Bloodwank A while back I saw and greatly enjoyed the loopy medical themed slasher comedy Dr. Giggles, so with that in mind I was very much looking forward to hitting up an earlier horror from director Manny Coto. Playroom is a very different beast though, a serious minded and strange take on childhood imagination, archaeology and the supernatural. It gets off to a good start with a camera scroll over freaky wall carvings, strange figures and symbols, numerous people in various states of distress, it sets up an arcane atmosphere before entering a more visceral nightmare scenario via a child drawing. This is before we get to the main bulk of the film, which involves a reporter/explorer/archaeologist type (profession never specified) who gets a clue as the the hidden resting chamber of an ancient prince and so sets of with his editor, a camera man and his girlfriend in tow to find the tomb and thusly exorcise his personal demons (tragedy claimed his family when he was younger). Within an ancient monastery, the past comes alive, with deadly consequences…The main thing that sticks out about the is film is the setting. Leading up to the monastery in which the bulk of the film is set we get some great exteriors, but the monastery itself is where things come alive, it's a terrific place. Candles and cobwebs, skeletons and statues, nooks and crannies and strange carvings, shot with unearthly urinary hues for maximum atmosphere. Unfortunately other aspects here aren't up to the quality of the setting. The worst decision is having a bratty child as pivotal character, in regular children's garb he looks nothing more than a generic irritating kid and simply isn't scary, moreover he never gets to anything vicious enough to invest him with effective creep value. Basically he'll make most viewers want give him a good kicking, and not in a good way. The film is also slow, only really getting to the boil at around the hour mark, which leaves it up to the actors to keep things going. As the lead, Christopher McDonald isn't great, a one note performance that's compelling enough but goes from zero to crazy so quickly that he simply isn't too interesting. James Purcell does little of note as the washed up photographer while Lisa Allit is a competently likable but un-dynamic heroine. Fortunately Vincent Schiavelli appears in a side role and relishes it, burning up every moment of screen time he has as a wild eyed headcase. He has far too little screen time though, so can't quite keep the fun going. Director Manny Coto works well enough, but the film is quite dull in the first two thirds and even when things do get moving its never scary and mostly fun for trash geeks. The final half hour does get pretty mental though, moves at a belting pace with a cheerful disregard for sanity, there are a couple of decent tense scenes, a little meanness, some unfortunate cringe making silliness that's just about forgivable and even a few fun gore shots. Things really go out on a high note, but I cant bring myself to rate this one too highly, there are a few too many bad decisions and it disappoints with a great concept. For fans of the more dopey and unusual side of horror trash this one is worth a peek, but I suspect many will find it more frustrating than anything else. Still, I had a good enough time with it, more or less. A contented 5/10.

callanvass this was okay but not anything special the dialog is often very bad and the characters are very non amiable and very annoying but it has a decent premise and some nice gore effects this had the potential to be a decent little flick but overall it was mediocre and kinda dull toothe directing is average and the killings are passable as is this movie for a lot of reasons why is he killing his friends yes i know because of that imaginary boy he played with as a child forced him to do it but still ya can fight it if ya know what i mean and he is killing them in very gruesome ways and this was just sorta blah overall and is just average worth a watch on a boring day but avoid otherwise ** out of 5

WritnGuy-2 I rented this just for the heck of it, hoping for some cheap thrills for the night. The story seemed pretty good, too. It's about this archaelogist, Chris, whose family was killed in a cave-like monastery in Serbia when he was a boy. Now, an adult, he wants to return to seek out the burial place of those murdered. He brings with him his girlfriend and editor, Jenny, a photographer, Paul, and Paul's girlfriend, Marcy. But things go awry when the spirit of the killer begins to haunt Chris, slowly changing him from the guy he was to someone quite evil....On a scale of one-to-ten, I give this a seven. The story was quite good, and developed very well, though I was confused a bit in the middle. Luckily, all is cleared up and explained, but not too much, so that's good. The performances are all quite strong. Jenny was a very likable heroine. And the setting was great. Couldn't have been better. Plus, there are a couple of genuinely scary scenes, especially during the exciting climax where Jenny is forced to play their games, and fights to get away. But there are some downsides. The movie takes a while to get going. It's not flat-out boring, but it doesn't get very exciting for a bit. And also, the villain, the spirit of the boy that killed Chris's family, is downright laughable. To Chris, he appears as a teenaged boy, and that's alright. But to Jenny--the only other person to see him--he is a very animated zombie, with a goofy face and constant one-liners. It was tough to be afraid of him. Chris was the better of the two, almost a reminder of Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining," which some could say this film was a bit inspired by. He was much scarier, coming after Jenny through the monastery with a pickaxe. In any event, this is worth seeing. It's actually an impressive film with some elements that should have boosted its popularity. I recommend it.

ParaGraph Well, I really can say only good things about this movie: It's a high-quality psychological thriller with few holes in the script, good performances and director's work. I liked the idea of putting the action and characters in an old mysterious monastery in Serbia, where the tragedy have happened.