Just what the hell happened to this flick! A few years ago I was looking though Fangoria and saw what looked to be a promising film, then titled just “Samhain”. I waited years to check it out and finally it’s released direct to DVD from Lion Gates. The problem is that the studio decided to cut the shit out if this flick, and from the looks of it took all the dam good horror scenes with it. Now I’m willing to bet they did this for two reasons, A: It had way to much violence and nudity in it. B: It had quite a few famous porn stars in it. You see in Hollywood, casting porn stars in your films are a no no. People like Ron Jeremy have actually been in over a hundred films and yet the studio executives have a heart attack when they see him during the editing process and whatever scene he’s in ends up on the cutting room floor. With this film “Lion Gates” could of done the same thing to Jenna Jameson and Chasey Lain in this flick, but then that would of meant cutting out Richard Grieco, and then the film would of had no star power behind it. However they did cut the film up to fit the needs of the viewing public, however I don’t know if I would like this film even without all the cutting up the studio did.
First and foremost the script was a bit all over the place, blame it on the cut or what have you, but the first scene was good, but then all the college kids, and the character development, kind of made the film drag on forever. I wanted action, killing, cannibals, and for about forty minutes of the flick all I got was character and plot building. it got boring. The movie did however progress once all the mayhem started, however it did not live up to my expectations. However I was impressed with some of the scenes and the some of the one liners used in the film. The first one-liner went something like: “You guys are really starting to give me the creeps. You sound like some Ted Raimi flick or something.” and there is a scene where one of the characters find a knife and turn around to see one of the cannibals standing behind him. The cannibal says to him, “That’s mine” The guy hands him the knife and stabs him right though the head. It was one of those classic B-movie scenes that earned this film it’s half a star.
The acting was was B-Movie good, what I mean by that is, it was bad but in a good way. I mean you really can’t expect good acting from first time actors and porn stars. Richard Grieco was pretty good though, to bad he was only in the film for like two whole minutes before getting his arms and legs cut off and roasted like a pig over and open flame.
Ok the special make up effects, well shit me Jenna Jameson has a zip lock bag full of water for a heart. I’m shitting you folks it’s a sandwich bag filled with water and covered in blood. Ok so the effects are not that great, sure the dead bodies and body parts look alright, and all the blood is cool, But even the Cannibal themselves looked like oversized puppets.
Overall this film was a mess, maybe it’s the way the film was cut by the studio or maybe not, I’ll really have to try to get my hands on the original cut and check it out, heck I want to check it, because I really felt that as a horror fan I was ripped off, and I feel bad for the filmmakers who wanted to make an all out bloody horror film, with porn stars. It’s just a case where the creative vision of the filmmakers had to be edited for reasons only Hollywood can describe. I personally don’t think Lion Gates meant any harm by cutting the flick up, but to avoid any trouble from outside groups, they did it to protect themselves, personally I think the film should of just been left alone and released by a smaller company that would of had the guts to put it out in it’s original cut. But from one horror fan to another, don’t waste your time.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
