‘You are going to Hell’
Voodoo – stylised VooDoo – is a 2017 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Tom Costabile.
The Hypercube Films productions stars Samantha Stewart, Ruth Reynolds and Dominic Matteucci.
Plot:
When Dani, an innocent southern girl, takes a vacation in Los Angeles to evade her increasingly complicated life, she learns that escaping her past isn’t as easy as she’d hoped…
Voodoo is released on DVD on September 11, 2018, by Wild Eye Releasing.
Reviews:
“Now, I’m not sure if the slow beginning is intentional, setting it up so the batshit final act is even more disturbing and unsettling, or if lack of funds meant everything but the Hell sequences had to be done on as low a budget as possible […] The problem is that many viewers may tune out due to the slow start.” Beneath the Underground
“I want to appreciate Voodoo on some level for its foolhardy fearlessness to be unapologetically gonzo. Yet disregarding “horror” far tackier than it is taboo, Voodoo has the impenetrable problem of being wholly inappropriate for “found footage” while treading in a deep end of “out there” ideas. That’s a place where its actors, budget, and threadbare story simply can’t swim.” Culture Crypt
“Time spent getting to know Dani quickly grows repetitive and dull, we’re constantly left wondering why this or that scene is being filmed at all, and possible themes of karmic justice and guilt are squandered. It’s never scary or unsettling — even as hell’s demons and blacksmiths (?) commit vile acts before her and our eyes — and the weight of it all simply never comes across onscreen.” Film School Rejects
“The length of time given over to documenting the Underworld is in itself unusual, and helps mark this title out as something a little different. The weaker aspects, as may be expected, are in the scripting, dialogue and acting, but even with these frailties the bad trip intensity and dark humour at work make this an intriguing chapter in new horror.” Flickering Myth
“I’ll not spoil the fun of the last 40 minutes, but it’s fair to say that Voodoo is very much a film of two halves. If the first coaxes you in, perhaps leaving you to remark that though its characters are likeable and well-written there’s little of note going on, the second half – much lighter on dialogue, if we don’t include the incessant screams – is more of a surreal, gory, perverse nightmare.” SGM
“As a whole, VooDoo is an overly ambitious mess that never decides quite where it’s aiming for. As a found footage film, it is flawed, and while the extravagance of the second half is at times impressive, you never feel fully engaged, as if everything is too detached to be interesting.” Starburst
“manages to put a spin on the fatigued found-footage-horror subgenre, via conceptual simplicity and a heightened sense of foreboding — the idea that when the worst finally does happen, it’s gonna be very, very bad. Unfortunately, once Tom Costabile’s debut feature reaches that point, it all goes to Hades in the most literal sense, with a prolonged climax that’s rather too much like a tour through an evangelical’s Halloween “Hell House.” Variety
“I loved the turn the movie takes. It makes the first 45 minutes of dull, worth it. It also shows its budget with effects so poor they shouldn’t have been done. At times it felt more like walking through a haunted house for Halloween than a movie production.” Without Your Head
Main cast and characters:
Samantha Stewart … Dani Lamb
Ruth Reynolds … Stacy Cole
Dominic Matteucci … Spencer Boyd
Daniel Kozul … Trey Neil
Alec Justin Henderson … Sunset Playboy
Lavelle Roby … Venice Gypsy
Richard Kray … Bum
Trailer:
MOVIES & MANIA rating:
