Starring - Dan Haggerty (Elves, Abducted), John Henry Richardson (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Beverly Hills Vamp), and Robin Sims (Hunter, The A-Team)
Release Date - 1991
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "His mind is their only way out!"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)
Rating (out of 5):
When I started collecting Retromedia Entertainment releases several months back I was excited for all the sleazy horror releases that I had never seen before. I've really enjoyed these films and I check makeflix.com often to make sure I didn't miss a new release. When Fred Olan Ray announced the blu release of Teenage Exorcist I was extremely excited to check it out. However, once I received the release in the mail I was surprised to see another Grant Austin Waldman film was included in the special features. The film, The Channeler, starring Dan Haggerty was a movie I had never heard of before. I was extremely curious about this one and as soon as I finished TE I was quick to hit play on The Channeler.
The film follows a pair of young adventurers who are venturing into the mountains in order to explore an old mines. The locals try to warn them about the legend of the mines but they refuse to listen. However, the closer they get to the mines they discover that the legends are true and all their lives are in danger.
I found it extremely odd that I had never heard of this one before and that only fueled my desire to watch this one even more. After finally getting to see it I was surprised by how much I liked it. It wasn't an amazing film by any means but it was a lot of fun. The acting in this one wasn't as fun as Teenage Exorcist. The characters are more grounded than TE and the cast really gets into their roles but when it's all said and done we are given cliched and generic characters that blend into the background. The same can even be said about Dan Haggerty who's is typecast bigger than shit. The story for this one is fun but it does fully submerge itself in horror stereotypes especially those of 80s direct to video titles that take place in the woods. It's not a bad film but it's pretty predictable and the cliches do create an unintentionally funny moment but I actually liked it. It's not a film I could revisit often but if it was on or I couldn't make my mind up about what to watch next I could spin it. Finally, the film has some blood and some make-up effects but don't expect some gnarly kills and gore. The deaths are not the pay off in this film like with other horror films that it borrows from. Overall, The Channeler was surprisingly fun but not the most memorable film. I enjoyed it especially as a secret bonus film in the special features but I won't be visiting it again any time soon. I recommend it especially for a late night watch.
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