Capsule Film Reviews #60: The Inheritance; Black Death; Damned by Dawn.

The Inheritance (2011)
Starring: Rochelle Aytes; Golden Brooks; Janae Burney; Keith David; André De Shields; Demetrius Grosse; Darrin Dewitt Henson; Shawn Michael Howard; Lanre Idewu; Adriane Lenox.
Directed by: Robert O'Hara.
Colour/90 Minutes/NR

A group of black young adults come together for a family reunion of sorts at the isolated home of Uncle Melvin (Keith David). Although not cousins by blood, they all come from five families who were slaves at the same plantation and have stayed very close through the generations. They think they are there to receive inheritances from the family elders. It quickly becomes clear that not everything is what it seems. They learn of their ancestors strange association with an African witchdoctor of sorts named Chakabazz, and the dark price they may have paid to him to be free. Soon they find themselves becoming part of a horrible blood rite that none of them may survive. Marketed as a "black movie", at least in the venues it was mostly shown, about 98% of the cast is black (the sole token white couple are dispatched quickly after cracking some stereotypical black jokes and having sex). But really the film is not so much a black movie as it is a typical occult flick mixed with some slasher elements. The window dressing does have its roots firmly in African pagan culture, but does that really make it a black movie? At any rate, it does add a different flavour to the thing, especially an opening montage that establishes (what we eventually learn is) the back story for this film. Sadly, after a nice set up, the film blows its wad far too quickly. Had they drawn out the story a bit more and not laid all of their cards on the table within the first hour, the film would have been much more effective. Instead the film breaks down into several chase scenes and our main characters doing a lot of stupid things while screaming. How a group of young and fit adults are unable to handle a bunch of over-the-hill occultists is beyond me. The suspension of disbelief took a major nose-dive for me because of that. Yeah, I get it. At first they are creeped-out and scared, but after they decide to pull together and fight back, they are, well, just REALLY bad at it. And by that point the film just ends. It seems like they couldn't think up anything interesting. Still, the film does have some nice atmosphere, good acting, and some nice visual touches, like the flesh-words on the window gag...although that makes me wonder why Chakabazz seems to prefer using and speaking English when he's obviously not too keen about whitey. Oh well. Worth a rental on a slow night.

Black Death (2010)
Starring: Sean Bean; Eddie Redmayne; Carice van Houten; David Warner; Kimberley Nixon; John Lynch; Tim McInnerny; Andy Nyman; Emun Elliott; Johnny Harris; Tygo Gernandt.
Directed by: Christopher Smith.
Colour/97 Minutes/R

In 1348 the first outbreak of bubonic plague is happening in England. It's widely assumed by the Church and the general population that this is punishment from the Christian God for their sins. Some even say that demons walks the countryside, spreading the disease. However there are towns that are rumoured to be plague-free. A group of mercenaries, led by a knight called Ulric (Sean Bean), is tasked with finding one such place (where it is also said that the dead are being brought back to life because of a necromancer) and either finding a cure, or perhaps stopping the plague by killing the necromancer. A young monk called Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) volunteers as a guide both because he knows the area (a large forest and marsh separate the town) and because he hopes to escape and reunite with his lover, who has recently fled to that area. After fighting savages in the woods, and crossing the marsh, they find the village. The people are happy and disease free...and they seem quite without Christian faith of any sort. Is the village leader, Langiva (Carice van Houten), the necromancer they are seeking? Black Death is a really nice little film that would pair well with Neil Marshall's recent Centurion (2010), or Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising (2009). Fairly well-written, with good actors who manage to carve out their characters quickly while keeping the story moving. The film wisely keeps you guessing if there really is anything supernatural going on or not. Much like Valhalla Rising (or, for you more experienced horror fans, perhaps more akin to The Wicker Man), there is a clash between Christian and Pagan beliefs here. The dangers of religion turning men to evil is explored on both sides, but the film is indeed more critical of the Christian faith, as we see witch-finders attempting to burn a suspected witch and our heroes looking to kill those not of their faith. The Pagans are more or less only killing in order to keep themselves isolated and safe from the plague. Gory and tough at times, the film never lulls and it brings up some good points. It also has a fairly downbeat but realistic ending. A very worthy rental.

Damned by Dawn (2009)
Starring: Renee Willner; Bridget Neval; Dawn Klingberg; Danny Alder; Taryn Eva; Mark Taylor; Peter Stratford.
Directed by: Brett Anstey.
Colour/81 Minutes/R

Set in Australia, a young woman named Clair, and her boyfriend Paul, return to her family home after receiving a strange package from her dying grandmother. After reuniting with the family (her much younger sister and her father are still at home, caring for the ailing Nana), they settle down for the night only to hear the wailing screams of a woman coming from somewhere in the surrounding woods. Could this "lady of sorrows" Clair's grandmother warned of -- a banshee -- be coming to ferry Nana off to her final reward? It seems so, and a spooked Clair freaks out and manages to prevent the banshee from doing her job that night, which unfortunately unleashes some much more malevolent spirits, who are out to kill the whole family. Damned by Dawn is another one of those frustrating direct-to-video horror films that starts out with a lot of promise, but never manage to follow through. The set-up is well done, the acting is fairly good, and it's not every day you get to see a banshee film. Now if we could only have a good one. Damned by Dawn builds some good atmosphere at first. The wailing screams coming from the misty woods, at first sort of silent and far off, get closer and louder. It's effective. But then we get to see the banshee...far too much of her, to the point where she starts to look like a teenager in decent Halloween costume and nothing more. And the evil spirits that show up? At first these CGI beasties look sort of effective. Skeletal reaper-type things. But the CGI, much like the banshee, becomes over-exposed. The final act is a jumbled mess of chase scenes and nonsense about blood lines that makes no real sense. The movie has tried to promote itself as an Evil Dead sort of film, but it really falls short. The first act was much more akin to a early Hammer horror, and some of the practical gore effects were worthy of a Lucio Fulci film, but sadly the movie can't rise to those levels as a whole. Avoid. Abort.