EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

GL84 Hired to clean up a derelict building, a group of friends are suddenly killed off one-by-one by the released soul of a 70s-era gangster who applies supernatural powers to his rampage in his quest to get free from the trappings within.Overall this one was quite the enjoyable effort. Among the better elements here is the fact that this one really manages to wrap a n effective atmosphere that work incredibly well here. There's a lot of this due to the building itself as there's a glorious Gothic imagery with the large stone archways, glass windows and a general appearance of an evil force in the structure that makes for quite the creepy location here for what's taking place inside as the inner design of the house makes for a truly complete look and feel to the film. This makes the later supernatural scenes have even more of an impression as there's great supernatural action taking place in a creepy setting, as the initial fun starts with the opening attack on the hoodlums and carries into the resurrection scenes here of his spirit swirling around the house tormenting the others around him. The discovery of the body in the basement in the condition it's in really starts the fun here as there's the really enjoyable attacks on the solo members of the community and the former members who killed him while having a lot of fun with the club opening as there's the temptation kill turning into the ghost dog and tearing him to pieces which is connected nicely with the ravenous devouring and the reappearing body down in the crypt while the fun of the maggots being showered on the party guests raining down from above as well as the demon-dog vomiting them up onto another victim alongside the fun burning down the building in a large fire that holds up incredibly well to the remaining action scenes. The finale, bringing about the trip into the alternative dimension is quite impressive with the discolored blob of souls tormenting those still alive in the mass which is nicely integrated against the layout of the house leading into the fun of being tormented throughout while trapped in the house. Along with the plentiful gore and fast pace, these here are more than enough to hold this up against the few flaws. The biggest one here is the lame and unnecessary back-story scenes from the 70s that take up way too much time here not really doing much. This easily could've dropped them entirely and had the girlfriend reveal it in a simply encounter to ward them off rather than keeping the truth from them as a way to instill. It's also pretty heavy on CGI, since there's pretty big scenes which are driven by this and it looks really bad in the film. These here are what hold this back.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, a sex scene and heavy drug use.

lthrlady I used to watch Pam Grier movies back when I was a teen. Loved 'em even though they were grade B. The same goes with this one. Simply a grade B movie. I don't like bloody flicks but somehow this blood (tho massive) didn't bother me. It has a good story line & the dialog isn't bad. The flash back scenes sometimes are a bit fuzzy as to what is flash back & what isn't. It does get a bit creepy with worms flying from everywhere. It's supposed to be a horror flick but it lacks the suspense. Old horror flicks have more suspense than this one does for me and that's saying something. Snoop does a better job in this movie than others I've seen him in. Pam Grier plays a mom/Tarot card reader with something to hide. Michael T. Weiss's "bad cop" role is believable but I wasn't crazy about the make-up to make him heavier & older. All in all worth watching.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU The film is original in a few ways but it is mostly a jigsaw puzzle of borrowed elements. One can recognize Clive Barker's Hellraiser, or a new episode of Candyman, or an extension of Nightmare on Elm Street, or even Halloween or some Stephen King film. But it is black, black and black again and the hood is always very close, the hood of Boyz in the Hood and its crack and the execution of the little local gang leader by his associates including his protecting cop, and he finally comes back to get his vengeance, get even and recapture all his executioners and their next generation of children, including his own daughter. That does not make a film with a meaning, just some kind of thrilling entertainment, if you like blood and maggots, underground tunnels and skeletons in some kind of cabinet, or is it a cupboard or a closet? A little bit sad in a way because the situation and the theme could have produced a film with some insight in black imagination, in black white-induced schizophrenia, and it does not.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

The_Void Hey, don't you think it's kind of odd that someone would stab themselves in the chest with a flick knife and then bury themselves? If your answer to the above question is "I agree", then you could have been, or may well be part of the team of monkeys that came up with the idea for, wrote and cast this movie. It's a huge shame that stuff like this gets made when there are screenwriters and directors with good ideas and just need some money. Speaking of money, if you want to waste it; Bones is as good a film as any to waste it on. Well, if you like to waste money and you enjoy pain, that is. Bones is notable for one of the most incredible reasons a film can be notable for, and that is that it stars a rapper. The rapper in question is Snoop Dogg (a.k.a. Dogg, Snoopy, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Snoop and just about every other lame variant of the words 'snoop' and 'dogg' that you can come up with). The tired blend of Hellraiser and rubbish movie starring a rapper see Snoop Dogg get to flex his acting muscles, and he proves with his one-note performance in this movie that he is just as adept at the art of acting as he is at the art of music making. If you catch my drift.To be quite frank, despite his best efforts to look cool; Snoopy Doggy Dogg ends up looking like just as much of an idiot as his name suggests he is. I mean seriously, who goes by the name of 'Snoop Dogg' when they don't have to? Aside from it's star, this film has a number of other problems. It's plot is very tired, and it follows the exceedingly boring and familiar tale of someone who was killed being resurrected and then taking their revenge. The tacky dialogue, duff acting and illogical plotting don't help this, and not even the murders can save the film, as it's easy to say that even they manage to score maximum points on the dull scale. I will never forgive the people responsible for this movie for wasting all that time and money on it, when it could have been put to better use. How about giving one of the more experienced directors who could produce something good, if given a budget? I guess that's one of the many problems with things like rap music; if it sells, it will continue to be made.