USA/2013
Directed By: Walter Boholst
Written By: Walter Boholst
Starring: Ama Amoafo-Yeboah, Devante Bell, Tomas Boykin
Color/94 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
The Film
Sometimes good horror films get stuck with painfully generic titles by their producers. I don't know if this is good for business because when I see these movies with these basic titles that sound like a million other straight-to-video movies I immediately think of how bad it probably is. Once in a great while you may be surprised that the movie is actually good despite it's lame ass title. That is not the case with VOODOO POSSESSION. Hell, even the title screen tried to make it a little better by calling it A VOODOO POSSESSION but no, the official title dopes the A and becomes just that much more boring.
A cheaply made story about a bunch of young unlikable turds of a news crew travels to Haiti to find out what happened to an American doctor who went down there to help after a devastating earthquake and disappeared with all of the donation money. The crew includes his estranged brother who was blamed by the doctor for their mother's death. While their they learn that these patients may not be sick or injured, but under a voodoo spell, possessed by spirits. The further they dig into this lead the deeper they into Haitian voodoo hell they find themselves until they can't turn back.
Good lord what a flaming pile of dog shit. In fact, I'd rather have had to deal with a flaming bag of dog shit outside my door than watch this. The writing is atrocious, uninspired soap opera dreck and the entire cast fails. They just plain fail. Even Danny Trejo, who despite having his name plastered on the DVD cover gets about 5 minutes of screen time, couldn't have gone through the motions any lazier. If he had they'd have a hologram of him like they did for Tupac. In fact, that would have probably been better. If Trejo wasn't reading his lines off a cue card while seeing them for the first time I'd be surprised. The effects are something you'd see out of Windows Movie Maker, the scares are nonexistent and there is nothing redeeming to this film at all. There are some great films about voodoo that get the atmosphere, the terror and the Haitian culture right, The Serpent And The Rainbow obviously comes to mind immediately... this is no Serpent and this is no Rainbow.
The Audio & Video
The DVD from Image Entertainment is okay. The movie seems to have been shot with cheaper cameras so it isn't going to look great no matter what the DVD authoring did. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is fine, it won't blow you away but it is clear of any hiccups. The majority of the film is in dark and dimly lit hospital areas and the disc handles the black levels fine. The audio fares just as well, it won't blow you away but there's no background noise, no pops, crackling or hissing. Dialogue comes through loud and clear and the score is mixed well in this 5.1 Dolby Digital track.
The Extras
A Behind-The-Scenes featurette is the lone feature on the disc.
The Bottom Line
You can take a pass on this one.
VOODOO POSSESSION is available HERE
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