Hey gang, Valkor here. It’s a new month and I’ve got a new batch of films to sift through; I’ve basically stacked them in a pile and good or bad, I’ll make my way through em even if it kills me. This next film falls under the same category as RZ-9 and Solid State, but this one had an even better opening. The film is called “All Saints Eve” and while there was horror potential from the jump… the rest of the film… well… read on. Oh and Spoilers!
All Saints Eve kicks off in the past where we meet Kaleb (Shawn Shelpman) and his, who’re about to get trounced upon by the townspeople, led by Preacher William (Marc Macaulay). Why? Well his wife is being accused of dabbling in witchcraft and they’ll have none of that. Kaleb is knocked unconscious and when he wakes up, his wife AND two kids are dead. And just before he bites it, he curses the very land they stand on.
Flash-forward 200 plus years later and that very land is now in the possession of a man named Will (Matthew Bonacci); and Kaleb’s house is now being used as a haunted house for the townsfolk. Will promises that after the night is over, he’ll begin the process of flipping the land and using it to build condos. The group of people to go through the haunted funhouse is a bunch of friends out for some thrills and chills; but towards the end, one by one they start to go missing. The remainder of the group, save but one, double back through the house looking for lost friends, but that only leads to even more death that can’t be explained, except for maybe a mysterious man wearing a sack mask and carrying a scythe. However, the only real link to what’s truly going on is former resident Floyd, who is a little bit touched in the head, but he also seemingly speaks to Kaleb. Is the spirit of Kaleb real or is someone using his legendary curse as a means to commit atrocious acts?
Let me just say that there is no real ending to this film. Believe it or not, two of the survivors decide they wanna date each other, after seemingly going through one of the most horrific nights of their lives. “Hey, we just watched all of our friends get killed. Sooooo you wanna hook up”?
The Good:
There’s only one good thing I can say about All Saints Eve and that is, it’s got one hell of an opening sequence with the townsfolk attacking Kaleb and his family. The only downside to that sequence is the family doesn’t put up much of a fight. But then seeing not only the wife hanging by her neck, but the dangling feet of the two little kids? Color me impressed because that left a chill running down my spine! I never would have thought a film would go there, but wow! After that I was ready to settle in for some serious scares. Aaaaaand then the meat of the film started… which takes us too…
The Bad:
Such a great opening leads into a rather sour rest of the film; what you get is a combination of really bad acting with zero suspense and absolutely no scares. People start to go missing or dead bodies show up and there’s no sense of urgency in response to the situation; the way the actors handle the situation shows no sense of urgency or panic that would be considered believable. On the horror side, the film tries to throw a couple of jump scares at you, but it’s to no effect. You gotta have build up plus set the right tone for a jump scare to work; you don’t simply do it and expect the viewers to jump just because the actors do. On top of that, you gotta have actors who are into the shit, and are able to show how truly frightening the situation is. The screams of the women are weak and the guys either ham it up too much or not enough. But the worst misstep this film takes is showing the actual killer wearing a burlap sack for a mask and carrying a scythe, killing a bunch people… but he’s never captured? Did I miss something? Did he vanish into thin air? Was it Floyd all along? Did I fall asleep during that part? I dunno! I don’t care! But I wanna care because he looked kinda cool! And did I mention there’s no resolve? Does that mean we’re gonna get a part two to seal the deal? I really hope not! Then again Hayride got a sequel… Ultimately, All Saints Eve is a boring, letdown of a film.
The Ugly:
The level of gore here is to a minimum, so there’s nothing here that really stands out as “ugly”.
All Saints Eve is available now on digital and DVD. Honestly? Don’t bother. If you decide to watch it, at least you’ll get a cool opening. Other than that, the film is boring, uneventful and not even close to being scary on any level. Out of TOV 5 stars, All Saints Eve gets a 1 and that’s only because it has a cool opening.
