Post by Canetoad on Apr 26, 2007 3:21:32 GMT -5
CURSE OF THE ZODIAC
RATING: TBC
ONE STAR
BAD, really groan-inducingly bad, horror movies can be a lot of good, cheesy fun.
In fact titles like Joe D’Amato’s Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (uncut version – stuff you Australian Customs), Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat, and Hell of the Living Dead are all proudly displayed in my collection.
Then there is tedious cinematic offal made with delusions of grandeur.
Curse of the Zodiac falls into the latter category.
If someone reading this review is masochistic enough to rent this piece of tripe, please e-mail and tell me how it ends, because I couldn’t bring myself to sit the whole way through.
The film is based on the notorious real-life serial killer dubbed Zodiac who operated in San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s – a killer who was never caught.
OK, here at horror corner we’re very fond of deranged serial killers, so at least before putting the disc in the player it had promise.
That’s where it ended, however.
I’m always suspicious with low budget horror – and this looks like it was made with the sort of budget you could ring up on Mastercard – when from the opening frame the film tries, and tries desperately, for an art-house feel.
There’s jump cuts, upside-down camera angles, soft focus, out of focus… you name it, the camera operator either had the delirium tremens or should be making clips for MTV. Add in a jangled synthesizer sound track and you have all the makings of a good migraine.
Plot, for the hell of it, involves said serial killer and some dippy hippy sheila who has dreams in which she witnesses his kills – oh and some weird writer who Zodiac taunts in monotonous monologue over the phone.
All his kills are via a revolver to the mouth, so not even the nice imaginative use of a kitchen implement or a power tool to be seen. The victims are characterless, and the only thing keeping me watching as long as I did was hoping either the writer or the hippy psychic would get slowly carved up.
But I just couldn’t bear it any longer.
Avoid at all costs.
RATING: TBC
ONE STAR
BAD, really groan-inducingly bad, horror movies can be a lot of good, cheesy fun.
In fact titles like Joe D’Amato’s Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (uncut version – stuff you Australian Customs), Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat, and Hell of the Living Dead are all proudly displayed in my collection.
Then there is tedious cinematic offal made with delusions of grandeur.
Curse of the Zodiac falls into the latter category.
If someone reading this review is masochistic enough to rent this piece of tripe, please e-mail and tell me how it ends, because I couldn’t bring myself to sit the whole way through.
The film is based on the notorious real-life serial killer dubbed Zodiac who operated in San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s – a killer who was never caught.
OK, here at horror corner we’re very fond of deranged serial killers, so at least before putting the disc in the player it had promise.
That’s where it ended, however.
I’m always suspicious with low budget horror – and this looks like it was made with the sort of budget you could ring up on Mastercard – when from the opening frame the film tries, and tries desperately, for an art-house feel.
There’s jump cuts, upside-down camera angles, soft focus, out of focus… you name it, the camera operator either had the delirium tremens or should be making clips for MTV. Add in a jangled synthesizer sound track and you have all the makings of a good migraine.
Plot, for the hell of it, involves said serial killer and some dippy hippy sheila who has dreams in which she witnesses his kills – oh and some weird writer who Zodiac taunts in monotonous monologue over the phone.
All his kills are via a revolver to the mouth, so not even the nice imaginative use of a kitchen implement or a power tool to be seen. The victims are characterless, and the only thing keeping me watching as long as I did was hoping either the writer or the hippy psychic would get slowly carved up.
But I just couldn’t bear it any longer.
Avoid at all costs.
Grizzled HMaM Vet
