The Gravedancers (After Dark Horrorfest 2006 Review)

Plot
Three friends reunite after a buddy is killed in a car accident.  After paying their last respects, they engage in a drunken bout of grave dancing and soon find that their lives are haunted by a trio of hostile ghosts.

Jason's Thoughts
Thankfully for me and my sanity, The Gravedancers was a huge step up from Penny Dreadful.  On the surface it is basically your typical ghost story, however, this telling seemed unique in my mind.  This is due to the fact that there was a reason for the haunting and the spirits had their own personalities.  Not only that, but the movie actually featured startling moments, and it is rare for me to jump during a movie.

This truly could have been a four-star movie, however, there were a few parts that knocked it down.  The acting was one part of it.  Now, I know these are some low budget horror movies and I should be lenient, but some of the characters, namely Harris McKay (played by Dominic Purcell), seemed to just be there.  It was hard for me to get into his character when he didn't seem to have much interest in the part.

Acting aside, the one thing that really knocked it down to a three-star rating was the cheesy CGI effects in the final scene of the movie.  Everything up until that point looked really good, but these effects really ruined it for me.  I don't think it was completely needed and it ended up taking away from what had been slowly building up to a boil.

Moreover, I felt that The Gravedancers seemed to be more of a suspense film as opposed to horror.  Normally I wouldn't knock a movie down for something like that, but I was expecting the whole "too graphic, disturbing and shocking for theatres," which is what the Horrorfest is supposed to be about.  It wasn't any three of those.  It was a good, suspenseful, ghost story, though, and it was worth my time.

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