Shivers of Horror – Horror Book & Movie Reviews

Plot: St. Francisville, La., is famous for its abundance of haunted places, and at the end of a long, dark road lies one of the most terrifying spots of all — the St. Francisville Plantation. Armed with cameras and paranormal investigation tools, a group of brave souls — including a ghost historian, a psychic and a history student — shuns logic to spend one night in the notorious house, which is said to be plagued by restless spirits.

My Review: The movie starts off with the producer introducing the “concept” of what they will be doing in the documentary, oh I mean movie. Locking a bunch of people in a supposedly haunted mansion for them to explore and try to prove there are ghosts there. He tells us that what we are about to watch is real – you know, like they said The Blair Witch Project” was real.

There are then a few brief interviews with the “college students” who are going to be locked in the mansion. Then there are interviews with people giving us the history about a woman (Madame Lalaurie) who basically tortured the slaves she owned and when it was discovered what she was doing, she fled her house and people believed she came to the town of St. Francisville and may have stayed at the house the group is going to explore. The true story, is that yes, Madame Lalaurie did exist, and the story they give you in the movie did really happen, but Madame was never seen or heard from again after fleeing her home, so there really is no fact to her having come to St. Francisville, let alone that specific house.

From what I read on IMDB and a few other sites, the movie was really supposed to be a real documentary and somewhere along the way it became faked. I’ve read that some people state the “actors” were real people and the producers rigged stuff they had no idea about. Based on the poor acting, and not very genuine screams in various parts of the movie, I’m going to guess that it was ALL faked and the actors were just that, actors, and everyone was aware of what was going on.

Anyhow, after all the interviews are over the group of four – two guys & two girls – head into the mansion. Most of the cast was likable. But like most ghost hunting movies that have sprouted over the last 10-15 years, there always has to be one Medium or Psychic in the bunch to ruin the movie (for me). Its not that I don’t believe them, its just that half of what they say seems downright silly to me. And it was no different with this movie. In this one the Psychic is Madison. She starts in with her sphell outside the house about how they need to talk to the house and ask for protection…and she brings it up dozens of more times throughout the movie. Two minutes after entering the house she states that she feels something in the house and that its stuffy in there. Um, they just told you all the doors and windows were closed and locked…perhaps that explains it? Then again, its obviously being lived in given the condition, which makes it a little less creepy, especially when they can turn on lights in any room they choose (just about) and they do. Once they discover this Madison “knows” the lights won’t stay on. She was really starting to annoy me even the sound of her voice started to feel like nails on a chalkboard. How come she had to keep doing rituals? If they were so protective, I think one would be enough…her constant blabbering was driving me insane.

Had it not been for Madison, I could have enjoyed this movie a little more, but nope. I really didn’t. I mean, after all, it didn’t have much going for it. There weren’t that many scares – at all. Just a mummified doll being found and a Dr’s bag with instruments. Both were almost out in the open, and like I said above, obviously the house was being lived in. So those items were obviously put there for them to find. Something falls and crashes, a chair goes flying, and doors open and close, but that’s pretty much the gist of it until the end when someone gets pulled down a hallway, and another person gets grabbed by a purple arm. Had they had a few ghostly things happen repeatedly throughout the night, with more darkness, and maybe an abandoned house, I’m sure I could have tolerated Madison a little more.

As for the end, if anyone saw MTV’s Fear that aired for a couple seasons back in the early 2000s you’ll see that the whole ending sequence where they all must chant something in different rooms is familiar from that show. Heck, the whole thing really reminded me of it, setting up a “base camp” and what not. FYI, if you haven’t seen MTV’s Fear, most episodes are on YouTube, and it’s a pretty cool show. Too bad it was canned after awhile.

There was definitely some sloppy writing. For example when they are playing the Ouija board, one person asks “what’s the first letter of your name” and Madison says “they don’t spell” well if that’s the case what’s the point of the Ouija board?!?! They also ask the board if there are other spirits there, and it says no, but then next she asks how to clean the house of the spirits…um, what? If there are no other spirits then why cleanse it. And what was the whole point of saying the Spirit somehow knew Madison since they never elaborate on it?

At the end there is some writing about what happened later on, and that a 911 call was placed….I don’t understand this part, what was the point? I just chalk it up to more bad writing.

Gore/FX: There was zero gore or effects really. So not much to say. The ghost arm that pops out in the end is pretty pathetic, as well as most of the other scares.

Sexual Content: None.

Acting: Usually with these low budget documentary style movies you see pretty bad acting. So I was very surprised that it seemed really natural for the most part. Other then Madison, I liked the characters and actors.

Overall: This movie took a real screwed up story and had a decent concept for it, but they butchered it by not providing a good outlet for it. They should have had this take place in Madame’s actual house (or a house that was supposed to be it) and scared the crap out of the kids and viewers, there were tons of ghostly things that could have happened to them with the idea of Madame’s slaves in mind.

My Rating:

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