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
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.
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| 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”…
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