slayrrr666
"Conjurer" is an utterly poor and hardly worthwhile affair.**SPOILERS**A year after a miscarriage, Shawn, (Andrew Bowen) and Helen Burnett, (Maxine Bahns) move out to the countryside with Frank Higgins, (John Schneider) and Marlin Dryer, (Tom Nowicki) who tells them he's going to let them live in a small house while he finishes their new home. Attempting to get settled, he begins to think he's the target of something as whenever he goes near a dilapidated shack on the grounds something terrible happens. Eventually learning of an old story about the first owner who had cursed the cabin against those who would move in, he realizes the connection between the story and the events that have transpired to him and he tries to convince others of the dangers on the house before the deadly curse that's still alive takes them all out.The Good News: There wasn't much to this one that worked. One of the main issues is that there's some rather good haunting scenes, even though most of them are incredibly short. The main early scenes out in the cabin, first when he discovers the broken fragments on the floor that results in the thumb accident that plays a big role in the rest of the film and the second one where the hallucinatory snakes and maggots are shown to be involved despite not appearing later, are fine at building up a small level of mystery about the location, and a later scene where smashed and scattered fragments of something would've been a blast had it actually done something with them but it's still a pretty creepy scene. The witch burning vision during the thunderstorm comes the closest to working well due to the freaky vision and the set-up with the storm, but again is never capitalized upon. Even other potentially fun scenes, like the faulty projector or the flashing lights in the house in the distance, could've been good and at best, tend to make for a nice atmosphere. There's also a fairly lengthy scene following a foot-chase through the woods against an unknown victim is fairly good, and the finale is probably the best part of the film. With the haunting in the cabin turning into an armed chase through the darkened house with plenty of surprises to pop out of nowhere, it's fairly entertaining and certainly makes for some adrenaline to flow through the film, and with a somewhat original twist to occur certainly helps. The only other part that actually works is the back-story, which like most good ghost stories is rooted in legend and is somewhat chilling, providing the perfect basis on which to hang a horror film. These here are all that really work for this one.The Bad News: There was some pretty big problems for this one. One of the biggest issues, as it's the one that takes up the most amount of time, is the film's rather horror-less feel to it. It's very rarely when the film feels like a horror film, which is most of the good parts, which leaves the rest of the time spent on a lot of themes or ideas that aren't very scary or horrifying. Frankly, the idea of watching them argue over what to paint a specific room in the house or how the rest of the family is reacting to his stories aren't that interesting, and when the idea of him slowly going certifiably-insane becomes a focal point halfway through with his repeatedly unsubstantiated claims of funny business occurring in the cabin, not only does it not be scary but it really becomes irritating and annoying when it keeps playing the same card over and over again. This leads the film into an incredibly dull-like feeling and makes for some really boring times within the film, especially during the ending when it somewhat peters out instead of building up to a grand finale. That's another problem with the film, which is it's weak and entirely confusing finale. This one doesn't even let you know it's over until the credits begin rolling, which is bad enough, but the visuals and the story told are just utterly confusing and don't mesh at all. This one ends up feeling really lame when it's all over and doesn't leave much of a positive effect when it's over. Another big problem is the film's censored feel, which never sits well in a film. The first half of the film presents the wife as constantly horny and wanting some action, yet it never shows it and cuts away just before, and it has no problem later on showing her changing while wearing nothing but a bra, which is a total tease. There's also the lack of violence here, which really doesn't deserve it and would've added something fun to the film. The last flaw is the film's incredibly short action scenes. No matter how fun they are, the fact that the longest one lasts all of a minute, and that's pushing it to the extreme, simply shows that this one is not at all concerned with keeping the film moving along, which is a big problem as some of them had the potential to really stand-out, yet they're not given the time to do so. These here are the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: Even though it may seem there's some good stuff here, most of it's hardly worth the effort and is overtaken by the flaws. Really only see this one if you're into the style of this one or a fan of the creative side, otherwise this one will have the flaws more apparent than those who won't matter.Rated PG-13:Language and Violence
hawthornhigh
I just started watching this and my fifteen year old son came into the room, lasted about ten minutes and said he was bored and left. Thirty minutes later he came back into the room and stayed until the end of the movie. I asked him what he thought and he said, "not bad". High praise coming from him since most of what he sees in this genre I would never watch. How many times can teenagers get stalked by a killer?? The front of the DVD has a quote that says "a slow burn gripping little ghost movie" and I thought that was right except it's more about a vengeful witch's spirit than what you normally think of in a ghost story. It does have a slow pace, but I was never bored and as the second half unfolded it sustained my interest very well with good creepy moments, some good scares and an ending that was an odd and interesting twist definitely out of the norm. Much more psychological than I was expecting and spooky. I also have to mention the crow. They've been used a lot in scary movies but mostly used in groups like in The Messengers which really wasn't very scary. This movie used it to chilling affect especially since I grew up in the country and know how aggressive they can be around dead animals and was attacked twice by them after one of our cats died and they were eating it. Whenever I see a crow I feel like it's looking right at me. Stupid I know but I just can't shake that creepy vibe.
jimcola
It is only a matter of time before Mix will join the ranks of other talents at the annual Oscar Awards. He has a keen sense of what it takes to mesmerize the audience. In the short while I have seen your work, you continue to both surprise me and entertain me. The public needs to see his original work as we now see it, and I feel it is only a matter of time that you will be going on to even greater challenges, and being a very successful star. As he gains in stardom, more and more actors and actresses will want to be associated with him. What a thrill it will someday be, to hear the announcer speak those immortal words, "and the Academy Award goes to....... Richard Mix, first-time nominee; first-time winner." With the competition so fierce, Mix still has the ability to keep the movie-goer entertained.
