About a month ago, Mel Marchesseault from Anchor Bay Entertainment contacted me to see if I would give a little advertising and write a review for one of their new releases, Voodoo Moon, starring Eric Mabius and Charisma Carpenter. I'm very pleased that my little blogzine has attracted a bit of attention and I'm flattered that Mr. Marchesseault would contact me for my opinion on the film. I received the advance DVD copy a little over a week ago and gave it a look-see.
Here's the plot: a brother and sister are the only surviving members of Merrifield, Tennessee, a sleepy town that was wiped out twenty years earlier by a demonic onslaught. Brother Cole (Eric Mabius of Resident Evil) and sister Heather (Charisma Carpenter of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel) both have cloudy and somewhat unexplained psychic powers that they use to fight the devil (Rik Young), a dapper black-goateed fellow who is, as usual, preparing to unleash the apocalypse on poor old earth.
As for the production, I'm instantly in doubt anytime the opening credits finish with "Written, edited, produced and directed by [the same person]." That's a lot of hats to carry. The multitasker in this case is Kevin Van Hook, known for visual effects supervision in big-budget films, I, Robot and Daredevil to name just a couple. Voodoo Moon certainly has fancy light shows and the special effects level exceeds most low-budget horror fare. I got a particular kick out of a possessed priest flicking bullets out of mid-air to dispatch his hapless victim. Creating imaginative effects and scenarios to facilitate those effects are a strength of Van Hook's. However, writing and directing are not among Van Hook's strengths at this point; possibly the work load of four job titles was too much or nobody bothered to resolve the glaring script and directing problems. There are too many characters, too many unexplained and/or unnecessary plot lines and the pace is jerky and uneven. The smoothest parts of the movie are when the computer-generated effects are commanding the action, but effects without effective people and compelling stories to drive them ultimately don't satisfy.
In terms of performances, the clearly well-experienced cast delivers solid work, for the most part. Carpenter is her usual enjoyable bratty princess self. The psychically connected rag-tag group of supporting fighters also have accomplished resumes, Jeffrey Combs and John Amos especially, but their connections to the plot are spotty and their characters aren't developed enough to warrant investment. Mabius, the lead defender against the apocalypse, is too monotone, seemingly relying on his (also unexplained) facial scar to emote tough and rebellious so he doesn't have to relate to his scene partners. One happy exception to this is a quiet healing scene, notably with no fancy effects whatsoever, that he shares with the very accomplished and horror-friendly Dee Wallace Stone (The Howling, Cujo). Stone understands that less is sometimes more and fancy sound and light shows will only carry an audience so far. Stone, seemingly like the script development and directing process, is unfortunately killed off far too early and her grounding influence is missed.
Van Hook is clearly an able filmmaker and the amount of talented and accomplished actors in this film speaks well of his connections and workability within the industry. Van Hook should share the storymaking and storytelling workloads for his next project so that he can focus on his truest strength: crafting cool visual imagery. I admire the workload that Van Hook gave himself and I credit his ability to assemble an impressive ensemble, but he needs to fill in his writing and production ensemble as well as he does his actors. That way, the sounds and lights will have finer storytelling surroundings. Anyone who understands the technical requirements for CGI effects ought to translate that dedication of resources to writing and directing. Address the full process and good results will follow.
