap look of everything, these all bring this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

Stuck living on his own, a man tries to deal with the growing influence of a talking ventriloquist doll in his collection that's having an adverse effect on his livelihood, only to become convinced the continuous nightmares he's facing are the result of demonic forces controlling the doll.

Overall, this was a decidedly enjoyable indie effort. One of the finer features here is the strong setup that provides a strong psychological bent on a somewhat traditional killer doll effort. The first half manages to bring about a rather intriguing tale on the nature of the doll on the owner which starts to indulge in the usual form of trickery involving haunted ventriloquist dolls where it constantly berates and insults the owner while also being the only one to understand who he is to impact the loneliness he feels even further. This all helps to bring about a sense of pathos and pity for him, the more they interact with the hinted-at realization that the doll and other mannequins around the house are alive and helping to torment the mentally-unstable owner for their amusement, factors helped along by the middle half when the camera crew arrives and the film turns into a found-footage-style exploration of the haunted tunnels he uses to help ease himself away from the doll's influence. The initial backstory of the area and how it manages to be incorporated into the storyline about the missing doll is rather fun and handled rather nicely, which turns the later half into a nice bit of supernatural hauntings. Getting plenty of usage out of the dark, decrepit underground tunnels that they're shooting in, the mix of psychological hallucinations involving the spirit of his mother coming to him to continue hoarding his troubled past over him or the secondary physical manifestations of the mannequins coming to life to enact the troubled history of the doll and why it's persisting create some solid imagery and action throughout here which make the film pretty enjoyable. There are some missteps here that hold it back. Most of this is due to the overly talkative first half that aims for the psychological ruminations and backstory of the owner without actually doing anything to impart a dark and twisted storyline. With everything here feeling as those there's a lot of nothing happening watching him interact with the doll growing progressively crazier over time with the cliched notions of the doll lording over his human companion to the point of outright insulting him, it makes for a somewhat underwhelming start to everything with this type of starting point. As well, with the whole thing dripping in the kind of low-budget limitations usually associated with the genre, ranging from flimsy effects-work, non-threatening props, and obvious make-up to go along with the one-location setting that highlights what type of film this is from the start and serves to bring this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.