After Dark Horror Fest 3: From Within

A curse afflicts members of a small town, causing them to "commit suicide". Crazy Christian community members decide to blame the local witches.

Sure, we've seen it before, but have we seen it...uh...have we seen it...have we seen it...

OK, yeah, we've seen it. There's nothing really original about this film. The old "witch's curse" thing hasn't really been big since the '70s, but they've sauced it up a bit with Japanese-style horror effects. Actually, come to think of it, that part is highly reminiscent of Mirrors.

The boy pronounced it "run of the mill". At the same time, we both agreed it wasn't boring. One reason is that it's mercifully short. Another reason is that the general production quality is good: Good cinematography, good acting, lighting, sound, etc.

But it is relentlessly clichéd: Screenwriter Brad Keene wrote one of my favorite films of the first After Dark Horrorfest, Gravedancers. It was also rife with clichés but it sort of takes them to the wall, with the movie getting progressively more outrageous. It was a light, sorta funny-scary that moved from "haunted house" to "Frighteners"-style.

This one starts as standard coven 'n' curse and ends that way, too, though I guess you might give the ending a few points for not totally Scooby-Dooing out. It has a kind of a "Twilight" vibe, too, with the Christian girl liking the, uh, Witch boy.

Curiously, IMDB lists this as having a planned sequel for 2010.

There's a peculiar problem with this sort of film: It's almost necessary (apparently) for the Christians to be clueless and powerless against the real witchy, and to show them as narrow-minded bigots. At the same time, they sorta have to be right. So we're confronted with at least one character who has to be both sympathetic and murderous.

The movie could've been better without that constraint. If there's a plot more stale than "small town narrow-minded Christians go wrong" I am not aware of it.

I actually enjoyed this more than the first film last year (Unearthed) which, while beautifully produced, was really dull.