Spookfield

Director - Alexis Gonzalez
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Where crime is up and so are the dead!"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     People often forget that I review indie films that have no to low budgets.  The few years I have been reviewing at Horror Society has saw me check out several films made on 100 or less.  Hell, I have even watched an exploitation flick about Jesus that was made for roughly $15.  If that's no budget then I don't know what is.  Sometime last year I came across director Alexis Gonzalez who was working on his anthology film Spookfield.  Those of you that know me know that I am a sucker for anthology flicks.  I reached out to Alexis when I first learned that he was working on it.  We talked a bit about the film and he stated he would get back to me when the film was completed.  Some time passed and my name slipped his mind until he reached out to the HS Facebook page.  I reminded him of our conversation and he was kind enough to hook me up with a review copy.  Thanks Alexis!
     The anthology begins with the first tale Tears of Trauma.  This tale follows a young man who lives in an apartment and enjoys a quiet evening reading.  However, his abusive neighbor is always loud and abusing his family.  The man can no longer take it.  He covers his face and breaks into his apartment to put him in his place.  The second tale, The Town Ghoul, follows a junkie who will do anything to score some cash to get his next fix.  His journey to get high leads him to the home of an archaeologist where he tries to hold him at gunpoint only to find something sinister is living in the basement.  The third tale, It Isn't Easy, follows a small time pimp who finds out his hoes have skipped out on him and have been working other streets for another pimp.  He makes an example out of a few of them but they refuse to stay dead.  The fourth and finale tale, Wishful Thinking, follows a young woman who finds herself stuck between a good cop and bad cop when her sister is found murdered.  The bad cop kidnaps her but she is able to save herself using an ancient evil.
     I love a good anthology and I love them even more when the stories intertwine while a great wrap around story bookends the film.  Something needs to hold these stories together in the same line as Creepshow or From a Whisper to a Scream.  Sadly, Spookfield does not but that does not mean this is a bad film.  Far from it.  In fact, the film was worth the watch and shows a lot of heart.  The acting in this one is what I like to call indie rich.  The entire cast, with no exceptions, shows a great deal of dedication and conviction they just lack experience.  A lot are great at delivering their lines but have a hard time finding the right emotion and vocal tone.  This resulted in a few scenes losing their impact but it was still enjoyable watching this cast.  The stories for this one is split evenly.  Two of the segments were really fun and full of originality while the other two were straight homages to Tales from the Crypt.  Tears of Trauma and It Isn't Easy were two that were fairly original and made this anthology film go the S.O.V. route.  I thoroughly enjoyed these two.  The other two stories, The Town Ghoul and Wishful Thinking, were fun as well but made me really want to turn the film off and watch TftC.  With that being said, the stories are just a bit too long.  I like how they intertwined together but it often resulted in some confusion. The film really needed some sort of wrap around segment to keep these tales separate while connecting them together.  Finally, the film has several on screen kills.  Some are a little boring while other are fun.  These kills are not really unique but they do have some great gore and decent practical effects.  The film itself has a lot of heart but there was several flaws in this first time filmmaker's film.  One was the audio.  In several scenes the dialogue was a little too soft and the background music was way too loud.  In other scenes the editing was very choppy and blocky resulting in uneven scenes.  Overall, Spookfield is a solid effort from first time director Alexis Gonzalez.  The film may be flawed but it is worth a watch especially if you enjoy the S.O.V. horror films of the late 80s and 90s.  Check it out and be sure to keep an eye on this one who is currently working on a sequel.