The Gravedancers (2006)

I had missed the so-called ’8 Films To Die For Festival’ last year, since the general concept was, last November, for one day in one week across the US, eight horror suspense films that ‘mainstream studios’ won’t touch because they are so demented and terrifying, or something along those lines. It was really a nice gimmick to make the films sound a bit edgy. Now that these films are out on DVD, I took a chance on one of them, Mike Mendez’ The Gravedancers, and I’m a bit baffled- why give this film such a limited screening?

Despite released on DVD through Lions Gate and After Dark, the sponsors of the Films To Die For, neither company logo appears in the start of Gravedancers, but they sure as heck plug the other seven films. Therefore, Gravedancers starts out very awkwardly, as we witness a young woman getting thrashed around by an unseen poltergiest. It’s a teaser opening that really didn’t reel me in, and then when a set of friends unrelated to the woman ‘desecrate’ three graves, I almost gave up on the picture.

But then something happens. Harris (Dominic Purcell) and his new wife Allison (Clare Kramer) start noticing thier happy home is attacked by a ghost who does small things like spook the cat and play the piano. Their friends are also under attack, one from a spirit of a serial rapist-killer, the other from the spectre of a five year old pryomaniac. While some of the film’s dark creepy atmosphere slowly builds up, and then, like a prayer answered, two paranormal researchers crop up and this picture suddenly springs to life. In fact, if it wasn’t for the impressive fire and makeup FX work in the last half of the film, Megahn Perry and Tchéky Karyo’s ghostbuster team all but steal the picture. Also worthy of note is Josie Maran, who is subject to four memorable scares in the film, including one where her character Kira is trapped in a half buried coffin standing upright, and an unseen force is slowly sinking the coffin, another where she is confronted by a manifstation of the serial killer ghost, and then there’s the part where blood drips off her feet as an unseen force carries her on her tippy toes.

I really liked the fact that the filmmakers chose to use the budget wisely and spare all the fireworks until the third act, where if a person really wanted to show how Steve Beck’s “13 Ghosts” should have been made, look no further than this. But see, that also gets me upset, when a scare film is impressive and of good cooky quality; but horror fans rush out to see Saws and the knockoff remakes because that’s what the studios think genre fans wat to see. What they missed out on was the Fire Kid and the other mean spirits in this effective macarbe funhouse. I wonder what sort of message this sends.

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The Gravedancers
Directed by: Mike Mendez

Starring: Dominic Purcell, Josie Maran, Clare Kramer, Marcus Thomas, Megahn Perry and Tchéky Karyo

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