Review: Gravedigger Dave's Halfway House

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Gravedigger Dave's Halfway House

Directed by Keith Tyler Hopkins

Hexagon Motion Pictures

72 minutes, 2020

www.HexagonMotionPictures.com

https://www.facebook.com/HexagonMotionPictures/

www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B086H5SXZG/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

I love a new blade on an old saw. What I mean by that is while this is an anthology film, it has a brand new bag in that some of the stories are “real” documentary, and some are made up. It is up to the viewer and a child to decide which ones are the doc and which ones are the fict.

Filmed in – and centered around – Duluth, MN, we are given a tour of what could be reported hauntings (I won't say real because I don't know if I believe in ghosts or not at this point in my life, or made up for the film. 

Matt Rasmussen

We are introduced to the host, titular Gravedigger Dave (Matt Rasmussen), who tends to shout his name like a sportscaster, “Gravedigguh Daaaaaaave.” That’s a bit annoying after the first time, but generally Rasmussen has an engaging personality and a sideways enigmatic smile that makes him likeable. So, Daaaaaaave (okay, from here on in this review, it is “GD,” which is of course how religious fanatics say “goddamn”; seems appropriate). The acting is a bit stereotypical horror-host over the top (Elvira, Ghoulardi, Zacherly, for example) but again, it comes across more as charming than cringeworthy.

GD is looking to hire someone, and applying is a young girl (April Dressel) of under 10 years, aka The Kid. Her job interview consists of GD telling her stories and she has to give a thumbs up or down on whether or not she believes it to be true.

This device gives the viewer both a wraparound function and a segueway to each of the tales, and GD a chance to “host” the stories. Ah yes, the reports, and don’t worry, I won’t give much away. The documentary part, and the underlying source for the accounts are from the very real Duluth Paranormal Society.  They’re a group such as the ones you see in films like Poltergeist (1982) and Grave Encounters (2011) that check out the mysterious bangs and clangs of supposed hauntings (ghostbuster Harry Houdini was the first one I know of to do that nearly a hundred years ago). That alone fascinated me, as much as the spooky stories about – err – spooks.

Whether the description being told is real or not, it’s done in documentary style. Sometimes it’s pretty easy to tell the fake stories, and if one learns anything from these kinds of films (especially the found footage type), it’s to not look at the person talking, but in the dark spaces behind them.

As well as stories about things that go bump-crash-pow in the night, there is also footage of abandoned places that, whether haunted or not, look really cool. This is a pet love of mine, to go to abandoned places and take photos (barns, buildings, houses, etc.). It is amazing how many of them look like Ellis Island did in the 1970s, before the renovations to turn it into a tourist attraction (yes, I went to the site back then). That feature alone makes this interesting viewing. With the stories that go with them, even better. We hear of ships, a hospital, a couple of museums, and of course a cemetery, and their apparitions associated with them. There is even a really creepy wedding photo.

Some of the stories include shorts the director has worked on, such as “Boots” (2016), “Take Your Non-Vaporous Apparition to Work Day” (2017), and the enjoyable “UNDO” (2017); these are easy to tell that they are fiction by the way they are presented (i.e., more structured than found footage), but I don’t care, quite honestly. It’s the tales of terror that I am going for, and if it’s documentary style or more classically linear storytelling, I’m in, as long as they hold up.

While definitely eerie in the telling, whether live or fiction, there is also underlying a strong sense of humor, some of it deep and dark, and other times quite broad, but it all works. This is actually a fine release that gets many jobs done, depending on the tastes of the viewer. I know I found it more engaging than any of the Paranormal Activity franchise, and it does not try to be anything demonic like The Conjuring films either. It’s a trip into the imagination of the “real” and the “fantastic” without implying it is anything other than what it is, and I respect that so much.

Also, I was quite happy with the conclusion The Kid gave when it came to judge what was what. I am hoping this is just the beginning of a string of Gravedigger Daaaaaaave releases (if not, one might say, “Dave’s not here, man”) as I am fond of both anthologies and supernatural documentaries. Here, you have both. Bravo. Meanwhile, I ponder whether GD is named after the more sedate Dave Matthew’s and his song “Grave Digger”…

Review: Terror in Woods Creek

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Terror in Woods Creek (aka Deadlines)

Directed by Tracy Lee Staton

Roadkill Entertainment / Wild Eye Releasing / MVD Entertainment

94 minutes, 2017 / 2020

www.facebook.com/tracyleestaton/

www.wildeyereleasing.com

www.mvdb2b.com

In the small Virginia town of Woods Creek, population under two grand, there is an evil that recurs every 50 years or so. No, it’s not the Creeper from Jeepers Creepers, this is more of an old school, Biblical evil from the pits of hell that has come to visit. We are introduced to the Drifter (Royce Hobson), a cool lookin’ dude with smashing early ‘60s sideburns, a big smile, and eyeliner.

Royce Hobson

What is it about devilishly and deliciously joyous supernatural evil men that you can spot them a mile away by their eyeliner? Sure, the sideburns scream “watch out,” but it is the eyeliner on these squinty-eyed dudes that make them so obvious; it’s quite the common trope. But one other thing to note is if your satanic guy is wearing eyeliner, he is going to be a fun character to watch. He is so cool and malevolent: he constantly smokes, yet still often has a cigarette tucked behind his ear at the same time.

Anyway, back in 1962, the town was visited by this very same Drifter – as we see in the prologue – while the whole joint is going crazy and killing either others or themselves, right out of Cronenberg’s The Crazies. After that we pop up to 50 years later, and it is 2012, and guess who has come back with his ‘burns, eyeliner and a cool retro ’65 Buick named Ruby bearing a license plate that proclaims “Burn One”?

The modern town is filled with people with cutesy homage names, such as Police Detective Smith Wesson (Robert Barger Jr, who looks a bit like Stephen King in Creepshow) and the priest is Father Fulci (John Johnson).

Whatever their nomenclature, everybody is just sweatin’ out ‘tude in this film, from the relatively good people to the absolutely bad ones, such as news reporter Tippi Thompson (Jaclyn Vames), said police detective, the abusive garage guy Jesco (Matthew Ewald, who also writes horror-themed novels you can check out), and especially The Drifter. Though I should point out while this covers both sexes, the women come out better in general numbers than the male of the species. An exception is the heinous High School Principal (Camille Keaton of the 1978 classic I Spit on Your Grave / Day of the Woman, in a stand-out cameo). The most likeable person, though, is the busty bartender, Bobby Jo (Katherine Tryon, who is also an Executive Producer).

Oh, and did I mention on top of all this, there is also a person in overalls and a potato sack over his head tied on by twine around the neck that is going around helping others meet the boat at the River Styx? He walks around with (and uses) an axe, and is called “Potato Sack Jack.” To me, his conversation with the Drifter is one of the high points of the film.

Beneath the story is an underlying dark sense of humor that shows its head in the form of mostly dialog, but also some of the deaths are kind of humorous, in a sick way. Some killings are “Good, they deserved it!” and others are “Damn, I liked that person.” It’s more balanced when they do that.

Most of the film is just menacing and murder, but the truly magickal and supernatural part of it does not really come until the third act, even though there are a-plenty of killin’ throughout. Nearly all of the actual murders are done off-screen, but this is a story-based tale, so that is okay. Still the “after” SFX look pretty damn cool.

As far as the acting goes, well, Hobson and Ewald definitely comes off the best. Some of the acting is kind of a mix of hokey and wooden, but with all the drawls, it all works out. Part of this is that is seems like the director employed a few of the locals (i.e., not professional actors) in Buena Vista, VA, where it was mostly filmed.

Robert Rydland and Matthew Ewald

There is a good contingent of the cast that also does double duty as the crew, especially Tryon and Johnson. And I know I shouldn’t make anything out of this, but the director being female made me happy (I bring it up because it does not happen often enough, and I want to recognize and encourage that). With the exception of Tryon’s constant cleavage, this is a pretty balanced film, and sexist behavior is pointed out often and sometimes indirectly (it was also written by Staton), even if it isn’t stopped until after the fact, such as Jesco’s relationship to his girlfriend and regarding female travelers who stop by his gas station. Kudos for that.

The extras include the trailer for the film, and a 6-minute Outtakes short, which is actually a Blooper reel. These tend to be fun, and this one runs just long enough not to get tiresome. There is also a full-length commentary track with the director, executive producer Cory Grier (who has a small, recurring role in the film), and star Barger; thankfully, they don’t talk over each other and are respectful. I love when that happens. The conversation between them deals mostly with anecdotal and cursory information about the film, such as what the shoot was like, set locations, and stories about the actors; there is little philosophical discussions on what the film means, or plot points. That’s okay, because as it is, it certainly kept the interest up.

While there are issues with the some of the points in the film, this is a nicely put-together release, with fine editing, lighting, and all those other technical bits. This is Staton’s third film and first feature, and she shows a lot of promise, which I hope I get to enjoy for years and features to come.

Review: Subferatu

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

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Subferatu

Directed by Patrick Penta

Pontius Films

88 minutes, 2020

www.facebook.com/subferatumovie/

I guess this is a new thing since Sharknado (2013), where words are combined in the title. Maybe the concept goes back to Bradgelina, I don’t know. There are lots of these identifiers, such as Tsumambee (2015), Sharkenstein (2016), and Clownado (2019; reviewed elsewhere on this blog). If you have not figured it out, the name of this film is Submarine (or in this case, U-Boat) + Nosferatu (vampire).

Thomas Nichols, Mike Dooly, and Claire Webber

Most of those films listed in the first paragraph are comedies, some quite broad. This release can be included in that category. The bad joke title card (which made me laugh) that opens up this film should be quite the indication, if the backwards Nazi flag (corrected in the third act) and cartoonish German accent (e.g., “Maybe ve should fire a tor-PEE-do at zem?”) does not scream that to you right away. Oh, goody, with all that is going on in the world right presently, this is, to paraphrase the words of Seth Meyers, what I need just now.

In the before-the-credits prologue, we meet the crew of a Dubya-Dubya-Deuce U-Boat (named U-666, of course) with a crew of sailors whose names include the likes of handsome communications officer Lt. Valentiner (the much underrated Michael Reed), the Head Officer, Herr Gluhwein (Robert Piddie), who's moniker translates to "Mulled Wine," and Lt. Bierficker (Nate Pringle), or "Beer Fucker." They go to rescue an old-time sailing ship that is adrift which is obviously The Demeter, infamous for being the bearer of Dracula's coffin in the Bram Stoker novel and most origin stories. We then see clips from the 1922 classic, Nosferatu (thank you, public domain) over the credits.

Michael Reed and Jonathan Dichter

Jump ahead to the present where we meet a mighty sailin’ man, the brilliantly named and perpetually stoned Capt. Gavin McCloud (Mike Dooly), who gives us a “Gilligan’s Island” internal moment to explain inconsistencies in the plot, while flashing back to the main story: a group on a three hour tour (of course) through the Bermuda Triangle, has a boat that founders. They get picked up mysteriously by the same U-Boat that has been untouched by time and the German crew insists it is the Spring of 1945; as the Captain says at one point, they have either gone back in time or the ship has gone forward. Speaking of which, we’re not even 10 minutes in at this point.

The modern-day people are the good-and-baked Captain, Kai Ribbonclerk (Chris Bender), Atticus (John Gardner), Roosevelt (Thomas Nichols) and the gown-wearing Scarlet (Claire Webber); for these four actors, this is their only IMDB listing, but it's important to note that they are award-winning stand-up comics from Seattle. Of course, the shipwrecked passengers are all Generation Z sarcastic and don’t really seem to be too shook up about the whole thing. Meanwhile, McCloud uses multiple World War-era slang insult terms for Germans during one scene, such as “jerry.” Cringeworthy and laughable at the same time.

Claire Webber

The Germans and the Americans have a very “Hogan’s Heroes” frenemies situation going on, sometimes getting along well and other times at odds, all with tongue firmly in cheek. Actually, the more I think of it, the more accurate the television show is to these characters, with a more modern twist.

Supposedly, the U-Boat is on its way to New York City to surrender, and to where Commander Braunschweiger (Martyn G. Krouse) professes desiring a Broadway future, but Gluhwein has a more sinister plan (think of him as this film's version of Burke from 1986's Aliens). I am sure it is no secret to say that the cargo is a deadly vampire, but rather than Dracula, it's femme fatale (literally) neck-biter Ellen (Chelsea Tolle), who is lunching on various members of the crew throughout. Being underseas, much like 30 Days of Night (2007), there is no direct sunlight. 

Robert Piddie

As a wise choice, the director uses the Jaws (1975) paradigm and only gives us glimpses of said nosferatu for quite a time, until it is the right moment. I like that. There is not a huge body count in the meanwhile, considering the limited cast, and no real blood to be seen, ironically, but this is story/comedy/dialog-based, so it works out well. It’s both silly and smart at the same time (an example is a great New York joke/reference at 68 minutes), which makes me respect it even more.

For an independent film, the set design is fantastic. Since the film crew were not allowed on the last of the existing U-Boats, they created a set modeled after it. Very impressive and appropriately claustrophobic. The acting is purposefully a bit over the top in John Lithgow sit-com style, though one of the cast is just completely flat and wooden (you’ll have to watch to see and I will not name names, but it’s pretty obvious from the first line spoken).

While there were a couple of bits here and there that could have been excised (such as a dinner scene with our hero Captain), this was a fun flick with some genuine laughs and lots of cultural buzzwords, so it pays to – err – pay attention to what’s being said; I was almost waiting for someone to say a variation of “Oh, Brewster, you are so cool!” And the fact that it is left open for a sequel makes me smile, and I look forward to getting to see that, if it is in the cards… or under the sea.

Review: Colourblind

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

Images from the Internet

Colourblind

Directed by Nathan Hill

NH Productions

79 minutes, 2020

www.facebook.com/thelurkerfilm/

Well, yes, this technically is not horror. It’s more Dashiell Hammett than Stephen King, but this is definitely an indie, low-budget film from Down Under (Melbourne, specifically). It is also a promotion for the director, writer and star, Nathan Hill. I first became aware of Hill from a role he played named Brad Plunderpants in a hilarious sci-fi horror flick called SheBorg (reviewed elsewhere on this blog).

Nathan Hill

The centerpiece to this tale is a Private Investigator (PI) named Jaffy Rotunda (Hill). He has been retired from the biz (though I don’t know what he’s been doing to pay the rent) and gets called back by his old boss to help a femme fatale named Trix Baxter (Celeste Wilson) to find out what’s going on with her sister, Sia (Anne Gauthier). Mental illness apparently runs in this extremely wealthy family, so she is worried about her (or her inheritance, it is not clear).

Meanwhile, at the same time, Sia’s mom (Jane Badler, who many might remember as the evil, rodent-eating lizard queen from the television mini-series V and its sequels in the 1980s) has hired another PI named Mr. X (Nicholas Wightman) to do the same, without knowing what Trix has done. Both PIs are in competition to find out just what little Sia is up to these days. Mr. Baxter says it best when he states that no female member of his family is nice. Well, that could go well in a mirror, as well.

Anne Gauthier

But of course, things do not go along smoothly in the hard-bitten world of PI life, as Jaffy has taken a liking to Sia as he is following her around. He’s suffering from the titular colo(u)r-blindness in which he sees everything in black and white, but he is able to view Sia in living rainbow.

The first rule of Fight Clu… I mean of being a PI is you do not get involved with your clients. It did not work for Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe (who kinda look alike, don’t you think?), and it is not gonna be productive for Jaffy.

Jaffy’s character is kind of mild, like warm milk on a cold night. He certainly doesn’t come across as frosty as Mr. X, and seems to be lonely, despite having a decent friend. He tries to reach out to Sia and Mr. X, but is rebuffed by the Xer, and Sia turns her back on him at some point in the story as well (I will not divulge details).

What I found more interesting is the relationship between Jaffy and Mr. X, and the misinterpretation of Sia’s Family of who hired whom. Jaffy and X-ey have a history that is not too pleasant, and one of them certainly does not have any interest in playing nice.

Jane Badler

While the story is somewhat compelling, though drags its feet a bit, not much really happens. A beating here, and a few prostitutes there, but the whole point of the action feels like it stalls in places, and the whole point of the exercise is somewhat muddled. Maybe I missed it in the accents? Hill is good in the role, and it leaves an opening for a sequel, but his character seems a bit mushy. Mr. X comes across as harder and, well, fits the PI trope. Jaffy is more like someone Elliott Gould might have played in the 1970s (though Gould did play Marlowe in 1973’s The Long Goodbye...).

This is a movie that could easily play to a wide range of audience, with the exception of one scene at the end that reminded me a bit of Jack Nicholson in Carnal Knowledge (1971). This is a mostly PG-level release, so grab your partner and dosey doe, cook up some popcorn, put a log on the fire, and roll this one up.

Review: The Lurker

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

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The Lurker

Directed by Eric Liberacki

Forever Safe Productions, FFIILLMM, Silva Shots

80 minutes, 2020

www.facebook.com/thelurkerfilm/

I say this without sarcasm or negativity: another masked serial killer is on the loose, and the end result is not purity test perfection, but enjoyable.

Scout Taylor-Compton (far right) and future body count

Taking place at Crystal Lake High (no, this is not a spoof, nor a comedy) we are introduced to the cast of the school play, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Juliet lead is troubled Taylor (Scout Taylor-Compton; Lita Ford in The Runaways in 2010, and Laurie Strode in the Rob Zombie Halloween remakes) and her Romeo-in-name-only co-star is Miles (Michael Emery). Both Taylor-Compton and Emery are competent and have had a decent career to date, but as other reviewers have pointed out, they have aged out of the roles they are playing. But I’m willing to by-pass this, though it is a bit distracting.

While the performance is on stage, the first of the many kills that leads to a decent body count takes place in the hallway of the school to a guidance counselor (it’s the opening scene, so I’m not giving anything away). What I found a bit strange, and there were a few of these moments, is that the next day, the classes are going on with no grief counselor offered, no sign of the principal, and all while the yellow tape is still up and the crime scene officers are investigating. No one at the school seems to be talking about it much, either. A student was murdered in a bathroom in my high school back in the 1970s, and the school was closed for days, and it was main topic on everyone’s lips for the rest of the semester (true event).

Anyway, the main focus is on popular student Taylor, who has a career in acting envisioned ahead for her, but things have not been going well lately, and when we meet her, she is moody and not very likeable. But she’s a gem compared to rape-culture bully boy Miles. But Taylor seems to have a killer after her who wears a cool raven mask and a cowl, looking straight out of Amadeus (1984). I figured out who was, as the Cramps sang, “behind the mask” at the 17-minute mark, but thankfully, there’s also a nice twist at the end that I won’t reveal.

Michael Emery

This film gives a bit more of a backlight of story on the characters, making many of them not just there for the kills, which I appreciated. As much as I like a large kill number, I want to at least feel like some of the people getting butchered are actually there for a reason.

There is a subplot which is given to us in drabs, at the beginning mostly in silent b-roll; however you know that by the end of the film, it all will be clear, and that works okay, leading up to a not-necessarily expected climax (for me, anyway) that was not deterred by figuring out who is behind the slayings.

At first, the kills come far and between, but by the third act, the pace picks up significantly. And the murders look really good, with some nice physical SFX work without being overly graphic in most cases. Also, the murders are pretty imaginative (not just “I have big knife and I chop”); that being said, I am going to suggest you not see the trailer below because it give too much information and shows too many of the slaughters, which I understand it’s supposed to be the draw, but too much is too much. Why see the film if it’s all there already? Thankfully, I watched the trailer after viewing the film (I tend to do that, especially with indies).

The acting is mostly pretty solid, with some experienced players such as Taylor-Compton, so there is that benefit. Some of the writing is questionable and a bit cliched (such as a group in the woods splitting up to go searching separately). My big question is if you know a killer is after you at someone’s house, why would you go to the empty school rather than the police station? That’s where I would bee-line. Little things like that are bound to draw some groans from experienced slasher enthusiasts (while smiling with glee knowing more kills are on the way).

There’s a few decent cameos throughout, such as Ari Lehman (who has made a career out of popping into pix since being the original kid Jason at the end of Friday the 13th; though with that fancy Dali-esque goatee, he looks like he’s vying to play a Musketeer), triathlete Fast Eddie Huchro, and Rikki Lee Travolta (no relation to John) who sports a distracting Southern drawl for no apparent reason as this was filmed in Chicago.

One of the nice touches is that there is no single red herring here, but rather a slew (pun intended) of them. Lots of obvious killer possibilities to draw you away from what felt like the obvious to me; again, knowing who the killer was did not deter from the twist (which I had also partially figured out, though to be honest, I was not sure of the motive until later).

In summation, while there are some script issues and actors that are distracting by playing teenagers despite their obvious acting talent, this was a nice throwback to the 1980s style of slashers that are flawed, but even with those mistakes are part of what makes the viewing all the more interesting.

Review: The Kingdom of Var

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020

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The Kingdom of Var

Directed by Nicholas Kleban

Skeletonization Films

81 minutes, 2020

https://www.facebook.com/TheBoneBox/

Man, I love indie cinema. Sometimes a premise comes up that is so…out there, that you have almost no choice but to say, “Well, okay, I guess,” and go with it. This directorial debut for Nicholas Kleban has unleashed just such a film, shot in Stoney Creek, just east of Hamilton, Ontario.

Vida Zukauskua and Stephen Ingram

Apparently, there was/is a sorcerer named Var (Shawn Van Every; the character’s name is a reference to E. Varelli from Dario Argento's 1980 film, Inferno) who, in 1594, managed to magically bring back some film equipment from the future to show an incantation, and then place it on a VHS. And anyone who watches this tape will bring Var back to life. Never mind that video tape dries out and breaks down after a while, but if you’re dealing with sorcerers and incantations, well, I guess anything is possible. Oh, wait, that’s right, we really need to throw logic out the window and just let the story roll over us as it comes in a major suspension of disbelief (SoD) in this case. But is that any less true of most horror films or creature features? Get over it!

Mucking around in her rented house’s basement, tall, stiff and model-thin Sonja Fitzgerald (Vida Zukauskas), finds said VHS titled “1594” (the shooting title of this film, by-the-by) and plays it. Before you can say The Ring(u) or creepy pasta (hey, that’s what we used to call our neighbor’s lasagna!), odd things are happening to our heroine.

Meanwhile, along the way, she is the target of the sexually obsessed and bad-toothed (dental appliance) InCel security guard (Mark Brombacher) and catches the eye of a creepy love interest, Kyle (Stephen Ingram), who’s sexual pressuring and slew of angry exes doesn’t seem to be a red flag to Sonja. He also obviously has numerous addiction issues.

Shawn Van Every

Through all that is happening, apart from a few screams here and there, life seems to go on with Sonja, despite the perv and her… boyfriend? She’ll get fearful and scared in one scene, and then act normal in the next. This is some bizarre writing, but… SoD it.

It takes a while for the film to hit its stride, but it’s worth the wait as the cannibal followers of Var start popping up, giving a jolt to the gore factor. Many of the body parts looks kind of rubbery, keeping consistent with everything else, but some of the effects actually look really good, and congrats for that.

The story is somewhat simplistic on one hand, but has a nice catch at the end that took me by surprise, answering a question I had earlier on in the story. It’s a bit all over the place, and other than our feckless heroine, nearly none of the other people in her life – boyfriend, best friend Ashley (Sarah Sweird), other friend Danielle (Madison Graves, aka Madi Violet Graves) and her physically and emotionally abusive boyfriend Morgan (Matthew Sears) – are really worth a damn to her (pun intended).

This film has very strong influences of classics that have gone on before, such as a couple of homages to The Wizard of Gore (1970) in the form of Ghorghoulia the Magnificent (Lars Classington), and the aforementioned Ringu. There is another, but it is too big a plot point to divulge and would give away the a-ha moment.

There really is no other way to describe the acting and line reading other than horrendous, achieving the level of The Room (2003; also Canadian, FYI). Actors pretty consistently fumble with their lines, or their eyes keep darting to the sides of the camera like there are cue cards there. But don’t disparage; if you’re like me, stuff like this is a draw rather than a hindrance, because it takes a film to a different level than the usual same-old-same-old. I was both smiling and saying WTF at the same time due to the sheer consistency of the flubbing. The fact that it was shot in only 13 days with a micro-budget, I’m happy to be seeing the completed project at all. The crew definitely managed to stretch the buck to get the most they could.

A major running theme in the film has to do with belief systems. Sonja is a non-believer in the supernatural (though I don’t think the word “atheist” is ever employed), though of course as mystical things keep happening, I wonder if that will change (yes, I already know). I do wonder, though, if Var is merely a sorcerer, or is he also a demon? Certainly he’s demonic.

When Sonja is in full, open-mouth scream mode, which she does often, it looked familiar and I couldn’t place it. Then I got it and smiled deeply: it looks straight out of the iconic ending of Sleepaway Camp (1983). I don’t think it was necessarily done on purpose, but it warmed my heart. When you watch it, let me know if you agree.

The Kingdom of Var trailer HERE.