Review: The Ghosts of Monday

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet

The Ghosts of Monday
Directed by Francesco Cinquemani
Altadium Group; Jingi; Cleopatra Entertainment; MVD Visual
78 minutes, 2022 / 2023
https://altadium.com/
www.cleopathra-entertainment.com
www.mvdvisual.com

The proliferation of cable “documentary” shows focused on Ghost Hunters has led to a subgenre in that field. Often they are found footage style like Alone in the Ghost House (2015), Ouija Death Trap (2014), and Beyond the Shadows (2020), just to name a trio. Of course, there have been some mainstream “Ghost Hunter” films for decades, such as The Haunting (1962), The Legend of Hell House (1973), and Poltergeist (1982).

So here we are, with a new Ghost Hunter tale that never goes well for the participants, with some relatively strong star power in the form of Julian Sands, who starred in some A-listed films in the 1980s and ‘90s, and has been in cinematic decline in the 2000s as he refocused his career to the stage. But he is enough of a name to grab some attention, especially for genre fans who loved him in Warlock (1989).

Ghost Hunter films tend to follow a basic premise: the group goes to investigate a legendary haunted locale, and find more than they bargained for. In this case, it is the Grand Hotel Gula, located in Cyprus (the country in which this is filmed; in fact, this is the first home-grown horror released out of that island country). Planning on shooting the pilot episode of the documentary series “Ghosts of the Old World,”, the group, led by the show’s host and narrator, Bruce (Sands), are on their way to find the spirits, and not the kind that come out a liquor bottle, which Bruce imbibes.

I am looking forward to seeing this. Ironically, I am not a fan of Ghost Hunter reality television shows, but often enjoy Ghost Hunter films, generally. Go figure! For this one, the title refers to a Monday night in 1990 when 100 people in the dining room were killed by rat poison, though no one knows how, and people have been dying in that location for hundreds of years. The locals avoid the area and the hotel has been abandoned for more than 20 years, but has been recently bought and is being renovated by weird couple Frank (Anthony Skordi) and his wife, Rosemary (Maria Ioannou).

Mark Huberman, Julian Sands

If I have this right, Bruce has been hosting shows for a while, and is a skirt-chasing lothario who it seems most of the women are onto and give him the brushoff. The hot-headed director of the show-to-be, who does not seem happy to be there, is Eric (Mark Huberman). He is with his ex-, the mysterious Sofia (Marianna Rosset), who is from Cyprus and has a history with the hotel; she is also the adopted daughter of Bruce. The crew include cameraperson Jennifer (Flavia Watson) and sound tech Christine (Elva Trill). The liaison between crew and the Hotel is Anna (Kristina Godunova). And where are they all staying? At the Gula, of course. Keep the body count close.

The early tone of the film reminds me a bit of The Sentinel (1977) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968), as people keep feeding Sofia tea with “local herbs,” including the financiers of the Ghost Hunter show, Dom (Loris Curci) and Pat (Joanna Fyllidou). Something wicked this way comes, me thinks. Meanwhile, recurrent shaky POV shots show that everyone from the prospective program is being watched.

Marianna Rosset

Early on, there is the mention of the Cult of Teshub, who was the Hurrian god of sky, thunder, and storms in part, with the Iron Age Luwian and Hittite cultures during the early 13th century BCE (thank you, Wikipedia). Here, it dealt with human sacrifice. There is no subtly that this will be an important plot point going forward into the Second and Third Act, as it is stated more than once. Same with Sofia’s dreams, telegraphing that, in the words of Prof. Pretorious in From Beyond (1986), “Something is coming, Crawford!”

Eva Trill

When the killin’ finally starts, what it nice is that there is a multi-pronged and genre jumping storylines, such as slasher, monster, and cult. Of course, they all tie in together, but it made me happy that it was not just one or the others. When someone gets to meet their maker (colloquially, of course), there is a nice variety. Besides, if you cannot figure out who the bad guys are early on, and probably what is their motivation, well, you just have not seen enough genre films (is it possible to see too many? I say no). There is also a nice reference to the 1953 short story, “The Nine Billion Names of God,” by Arthur C. Clarke.

Flavia Watson

The killing effects look great and had me cheering. I did not really notice any digi-SFX, most of it being practical and very bloody. My one question is, as they all had cell phones, why at some point did anyone not call the police at any point?

With quite the international and attractive cast (including a nice and gratuitous shower scene), the action is first rate, mostly. Sands, generally a good actor, is both wooden and over-emoting at the same time, often acting with his eyes, eyebrows and a forward tilt of his head. He seems to forget he is not on the stage, but in front of the more intimate camera. However, there are some beautiful shots of the hotel lobby atrium, which is almost another character in the story.

Cyprus did good here. There is just enough of an arty tone to give this some oomph, but not enough to make it opaque or distracting. The few scenes we see outside of the hotel of the city are beautiful; visiting Cyprus is on my bucket list.

This film did not disappoint, and I look forward to more output from the island Republic of Cyprus.

IMDB listing HERE

Review: The Resonator: Miskatonic U

 Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

The Resonator: Miskatonic U
Directed by William Butler
Candy Bar Productions; Full Moon Features; MVD Entertainment
68 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/fullmoonfeatures/
www.fullmoonfeatures.com
www.mvdb2b.com

Before even starting on this review, there are two important things to keep in mind: the first and foremost is that this film is based on the H.P. Lovecraftian world of Miskatonic University, where old gods dwell and science projects go beyond baking soda volcanos. Anyone familiar with the likes of Stuart Gordon’s (d. 2020) vision of The Re-Animator (1985) and especially in this case, From Beyond (1986), should have their ears perking up. In the universe this occupies, it shares the space with both of Jeffery Combs’ characters, Crawford Tillinghast and Herbert West with different actors portraying each. An interesting concept.

The other is that this is a film from Full Moon Features, and while this is not directed by Charles Band (though he did produce it as he owns Full Moon), the label itself, like Troma, is known for various levels of cheese. I say that not as a criticism, but as a truthful observation. The trailers from the brand that come with this attest to that (four of six have drug references). Listen, I love me some cheese with my films, with horror especially.

Christina Braa, Dane Oliver

The main character here is Crawford Jr. (Dane Oliver), son of the scallywag who had his pineal gland grow out the top of his head. Crawford Sr. (Jeffrey Byron) was also a professor at MisU, before his demise, as is Katherine McMichaels (a cameo by Amanda Wyss, infamous for being in A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984 and Fast Times at Ridgemont High in 1982), obviously getting over being driven mad in the original From Beyond where her character was played by Barbara Crampton. Another academic of note is professor Wallace (the underrated Michael Pare, brought to fame with the cult classics Streets of Fire in 1984, Eddie and the Cruisers in 1983, and 1984’s The Philadelphia Experiment), who essentially fills in the Dr. Pretorious role, whose line “Humans are such easy prey” has become iconic.

Junior has taken up his father’s work, and has built the titular resonator, which causes both practical SFX and CGI wigglies to appear that have caused some havoc, so he’s distracted enough to ignore his girlfriend, Mara (Christina Braa). In fact, unlike his hyper-intense dad, Crawford has a lot of extremely attractive friends that he is pleased as punch to share in his rebuild.

Austin Woods, Amada Jones, Alex Keener

The cast is just the right age and prettitude that this could bee an episode of “Riverdale,” with Crawford being Archie, dark-haired Mara as Veronica, longish-haired Brandon (Austin Woods) as Jughead, blonde Carrie (Amanda Jones) as a lesbian Betty, and football jock Bear (Alex Keener) as Reggie. Surely, I am not the only one to put these pieces together. The television program certainly seems to be the seed of this release, mixed a bit with the group of experimenting doctors-to-be in Flatliners (1990): “I know, let’s cross ‘X’ with ‘Y’! It’s gold, Jerry, gold!!” Yes, that kind of cheesy.

Continuing in this vein, especially being a Full Moon release, basically there are (again) two elements that the resonator brings to the story. One is of course gore in the form of cool creatures floating around, and the other is the horniness and nudity it brings to our crew, giving the viewer some enjoyable eye candy. This is a bit more than Crampton’s leather and lipstick fetish, of course, to keep up with the times.

Hannah Hueston

Crawford hooks up with Veronica, lezzy Carrie with Bear (shades of 1997’s Chasing Amy), and Brandon with a tentacle-headed female Cthulhu-type nude woman (Hannah Hueston). Once the resonator is turned on, the fear is that a door between the two dimensions will be opened even after the machine is turned off. Actually, it’s never turned off, though it is unplugged, shot at (numerous times, and other hard unbooting, like turning off a computer with the on button rather than the shut-down feature.

As a quick side note, and I don’t know why this matters to me but for some reason it does, schools of higher learning do not ring bells between classes like high schools. Courses in universities vary in lengths usually anywhere between an hour and three, rather than being a standardized time. And I don’t know of any University that has a dress code like a private or Catholic school. Perhaps that was the first “Riverdale” identification awakening for me. And why does a school that is supposed to take place in Arkham, Massachusetts, have cars with California license plates (it was filmed in Van Nuys, he said answering his own question)?

I am not going to lie: I was kind of hoping for a quick cameo by Jeffrey Combs and/or Barbara Crampton, but it is nice they were included in the after-film Thank You list. I also applaud that the film was dedicated – and rightfully so – to Stuart Gordon.

The release is definitely short, at just over an hour, but considering that this is one of five films the director will release this year, that is hardly a surprise. Who’s got the time, right? Anyway, the point is, the end result is nicely defined, with very little filler – nor character development, but that is definitely okay for this kind of film, where the action is hot and the cast is hotter.

As the film is short, so are the extras. Along with a few Full Moon trailers that I mentioned before, including for his film, there is the “From Beyond to the Resonator: The Making of The Resonator” featurette (17 min.), which can also be found on TubiTV (HERE).  If one remembers the VHS releases from Full Moon, there was always a making of documentary at the end called “Videozone,” and this has the same formula, I’m happy to say. Lots of images from The Re-Animator and From Beyond, and how they rolled their way into this film, including comments by the director, William Butler (in oddly extreme close-ups). Others interviewed include all five main characters, Pare (who gets to let his Brooklyn out), and even Wyss.

It is obvious by a character introduction at the end of the film proper, as is Full Moon’s wont, that they are setting this up as a franchise (and I wholeheartedly endorse), as they did with Puppet Master and Subspecies. I look forward to more cheese like this one, thank you.