Moonchild (1972) User Reviews

Nice try, just too bizarre too hold up.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 10 October 2020]

An attempt to create a thought provoking horror film about reincarnation and the satanic forces behind a young man (Mark Travis) dying violently, at the age of 25 and being reincarnated only to die again in similar violent ways. At the end of those 25 years, he returns to face the same bizarre cast of characters at a quaint country inn (poet John Carradine, hot tempered housekeeper Marie Denn, judge Victor Buono, sexy virgin Janet Landgard among them), and faces judgment after deflowering Langard. But this timr, he struggles to get away, finding something sinister trying to stop him for secret reasons.

Unforgettable in many ways, this is painful to listen to with eerie sound effects that include monotone chanting, Denn's constant harping and off key organ music. The ending left more questions than the film ever answered, and it's not interesting enough to waste time pondering them. The spooky setting does work in setting up some chills, and the veteran character actors are a welcome sight. But it seems very incomplete in several ways which makes for an unsatisfying viewing experience.

As overeager allegories go, THE MOON CHILD isn't half bad

[Richard_Harland_Smith · 17 March 2000]

Shot in 1971 as a student film under the title FULL MOON and given a brief theatrical release as THE MOON CHILD by Filmakers Limited in 1974, Alan Gadney's sole directorial effort tells the story of a student (Mark Travis) whose pursuit of artistic perfection leads him to a desert mission-cum-hotel where a wandering `keeper of words' (John Carradine) introduces him to a small society of odd personalities – the pious Maitre D' (Victor Buono), the granite-faced Manager (BULLET's Pat Renella), a kindly old man (William Challee, from BILLY THE KID MEETS DRACULA) and his beautiful daughter (THE SWIMMER's Janet Landgard). Before the youth has passed his first night under their roof, his wildly combative hosts set themselves in fervid competition for receipt of his immortal soul.

As far as overeager allegories go, THE MOON CHILD isn't bad and predates Stanley Kubrick's somewhat similar THE SHINING by nearly a decade (it also can be said to anticipate other full circle thrillers as ANGEL HEART and THE SIXTH SENSE, albeit taking a less horrific tack in favor of New Age notions of circularity and karma filtered through the visions of Jean Genet, Samuel Beckett and Luis Bunuel). Long neglected, and too often written off as a bad horror movie (a classification it does not deserve), THE MOON CHILD is, if not entirely persuasive, at least a refreshing reminder of a time when film students sought to use the medium for a purpose higher than attention-getting.

MOONCHILD

[BandSAboutMovies · 2/10 · 12 April 2022]

Moonchild was an Aleister Crowley book about white magicians, led by Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians fighting over an unborn child. That book also contained a series of magic rituals that would incarnate an archetypal divine feminine named Babalon. If that sounds familiar to the more occult-minded out there, it led to the Babalon Working, a series of rituals by scientist and occultist Jack Parsons and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard that may have led to Babalon appearing in the form of Marjorie Cameron and the next stage of the working, which was an attempt to conceive a moonchild through sex magic.

Crowley replied to this by saying, "Apparently Parsons or Hubbard or somebody is trying to produce a Moonchild. I get fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these goats."

I wonder if he would have enjoyed this movie, in which the student (Mark Travis) seeks to perfect his artistic ability. This brings him to a hotel where Mr. Walker (John Carradine) introduces him to a series of men and women who will battle for his soul, including the holy man known as Maitre D' (Victor Buono), the manager (Pat Renella), an alchemist (William Challee, Zachariah) and the temptations of that man's daughter (Janet Landgard, The Swimmer).

This started as a film school project, yet somehow director and writer Alan Gadney got the location and talent to make a near-professional film. For a first project, it was quite the endeavor and the idea of trying to answer the big questions of existence within a movie can be a herculean journey for even the most experienced creator. For a first timer?

Somehow, this art film was sold as horror - having Carradine will do that - and I'm certain that audiences were baffled.

It also starts with an Edgar Cayce quote, so it's very early 70s dawn of new age. Aww.

Sleeper

[artpf · 6/10 · 15 November 2013]

A young man (The Moon Child) is reincarnated every 25 years, with each life ending in a stay at a mission hotel.

There he meets characters from his first life, all of whom are doomed to relive their roles in his life (and death) as well.

The cycle will end when his spirit reaches a state of perfection by purging its negative (violent) impulses.

Actor John Carradine is The Walker of The World, an otherworldly poet who is there to observe, and record for posterity, the proceedings.

Supposedly this was shot as a student film. I find that hard to believe considering the impressive cast. This film is not going to wow you, but it sure does deserve a better than 2.0 rating that it currently has here on IMDb. And certainly deserves to re-discovered for a cult following.

It's well filmed and very strange in a compelling sort of way. It's shocking that the director never worked again! Wish there was more info on him somewhere. He was talented.

Even if this movie wasn't a hit, the directing alone -- as a student film -- should have gotten him offers. Hell, David Lunch went on to make a movies after that Eraserhead which put me to sleep!

It's so well filmed (even if you can see the boom mike shadow in a scene or two). The framing is spot on and the color is superb.

It's a weird surreal trippy film. Give it a chance.

An odd, yet strangely intriguing little film, sadly forgotten

[t_atzmueller · 6/10 · 1 February 2013]

"Moonchild" ran on German TV under the title "Im Jenseits ist die Hölle los" (roughly translated as „All Hell breaks loose in the hereafter"), which led many viewers to expect a horror-comedy, since a zillion comedies ran under the moniker 'All Hell breaks loose …' (you just need to fill the blanks). Having recorded it on video tape and watching it many month later, I was surprised to find that this was neither a horror film nor a comedy – in fact, at the time I couldn't have put it under any genre apart from, say, experimental film.

I don't want to say much about the story; this is one of those cases, where the viewer is best left to his own conclusions.

The movie shouldn't be based so much on the story (which should really be left to the interpretations of the viewers) but rather on the excellent atmosphere: despite taking place in the seemingly endless, sun-showered desert, the atmosphere throughout is gloomy, claustrophobic, even suffocating. Although it is obvious that the director is young and inexperienced, there are traces of Bunuel, Kenneth Anger and even the "weirdness" of Salvatore Dali.

While Carradine seems frail and sickly, bent by age. Victor Buono, as he does in most performances, hams it up to 11, swinging easily from gentle, benevolent giant to steely eyed and threatening menace. Over-acting isn't for everybody, but it has always worked for Buono. A similar thing could be said for Pat Renella with piercing eyes and sharp, chiselled features, there is an air of violence about his character throughout, until revealing a strange gentleness at the end of the film; evidence of a very distinct, versatile actor, making one sad that Renella hasn't gotten many bigger roles in his career.

On the other hand, Mark Travis isn't altogether convincing as protagonist and it's no surprise that he only appeared in a handful of TV-shows after "Moonchild" – let's just say that acting isn't for everybody. Same goes for Janet Landgard and Frank Corsentino, whose performance as Homunculus is plain embarrassing. So, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Buono and Renella easily steal the show.

Compared to many contemporary, over-ambitious and self-important student- and experimental-films, this film is a little, albeit almost forgotten gem, even though it's probably not everybody's cup of tea. Highly recommendable if you're into "weird movies".

Worth a Look

[arfdawg-1 · 7/10 · 29 March 2014]

A young artists spends the night at a mysterious inn, where he meets a group of strange, sullen people, among them the innkeeper's beautiful daughter.

What he doesn't know is that he has wandered into a kind of spiritual void, and the inn's residents are engaging in a battle over his soul.

Very odd 70's film saved in a way by a nice walk through by John Carradine and some very artsy and surreal direction. Supposedly filmed in Riverside, CA, the sets are very interesting as well.

The print I saw held up very well. Color still popped.

This is the only movie the director ever made. He started it as a student film. Apparently th film did not do well when released but in recent years it has become a cult item.

Gadley also edited a student film of George Lucas. That's it. Sad there is not more information about him. He clearly was in school to get into the picture business and made an interesting first film, yet nothing exists about him.

At the time I write this IMDb user are giving this an average of 2.2 stars! That's a disconnect. It's definitely way better than that.

Well, I liked it

[indiediavolo · 7/10 · 5 October 2016]

MOONCHILD has got to be one of the weirdest "horror" movies I've ever had the pleasure(?) of watching. Borderline incoherent for a majority of its run time, this movie is essentially what most people picture when you ask them to imagine a strange, pretentious student art film (which it actually is). I mean, it opens with a quote from Edgar Cayce! But there's a sort of raw, attractive weirdness to MOONCHILD, the kind of feeling you get watching a movie that the director obviously poured his heart and soul into. The maker of this movie was clearly reaching for great heights, and even if he didn't quite get there, it's pretty admirable what he did manage.

The plot of MOONCHILD is from the same basic mold as "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" and "The Search for Joseph Tully". In my opinion it's better than the former but worse than the latter. A young man (the "Moonchild", or "Gavallan" as we eventually learn) is under some curse where his soul continually reincarnates (conveniently looking identical in every life) and is drawn to a certain hotel where he is judged, harassed, prodded and put on trial for a trivial "crime" by an array of cryptic and weird people that populate the hotel, who are all based on people who he knew in his original life. Our protagonist is the seventh incarnation of this poor sap so far. I've always liked reincarnation as a subject in film and theme of being held hostage by the past, so I found the plot genuinely intriguing. The problem is, we don't learn the truth until near the end of the film, so most of it is just Gavallan wandering around the hotel encountering bizarre strangers who speak cryptic riddles at him. The fact that all the dialogue is basically in code and doesn't make sense at all until you know the truth of who the main character is a little tiresome.

The film is beautifully shot, at least in the outdoor sequences. Indoor shots have a problem with murkiness. The color palette is muted and in the version I watched everything had a green tinge, which I'm not sure was intentional. The old mission/hotel that the movie is set in is lovely and I'm curious if any other movies were shot there or if it even still exists.

In all, MOONCHILD is a movie I'd only really recommend to fans of the weird, cryptic and artsy, but I would definitely recommend it to those people. It's bizarre and rough around the edges, but that's part of what gives it its out-there charm.

Unusual and intriguing fantastical art-house mood piece

[Bloodwank · 6/10 · 24 November 2011]

Its easy to see why Moonchild has a 2.1 average rating on this site and very few reviews. Marketed as some kind of low budget horror, its actually more of a psychological mood piece conducted with creepy atmosphere than something easily digestible. It apparently began life as a student film and I can well see that, it feels the product of a student brain, brain like dope softened sponge, heavied to dripping with ideas and questions, gripped in slipping hands that know not what to do. The concept and underlying themes are distinct but the execution less so, it ends up a head film that isn't really thought out well enough. The story, such as it is, follows a young student who come to a mission turned hotel in his search for perfection of art. There he comes into contact with an array of strange persons whilst facing the resurgence of his past. Its all rather vague until a final act that brings things into a manner of focus, powered mostly by talk and some interesting visuals. Talk of the meaning of life and death, of art and love and god and man, multiple views entwining and arguing, on paper and indeed to the recollection it seems nothing more meaningful than a spewed up half digested morass of philosophical talking points, but due to some sterling performances and a consistently weird, anti commercial tone the film actually manages a rather engaging atmosphere, snaked through with unease and unpredictable currents of tension. Plaudits are deserved by more or less all the key performers. Victor Buono as the hotel maitre d', a pious bon vivant with certain sinister edge, Pat Renella as the straight and stern manager, William Challee a kindly old man and alchemist, and a good sized role for John Carradine as a wandering keeper of words, guide of sorts. Mark Travis is slightly stiff as the student at the centre but he does his best and is suitably bewildered by things. His unshowy turn actually works nicely, as those around him bring the portentous dialogue to strange life he gives a good impression of being trapped in some Kafka-esque prison of twisted language and impossible questions, a prison of abstract thought overlaying the actual confines of the hotel. The effect comes to somewhat resemble Last Year In Marienbad, albeit a less assured, more New Age and nebulous approach to similar themes, the hotel, its geography and inhabitants all uncertain, perhaps all mind born phantasms. The use of eerie organ drones at times seems a direct reference to the Resnais film, as well as some of the tracking shots. Moonchild goes in for many more jolt edits though, and its notions of mind, memory and destiny are less clear edited, they appear as if viewed through clouds. The audience for a film such as this is undoubtedly small, and in what it sets out to do it is not entirely successful. But it's watchable, and it's interesting and decidedly strange. Fans of the genuinely unusual in cinema could do worse than give it a look, those seeking standard issue genre kicks or easy viewing will doubtless find it a terrible chore.

An abstruse metaphysical intellection, more bewildering than entertaining.

[EyeAskance · 18 September 2005]

I sat through this preponderant ayahuasca head-trip twice, and I'm still rather unresolved with my feelings about it. The story, while not at all uninteresting, is extremely vague(and probably deliberately so). As I see it, a deceased killer's soul is forever damned to seek lodging in an incommunicado mission-style villa, tenanted by an odd assemblage of necromantic characters. It's a bizarre Hell in which he's forever bound to perpetually relive one brief sequence from his mortal existence.

I personally found the quizzical exposition of MOONCHILD intriguing, though these fustian art-house ambitions result in a drastically muddled narrative and exegesis. The film is further injured by lengthy torpid stretches, and a passively limned central character who's overshadowed effortlessly by the veteran support players.

I appreciate the creative vitality which fuels experimental cinema, and I did find a unique polestar to this project. One chief debilitation, however, is the dizzyingly inchoate illustration of an umbilical concept that's already quite abstract. This eccentric stagecrafting gives rise to a vaporous psychedelic quality which might appeal to the cannabis clique...a rank-and-file viewership, on the other hand, will likely be left in a fog.

5.5/10

"Burned His Brain To Charcoal Mush!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 2 August 2021]

After opening with the most jaw-droppingly godawful theme song ever conceived: "Moonchild! Moooonchild! Moo-ooo-ooon-chiiillld!", MOONCHILD begins.

A student (Mark Travis) is taken on a strange journey by a man called Mr. Walker (John Carradine). A journey filled with nonsense and pseudo-symbolic claptrap. This includes Victor Buona hamming it up so much that it fries the brain! He showed far more subtlety as King Tut on TV's BATMAN!

MOONCHILD can't simply be excused or justified by saying "It was a 1970's thing". No, this was mind-numbing bilge upon release, and is about as entertaining as a nail through the foot!

Watching it now makes one long for drugs, any drugs, especially fatal ones!

BRAVO FOR: The "hog's head" scene, which manages to be both idiotic and gross!

This could be called an "art film", in much the same way that a lead pipe to the head can be called a "cure for migraine".

Just plain terrible...

Curious but unsatisfying fantasy.

[Infofreak · 19 December 2002]

'Moonchild' is an odd little movie. Originally made as a student film, it would have been better if went for about an hour. As it is it gets a bit too dull and repetitive for my liking. Unknown Mark Travis plays a young art student who wanders in a strange and mysterious hotel where he meets a bunch of oddballs. He doesn't know it but he is stuck in a kind of spiritual limbo and the eccentric figures he interacts with may determine his ultimate fate. The only real reason to watch this silly and generally boring movie is because the cast includes horror legend John Carradine, star of countless movies, Victor Buono ('Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?') and William Challee ('Five Easy Pieces'). Apart from that, there's very little to recommend it. Writer/director Allen Gadney never made another movie after this and after you've watched it you won't wonder why.