The Gravedancers / Wicked Little Things

After Dark Horrorfest, commonly known as “8 films to die for” is an annual horror festival that began in 2006 and features eight feature length horror films. Since the initial Horrorfest in 2006 it has become somewhat of a cult hit, each year cranking out more thrills and chills. Unlike a typical film festival, Horrorfest doesn’t take place at just one location; it actually plays in dozens of theatres across the country, with more being added all the time.

Over this series of reviews I will be chronicling released from different years of Horrorfest, which originally played in January of 2006. There are as the name suggests eight different films, all dabbling into different elements of horror, gore, and the supernatural. I really enjoy the concept of a horror festival on a national level, and it really gives a chance for aspiring writes of the genre to do something unique and outside the realm of cliché that has engulfed the genre so often.

Although in the past I have rarely seen an independent horror film that has captivated my imagination or even thrilled me, I am keeping my mind open to the possibility that the ever growing Horrorfest really will be the difference maker in the genre. So without further delay, how do these films fare?

Films  

The Gravedancers has a rather random premise, based around exactly what the name entitles, grave dancing. A group of friends go out on a binge after attending a mutual friend’s funeral. After putting a few away the group break into the cemetery where their friend is buried to say a final goodbye. The group soon find a black envelope that contains a poem that encourages people to dance on the grave of the departed as a celebration of their life. The group does just this and things get weird.

They begin seeing visions and hearing noises, but then they even begin getting attacked ghost like forces. The group soon enlist the help of paranormal investigators. It turns out the group provoked three havoc minded ghosts by dancing that night.

The Gravedancers has potential, but in typical horror fashion it doesn’t do much to follow through on it. But not all was lost with this film, while it was polluted with its sexual violence and drab dialogue, I found that the overall ambience was somewhat chilling. Don’t expect much regarding the acting, except for the surprise inclusion of Tcheky Karyo who had a string of hits in the 90’s including Bad Boys and The Patriot. In the end I guess you could twist my arm to recommend this film, just don’t come in with high expectations.

Wicked Little Things also more of a supernatural horror, has a cliché setting but a half decent premise. Back in the early 1900’s a cruel owner of mine subject’s immigrant children to child labour, and after a large explosion many of the children are buried alive. Fast forward to present day Karen Tunny has just lost her husband and moves with her two daughters to her late husband’s home locate adjacent to the mine. There are rumours around that zombies live up near the mine, and the children soon become paranoid. But there paranoia soon turns to reality as the zombie children begin killing locals, and everyone is in a fight for their life.

Again, the film does very little to impress, but considering it for what it is it wasn’t all that bad. I think it was interesting how they made the villains as zombie children, whereas normally they might be spirits or adult zombies. That interesting choice plays out rather nicely in the film, and while there aren’t many thrilling or horrific parts in this film I still felt rather intrigued.

Video  

Brought to us in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, there isn’t a whole lot of difference with these releases than we have seen in the past with the After Dark titles. The films really suffer in low lighting situations which as with most horror films, encompasses a large majority of the films. So ultimately what we get is smooth and pretty looking daylight scenes where details are evident and sharp, whereas in the night we get grain, and disappointing loss of detail and clarity.

Audio  

Lionsgate brings us these films like all others in the series with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Both films are rather similar in the audio department, and like most of the other releases in the series as well. These films are very front heavy, and half decent for the dialogue portions. But where the other films suffer these do as well; during scenes of high intensity the screaming seems muffled, and bogged down by noise. Overall I’ll give the films audio department a nod, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Special Features  

The Gravedancers

• Commentary with Director Mike Mendez and Composer Joseph Bishara
• “A Grave Undertaking” Making-of Featurette with Optional Commentary – I was actually impressed with this featurette, there was some cool information. But what I liked most was the option of a commentary on a special feature, kind of cool.
• “Making the Ghosts” making of featurette – Another making of feature that gets a bit more into the creative process of the film making.
• Trailer
• Deleted Scenes with optional commentary
• Storyboard galleries

Wicked Little Things

• Audio Commentary with Director JS Cardone and Lori Heuring – Again, unless you actually liked this movie there is nothing interesting in the commentary, even if you did like the movie I doubt you would get much out of this idle banter.
• Trailers

Final Thoughts  

Neither film was spectacular but surprisingly both weren’t all that bad. Sure they wouldn’t be my first choice in horror, but compared to the mostly disappointing releases in the After Dark Horrorfest series I was surprised to find two films that were decent on one disc. Both of the films had rather decent audio and video transfers as well, the main setback was the lack of features but that has come to be expected. At the end of the day this disc was definitely better than most of the releases in the series and I am inclined to recommend them.