"The Graveyard" is a rather decent slasher with a few pretty good parts.
**SPOILERS**
Released from prison, Robert Bayleen, (Patrick Scott Lewis) decides to go back to an abandoned camp to put it behind him. Meeting friends Michelle, (Lindsay Ballew) Allie, (Trish Coren) Charlie, (Chris Stewart) Jack, (Leif Lillehaugen) his girlfriend Veronica, (Eva Derrek) and Sarah, (Erin Lokitz) at the cabin to face his demons, they all welcome each other with extreme hesitation. As they each blame everyone else for the accident, it starts to wear on everyone and tensions run rampant. Finding out that a serial killer is among them after finding all their missing friends dead, they all turn to the remaining group to see who it is. Eventually finding the killer's true identity, they try to get away before they can kill the remaining members of the group.
The Good News: There isn't much here with this one that really works. Whenever the film is set during the night, it's at its best. It goes through several different types of good points, where going from suspense to impressive scenes all the way to chasing and killing are done at it's best at night. The beginning cemetery scene is pretty suspenseful, most notably the sequence where the killer has a victim trapped within the monument viciously slashing away in desperation before an accident lets him free to get away. Another later sequence, where the killer stalks a victim up a mountainside, and toward the top, a fog-bank can be seen moving in. It creates a really wonderful image and delivers a great suspense scene as well. Even mixing in a rather brilliant suspense stalking sequence inside a completely steam-filled bathroom is simply chilling, as there's a lot of greatness in it about what is included. This has a lot going for it, as there's plenty of off-screen noises, a huge amount of steam covering everything in the room and there's even a fantastic conclusion that differs so much from conventional types it really leaves a great mark on the film. This barely covers part of the film, as anytime out in the night is a great scene. Other than that generalization, the only other part that works is that, for the first few times on-screen, the killer looks great. It's hard to really tell what it is, and the mask gives it a really good look to it. It loses it's luster when seen later on, but it looks good at first, and is a great way to cap off it's good points.
The Bad News: This here wasn't all that bad, but it does have a couple of flaws. One of the big ones is that there's hardly anything new presented here. This here feels like just about every other camping slasher out there, since it mentions all the clichés to obvious to even list, including the failure to recognize who's doing the killing or that there is one to begin with. That alone is quite hard to believe, since they all notice that everyone is missing yet it takes until nearly forty-five minutes for them to even think that something is going on. That seems highly unlikely and doesn't seem realistic, since it makes them seem completely blind. This one also has a problem with the kills in here. There really should've been more variety here, as almost every single one involved uses a knife for the kill point. A couple aren't, but most are, which is what the film doesn't need. The last flaw is that the killer becomes far less imposing. They look way too cheesy as time goes on, which is quite surprising since it starts off good looking. These here really lower this one.
The Final Verdict: Certainly not the best slasher ever, but this one does have more than enough going for it to make it watchable. Give this one a chance for those who enjoy these kinds of slashers or are curious, while those who aren't that high up on the genre should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and an long, mild sex scene
**SPOILERS**
Released from prison, Robert Bayleen, (Patrick Scott Lewis) decides to go back to an abandoned camp to put it behind him. Meeting friends Michelle, (Lindsay Ballew) Allie, (Trish Coren) Charlie, (Chris Stewart) Jack, (Leif Lillehaugen) his girlfriend Veronica, (Eva Derrek) and Sarah, (Erin Lokitz) at the cabin to face his demons, they all welcome each other with extreme hesitation. As they each blame everyone else for the accident, it starts to wear on everyone and tensions run rampant. Finding out that a serial killer is among them after finding all their missing friends dead, they all turn to the remaining group to see who it is. Eventually finding the killer's true identity, they try to get away before they can kill the remaining members of the group.
The Good News: There isn't much here with this one that really works. Whenever the film is set during the night, it's at its best. It goes through several different types of good points, where going from suspense to impressive scenes all the way to chasing and killing are done at it's best at night. The beginning cemetery scene is pretty suspenseful, most notably the sequence where the killer has a victim trapped within the monument viciously slashing away in desperation before an accident lets him free to get away. Another later sequence, where the killer stalks a victim up a mountainside, and toward the top, a fog-bank can be seen moving in. It creates a really wonderful image and delivers a great suspense scene as well. Even mixing in a rather brilliant suspense stalking sequence inside a completely steam-filled bathroom is simply chilling, as there's a lot of greatness in it about what is included. This has a lot going for it, as there's plenty of off-screen noises, a huge amount of steam covering everything in the room and there's even a fantastic conclusion that differs so much from conventional types it really leaves a great mark on the film. This barely covers part of the film, as anytime out in the night is a great scene. Other than that generalization, the only other part that works is that, for the first few times on-screen, the killer looks great. It's hard to really tell what it is, and the mask gives it a really good look to it. It loses it's luster when seen later on, but it looks good at first, and is a great way to cap off it's good points.
The Bad News: This here wasn't all that bad, but it does have a couple of flaws. One of the big ones is that there's hardly anything new presented here. This here feels like just about every other camping slasher out there, since it mentions all the clichés to obvious to even list, including the failure to recognize who's doing the killing or that there is one to begin with. That alone is quite hard to believe, since they all notice that everyone is missing yet it takes until nearly forty-five minutes for them to even think that something is going on. That seems highly unlikely and doesn't seem realistic, since it makes them seem completely blind. This one also has a problem with the kills in here. There really should've been more variety here, as almost every single one involved uses a knife for the kill point. A couple aren't, but most are, which is what the film doesn't need. The last flaw is that the killer becomes far less imposing. They look way too cheesy as time goes on, which is quite surprising since it starts off good looking. These here really lower this one.
The Final Verdict: Certainly not the best slasher ever, but this one does have more than enough going for it to make it watchable. Give this one a chance for those who enjoy these kinds of slashers or are curious, while those who aren't that high up on the genre should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and an long, mild sex scene