All Saints Eve

Director - Gerry Lively (Darkness Falls, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God)
Starring - Marc Macaulay (Edward Scissorhands, Dexter), Bingo O'Malley (Super 8, My Bloody Valentine), and Mere Davis
Release Date - 2015
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Pray the darkness doesn't find you"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Wild Eye is becoming one hell of a force among the indie horror community in the last few years.  This small distribution company has released some solid content this year alone and they show no signs of stopping any time soon.  A few months back Wild Eye released several movies in one month and one that really stuck out to me was the slasher flick All Saints Eve.  The film stood out for several reasons.  The first reason was that it was a slasher directed by Gerry Lively who is known in the horror community for his camera work on several Hellraiser films along with directing two Dungeons & Dragons films.  However, what really pulled me into this film was Sean Whalen's involvement.  Whalen is a name I became familiar with at a young age.  As I stated in several reviews before, I grew up watching Idle Hands over and over again.  I saw it so many times I could easily quote it.  Seeing him on the cover had me hooked.  I reached out to Wild Eye and they were kind enough to send a review copy of the film my way.  Once again, thanks guys!

     The film begins in the 1800s when a preacher and a mob ascend on a small family in the woods.  The preacher spread rumors that the man's wife is a witch so he could have the mob take them out and the church could take over the property.  Fast forward to now, and a muscle bound man with a horrible haircut has turned the home into a haunted house attraction.  This will be the last season for the attraction before he flattens the home in hopes of a new business venture. A group of friends go through the haunted house and a few members become lost.  The remaining members of the group panic and start searching for their friends.  They involve the owner and soon they start to find the bodies of their friends along with several of the attraction workers.  They start to suspect that a mentally ill man who is obsessed with the home is responsible but soon learn that things are far more sinister.
      All Saints Eve was a surprisingly entertaining film.  Sadly, the film's artwork paints a very different picture.  First off, the poster makes the viewer think that Sean Whalen is the slasher.  Wrong!  The second thing the poster got wrong is that Sean Whalen has more screen time that other cast members.  Wrong again!  This was a bit of a let down but the film was far from being bad.  The acting in this one is great by the entire cast.  In fact, the cast was pretty evenly cast and everyone was consistent through out the film.  When it comes to indie horror, most of the cast is fairly inexperienced while others show tremendous amount of talent.  Not this film.  The entire cast is great and that really helps move the story along at a solid pace.  The story for this one is nothing we haven't seen before but that does not ruin the film.  We have seen so many slashers before that follow a group of kids getting cut down in an area where something bad happened way before their time.  We have Friday the 13th getting butchered at a camp where a boy drowned.  A Nightmare on Elm St. where teens are dying on the street where angry parents burned a pedo.  Halloween where teens are getting butchered on the same street a young girl was killed by her brother.  The list goes on and on.  No originality there.  With that being said, the story gives us characters we want to watch die.  They are superficial, highly annoying, and pretty much beg for it.  Finally, the film has a kill or two here and there but they are mostly off screen which is a huge disappointment. Slashers are known for their creative deaths that were full of blood and gore.  This film delivered on the gore and dismemberment but opted to not show the deaths.  The practical effects we get are great but the talent was applied to the aftermath and not the art of death.  Overall, All Saints Eve is an entertaining slasher.  It offers up nothing new but still delivers.  If you are looking for a well shot slasher then this one was made for you.  Check it out!