Crimson Screens thinks that the straight to video market has a hit with "Boo"...
Crimson Screens thinks that the straight to video market has a hit with "Boo"...
A lot of the people who email me or message me about something I wrote on here ask me why I post a lot of negative reviews. I always have the same answer for this. It is because ever since I have been into horror movies, a big joy for me has been wading through the piles of crap because every once in a while I find a golden gem and that golden gem makes every miserable minute seeing the crap worth it. Since I have taken the time to write for websites, do this blogger thing and in the past, even publish my own 'zine, I figure it that it makes sense to tell people about the bad movies, just as much as it makes sense to tell them about the good ones. I won't ever post reviews of Dawn Of The Dead, Evil Dead or any other movie like that, because honestly, you can find out more than enough about those anywhere else on the internet. But movies like Vice Squad and Strange Behavior, well, not a lot of people know about those, especially newer fans of horror and exploitation. And besides, when I see a movie like Motor Home Massacre, whose trailer and box art make it look really damn good, and then I rent it, and witness what I did, then hey, maybe I was hoodwinked into renting it, but it doesn't mean everyone else should be too. So, yes, there are a lot of bad horror movies, but every now and then, you get a good one...
Which brings me to "Boo". This is a straight to video title that has gotten a lot of time on the Sci-Fi channel lately. It is about a group of college students who go to spend a night in a supposedly haunted, and closed, hospital. Through in some missing persons and a couple cops, and you are set to go. The night starts out cool, with pranks and jokes, but eventually things turn very bad.
Ok, the first ten or so minutes of this movie are so ridiculously dumb that I had started to watch this twice and turned it off before I actually watched it all the way through. The early scenes are very tongue in cheek and spoof a lot of modern horror, but it is very poorly done and all the jokes fall completely flat. But, once the cast gets to the hospital, the movie takes off.
They spend the entire time wandering around and when some of their friends become haunted by ghosts, they try to figure out what is going on and why it is going on. I know this sounds very cliche and dumb, but it is actually pretty well done here. There is quite a bit of tension throughout the movie, as the ghosts have a habit of appearing out of nowhere, when you least expect it. Also, the atmosphere is great. The hospital provides a very creepy setting, much like in Session 9. There are a lot of jump scares and people in peril scares, but for the most part, they work.
Of course, there is some bad stuff. Such as the not always very good acting. The guy who plays the blonde guy who cheats on his girlfriend, he sucks. Really badly. He goes from a suave ladies man to a annoying spazz in the period of about five minutes and he is not very good at conveying either. Some of the other cast members are just as bad, but there are some decent performances, so the acting doesn't ruin this movie. Also, some of the gore is CGI, and you know how much I hate that. It is very easy here to pick out the CGI parts because they aren't very well done. There is some creepy natural effects work and some of the breakdowns of the characters are just plain bizarre.
The pacing is good though. If you make it through the terrible first ten minutes, things pick up and never slow down.
This movie is certainly no classic, but it is ten times better than most straight to video releases I have seen in a long while. If you are down for some creepy scares then this movie is a prime pick for Halloween time viewing. Check it out!
A lot of the people who email me or message me about something I wrote on here ask me why I post a lot of negative reviews. I always have the same answer for this. It is because ever since I have been into horror movies, a big joy for me has been wading through the piles of crap because every once in a while I find a golden gem and that golden gem makes every miserable minute seeing the crap worth it. Since I have taken the time to write for websites, do this blogger thing and in the past, even publish my own 'zine, I figure it that it makes sense to tell people about the bad movies, just as much as it makes sense to tell them about the good ones. I won't ever post reviews of Dawn Of The Dead, Evil Dead or any other movie like that, because honestly, you can find out more than enough about those anywhere else on the internet. But movies like Vice Squad and Strange Behavior, well, not a lot of people know about those, especially newer fans of horror and exploitation. And besides, when I see a movie like Motor Home Massacre, whose trailer and box art make it look really damn good, and then I rent it, and witness what I did, then hey, maybe I was hoodwinked into renting it, but it doesn't mean everyone else should be too. So, yes, there are a lot of bad horror movies, but every now and then, you get a good one...
Which brings me to "Boo". This is a straight to video title that has gotten a lot of time on the Sci-Fi channel lately. It is about a group of college students who go to spend a night in a supposedly haunted, and closed, hospital. Through in some missing persons and a couple cops, and you are set to go. The night starts out cool, with pranks and jokes, but eventually things turn very bad.
Ok, the first ten or so minutes of this movie are so ridiculously dumb that I had started to watch this twice and turned it off before I actually watched it all the way through. The early scenes are very tongue in cheek and spoof a lot of modern horror, but it is very poorly done and all the jokes fall completely flat. But, once the cast gets to the hospital, the movie takes off.
They spend the entire time wandering around and when some of their friends become haunted by ghosts, they try to figure out what is going on and why it is going on. I know this sounds very cliche and dumb, but it is actually pretty well done here. There is quite a bit of tension throughout the movie, as the ghosts have a habit of appearing out of nowhere, when you least expect it. Also, the atmosphere is great. The hospital provides a very creepy setting, much like in Session 9. There are a lot of jump scares and people in peril scares, but for the most part, they work.
Of course, there is some bad stuff. Such as the not always very good acting. The guy who plays the blonde guy who cheats on his girlfriend, he sucks. Really badly. He goes from a suave ladies man to a annoying spazz in the period of about five minutes and he is not very good at conveying either. Some of the other cast members are just as bad, but there are some decent performances, so the acting doesn't ruin this movie. Also, some of the gore is CGI, and you know how much I hate that. It is very easy here to pick out the CGI parts because they aren't very well done. There is some creepy natural effects work and some of the breakdowns of the characters are just plain bizarre.
The pacing is good though. If you make it through the terrible first ten minutes, things pick up and never slow down.
This movie is certainly no classic, but it is ten times better than most straight to video releases I have seen in a long while. If you are down for some creepy scares then this movie is a prime pick for Halloween time viewing. Check it out!
posted by Crimson Screens at 1:55 PM
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