The Gravedancers

Okay, I've just watched this and I thought it was amazing. I loved it. Yeah some of the CG is cheesy, and some of the acting is ham, but nearly every movie you watch these days is. This film has an excellent script, with characters that, well I did, you like. The plot of the tale is well executed and the suspense that the director has put into the movie is top notch. This is how horror film should be produced. This is a creepy, atmospheric horror which doesn't feature teens running around screaming. I advise any true horror fan to go out and give it ago, especially any old school horror fans. Jimbo

Mike Mendez's follow up to his kick butt movie The Convent is a mixed bag of tricks. some work, some don't. Gravedancers tells the creative and original story of a group of friends reunited by a funeral. On the night of the occasion they get drunk and accidentally dance on some graves releasing the evil spirits in the wrong side of the cemetery. The spirits of a rapist/murderer, a pyre maniac and another murderer. The friends are haunted by these ghosts according to the curse for a month. And as the month comes to a close the paranormal attacks become stronger and stronger as the ghosts try to take the people with them. It's an intriguing concept and much fun is to be had with it. The performances are all decent, the story is creative and the movie is a little slow at the start but is wildly inventive and macabre once it gets going. Everything in the film is done with a winking eye so you can appreciate the film without feeling to guilty about it. The makeup is cartooned and freaky while the cgi is a little fake looking but an understandable necessity with a low budget especially in a film of this caliber. My main gripes however don't come with the film, it's more with the way it was released. You know i didn't mind shelling out 9.50 for this movie but I'm mad as heck that the film's sound transfer was messed up and sounded mono, and the film quality was amateur looking. It wasn't even fine tuned or polished by After Dark. what could've been delightfully freakish come across humorously because of the films lighting. It's dreadfully bright which kind of kills the suspense of a horror flick. The film looks like a rough cut and should have been really touched up before getting a theatrical release. Because they had a good product but ruined it with no effort at all. This doesn't bode well for their film company or the continuing success of a festival of this sorts. But in conclusion I would just like to say although not on the par of a worthy theatrical release this is definitely worth a look on DVD.

The former friends Harris (Dominic Purcell), Kira (Josie Maran) and Sid (Marcus Thomas) reunite for drinking after the funeral service of an old friend that died in a car accident. When the bar closes, Sid proposes to go to the Cresent View Cemetery to say farewell to his friend and drink more. Once there, Sid finds a letter in a tombstone, reads it and they dance on three graves. On the next days, weird things happen in the house of Harris and his wife Allison (Clare Kramer), but Allison believes it is Kira, who has a crush on Harris, stalking them. They go to Kira's house and find her wounded in a completely destroyed place. Later Sid calls them and they are introduced to the paranormal investigators Vincent Cochet (Tcheky Kayro) and Frances (Megahn Perry), who tell them that Sid read an ancient spell that cursed the trio and brought back the ghosts of the graves from the damned sector of the cemetery where they danced. He also discloses that Harris and Allison are being haunted by an insane ax murderer pianist; Kira by a sadistic rapist; and Sid by a pyromaniac. They have to break the curse or survive for an entire cycle of the full moon when the curse would finish, while the ghosts are getting stronger and stronger. Yesterday I saw "The Gravedancers" on cable and I really liked this horror movie. The supernatural ghost story is original and scary, having right doses of humor and funny moments, and the acting is reasonable. This is the first time that I see the idea of bringing ghosts back from hell through the disrespect to the grave of the dead, and I found it great. This movie is highly recommended to fans of the genre. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Carta Para a Morte" ("Letter to the Death")

Even the director himself admits that his movie wasn't that great—sometimes he even compares it to a joke. I'm here to say it outright sucked, even for an indie film. The opening scene was solid and probably the best scene in the movie. After that, you're thrust into cliché after cliché. It reminded me of those old kid's books/mini-movies, Goosebumps, but without the solid plot structure. Honestly, some of them have better plotting and stories than this. This is nothing but pure traditional horror than your grandparents enjoyed, but it isn't scary or have any true horror to it. I respect and like the director after hearing his commentary. And it would be a lie to say there aren't some nifty death/scare scenes. But the story and the flow suck, even for amateur filmmakers. Look up Mike Mendez when he makes his next movie—avoid this one with your life unless it's free to watch on TV.

The Gravedancers 2005 (Theatrical "R", After Dark Horrorfest) – Directed by Mike Mendez After a solemn funeral, 3 friends, Harris, Kira, and Sid, decide to visit the graveyard, read a curse from a card on a tombstone, and then dance on 3 graves. The 3 ghosts then come back to torture their respective dancers for a month after which they will be "put to rest". Where to start? This film is an odd mixture of clichéd ghost scares and laugh out loud bizarre scenes, while also supplying one of the scariest images I have seen in years. The plot, characters, and dialogue are wildly uneven and rarely make any sense. The haunting starts off slow and boring with the run of the mill scares such as loud plumbing, strange voices, and a piano that plays by itself. But just when I was about to nod off, they come at me with one of the scariest ghosts I have ever seen. (It was this image in the trailer that made this my must-see pick for the Horrorfest). The 3 friends decide to meet up with paranormal experts who then figure out that they desecrated burial grounds, unleashed a curse, and must find a way to reverse it. Each of the 3 friends is stalked by their own ghost from the "Condemned" lot of the graveyard. Harris & wife Allison are stalked by the ghost of a woman who axe murdered her lover and his wife. Friend Sid is stalked by a child pyromaniac. And Kira, the unluckiest of the bunch, is stalked by a serial murderer/rapist/torturer. What really makes this film worthwhile is the final showdown in the house with all 3 ghosts attacking at once. Again, the axe murdering ghost gives a horrific performance that had me pressed hard against my seat and clutching my jacket tight. I recommend seeing the film just for this part alone. The film then culminates into one of the goofiest resolutions ever put on celluloid. The audience was howling with laughter. A hummer driving through 5 walls in a building? Check. A gigantic head chasing people? Check. Throwing skulls like footballs? Double Check. Overall, the SFX varied at times. In some spots, the blood and bruises looked realistic, but there were some unbelievable CGI moments. Also, I noticed the wire spots where the ghost was hanging from in some scenes. Favorite Quote: When a woman gets her throat slit open, squirts blood, and dies, the woman next to her says, "I think she's losing too much blood." Bottom Line: Great scares, great laughs. Not to be taken too seriously, but you will have a blast. Rating: 8/10 Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com MySpace.com/HorrorYearbook

Back to old school horror. Scares were simple and effective. We were lucky enough to catch Gravedancers and were very excited when we left the theatre. The ghosts were genius with the simple effects stimulating. Dominic Purcell seemed to reel things in with his acting whenever the story seemed like it could of gotten ridiculous. He asks the questions you have as the audience to almost eliminate any disbelief. An excellent return to the "old school" zombie figures that have scared in the past. Hopefully scare movies will take from this movie the return to figures instead of little children crawling out of TV's or walking across the room. I hope a big response from viewers is heard and this movie releases nationally. Great flick and good fun.

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source: The Gravedancers

I didn't know what to expect from the so called horror fest this weekend but I liked the trailer for The Grave Dancers so I picked this one to go see at the theater. I liked the way the movies characters both live and ghostly inter acted together and how the story moved and flowed through different characters' personal issue. The film had really good make up and the camera work and shooting was a real eye opener. It was well done. The story at times was predictable at times but the last few scenes really kicks it into high geared as the ghosts let it be known that they are not happy and become completely visible. At times it was a actually funny but I like to be positive and not just trash films because you have to have a level of respect for anyone who creates a film and gets it into a theater of any kind. I did like the fact that the writers didn't feel they needed to be a complete gore slasher type film, so often now blood and guts is king and I don't always need to see all that if it isn't needed to pull off the story. I recommend this film to anyone looking for a good horror type film that doesn't have to have blood coming from all angles to make you feel a little spooked.

Even the director himself admits that his movie wasn't that great—sometimes he even compares it to a joke. I'm here to say it outright sucked, even for an indie film. The opening scene was solid and probably the best scene in the movie. After that, you're thrust into cliché after cliché. It reminded me of those old kid's books/mini-movies, Goosebumps, but without the solid plot structure. Honestly, some of them have better plotting and stories than this. This is nothing but pure traditional horror than your grandparents enjoyed, but it isn't scary or have any true horror to it. I respect and like the director after hearing his commentary. And it would be a lie to say there aren't some nifty death/scare scenes. But the story and the flow suck, even for amateur filmmakers. Look up Mike Mendez when he makes his next movie—avoid this one with your life unless it's free to watch on TV.