an imaginative tale of the modern day Poe's and Ushers, with some very good acting and a well done script all add up to a flick that was far better than it's straight to video fate. Katherine Heigl is gorgeous as well as talented, and the superb Jeremy London (Party of Five's Griffin) puts in a great performance as the haunted writer who may or not be all there. Interesting that they wove in bits of pieces of Hitchcock's Suspicion as well, come to think of it, if they were going to do a remake of that classic flick, Heigl and London's chemistry would serve them well. Sadly, 99% of the folks renting flicks these days have no idea who Poe was, and will not get most of this flick's storyline....too bad for them. 7 out of 10 stars, good job all around, the major subtraction being that York Video used the same house where this takes place in their laugher/slasher/thriller Scream Bloody Murder, weirdly enough, I rented both of them on the same trip!!!
9 Reviews
Confusing, amateurish production...
dwpollar7 November 2014
1st watched 11/1/2014 – 2 out of 10(Dir-Kermit Christman & Del Tenney): Confusing, amateurish production revolves around a late descendant of Edgar Allen Poe, played by Katherine Heigl, meeting another supposed descendant who is also a writer, played by Jeremy London. These two folk get involved with each other then all goes haywire. The plot actually is a lot more complicated than this so I'll try to break it down. This writer sees visions of "Edgar Allen" as he tries to write a novel and break away from his roots. His agent has the last name of "Usher", which is the family that had it against the Poe's as shown in the first scene where an Usher kills a Poe. If you are confused now it gets worse as the movie goes forward. Some murders start happening in the local area as we are introduced to a variety of characters who either have the "hots" for Heigl's character or there is some other reason that they could possibly be the murderer. And then, of course, we have the writer – Ethan Poe – who is also a suspect because of his past and his eccentricity. So – do we care about the Poe vs. distant cousin romance or the murder mystery or neither – I take neither. I don't know if the fault of the movie is the original story or the adaptation or the director's, but it doesn't come across like anyone really had a handle on what they wanted to do with the material. London, unfortunately is handed a role that is inconsistent from scene to scene and he hams it up pretty good. Heigl seems extremely unsure of herself early in the movie, but gets better as it progresses. The story starts as a mystery/romance but changes to a psycho horror movie before the end. It would be interesting to know the progression and history of this film's production because it has two directors, two actors that are involved in the writing of the movie, and comes across like a TV movie at times with fadeouts like it's going to a commercial. The bottom line is the confusion turns the viewer away from the film pretty early on so pass this one up unless you just have to see Heigl in an early film.
Bloody awful...
enfantdeloup15 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
...though for a film that seems to be trying to market itself as a horror, there was a distinct lack of blood.
There was also a distinct lack of skilled directing, acting, editing, and script-writing.
Jeremy London put in one of most appalling performances I've ever seen - his "descent into the maelström" of madness is achingly self-aware and clumsy. Oh look at him twitch! Oh look at him drink strong spirits! Oh look at him raise his brow, and cock his head at a jaunty angle! Oh look at his unwashed, greasy dark hair! Oh listen to his affectedly husky voice! He must be a tortured artist/writer/genius! Oh, yes, out comes the poet-shirt - it's another boy who thinks he's Byron. (Or Poe.) Oh for the love of... did someone give this guy a manual on "How To Act Good" or did they just pull him out of a cardboard box somewhere, the defunct little plastic toy-prize in a discontinued brand of bargain-bin cereal. Okay, that was a stupid line - but that's only because London's performance has melted my brain with its awfulness.
Katherine Heigl is cute, and very briar rose, but has yet to grow into her acting shoes in this film - she delivered her lines like she was being held up, in fact, her whole performance was very wooden, her poses as stiff as her lines - who knows, perhaps she was just reacting to, and trying to neutralise, Jeremy London's flailing excesses, but if that's the case, she takes it too far.
Notable is Arie Verveen as Poe - while his character's role is confused, he delivers the best performance of the piece. He, quite simply, looks right, but it's more than that - he has some sort of depth, I believed that he had a life beyond the dismal two-dimensional quality of the rest of the characters. Huh, maybe it's just because I like Poe, and could thus just let my mind wander and invent while he was on screen - whatever, he had an interest factor otherwise missing.
The rest of the characters are a faceless blur - there are all the usual caricatures: the perky blonde best-friend who's a bit of a floozy; the smitten local cop who's a bit of a dork; the protective older man who perhaps has too much un-fatherly interest in our heroine; the scheming old witch, etc., etc., yawn, yawn.
As with the 'distinct lack of blood for a horror movie' issue, none of the themes that they mention (and that London's character mentions - so scathingly - in his attack on Poe's writing) are followed through on. As another reviewer said - there was potential here: murder, incest, - genuinely shocking stuff, but instead they skirt away from the issues, and cut away from the violence (a raised candlestick swinging through the air - closing in on it's victim - then---cut to black! This is fine in a Noirish traditional horror, indeed, it's expected, and is fondly received when it happens - it's a dear convention, especially when accompanied by fake lightning bolts and intense Siouxie eye makeup - but in 'Descendant' it just comes across as clumsy, or as though the editor got queasy at the last minute and cut it out.) This could have either been a very tense psychological thriller - the horror of palingenesis/delusion/madness - or a simple (and fun) slasher movie: it tries to be both, or neither (something new and exciting!), but either way it fails dismally. The only horror element of this entire movie is it's epic dullness.
I think the editor (if there was one at all) must have been drunk when s/he chopped this thing up - there are awkwardly foreshortened scenes; scenes that appeared to be out of order (but that could have just been the poor script). LIkewise the director & cinematographer - there were some very strange shots and framing that I think were meant to be tributes to Hitchcock or Browning, but just ended up looking silly (again, fine in a noir, but this was trying to be something else.)
The whole thing perhaps may have been funny (in that way that previous reviewers have mentioned - "OMG how did this get made?!?") if I had been in the mood for some trash- bagging, unfortunately for me I had settled on the couch, with the lights down low, with the express intention of scaring myself silly - this is a very poor film, and I'm afraid I can't recommend it to people, not even for laughs.
Please, please, don't waste your time or money on this - either borrow a real horror/thriller film, or find yourself a copy of Poe's fantastical tales, either way, you'll have a far more enjoyable and frightening night than you could ever hope to achieve with this rubbish.
There was also a distinct lack of skilled directing, acting, editing, and script-writing.
Jeremy London put in one of most appalling performances I've ever seen - his "descent into the maelström" of madness is achingly self-aware and clumsy. Oh look at him twitch! Oh look at him drink strong spirits! Oh look at him raise his brow, and cock his head at a jaunty angle! Oh look at his unwashed, greasy dark hair! Oh listen to his affectedly husky voice! He must be a tortured artist/writer/genius! Oh, yes, out comes the poet-shirt - it's another boy who thinks he's Byron. (Or Poe.) Oh for the love of... did someone give this guy a manual on "How To Act Good" or did they just pull him out of a cardboard box somewhere, the defunct little plastic toy-prize in a discontinued brand of bargain-bin cereal. Okay, that was a stupid line - but that's only because London's performance has melted my brain with its awfulness.
Katherine Heigl is cute, and very briar rose, but has yet to grow into her acting shoes in this film - she delivered her lines like she was being held up, in fact, her whole performance was very wooden, her poses as stiff as her lines - who knows, perhaps she was just reacting to, and trying to neutralise, Jeremy London's flailing excesses, but if that's the case, she takes it too far.
Notable is Arie Verveen as Poe - while his character's role is confused, he delivers the best performance of the piece. He, quite simply, looks right, but it's more than that - he has some sort of depth, I believed that he had a life beyond the dismal two-dimensional quality of the rest of the characters. Huh, maybe it's just because I like Poe, and could thus just let my mind wander and invent while he was on screen - whatever, he had an interest factor otherwise missing.
The rest of the characters are a faceless blur - there are all the usual caricatures: the perky blonde best-friend who's a bit of a floozy; the smitten local cop who's a bit of a dork; the protective older man who perhaps has too much un-fatherly interest in our heroine; the scheming old witch, etc., etc., yawn, yawn.
As with the 'distinct lack of blood for a horror movie' issue, none of the themes that they mention (and that London's character mentions - so scathingly - in his attack on Poe's writing) are followed through on. As another reviewer said - there was potential here: murder, incest, - genuinely shocking stuff, but instead they skirt away from the issues, and cut away from the violence (a raised candlestick swinging through the air - closing in on it's victim - then---cut to black! This is fine in a Noirish traditional horror, indeed, it's expected, and is fondly received when it happens - it's a dear convention, especially when accompanied by fake lightning bolts and intense Siouxie eye makeup - but in 'Descendant' it just comes across as clumsy, or as though the editor got queasy at the last minute and cut it out.) This could have either been a very tense psychological thriller - the horror of palingenesis/delusion/madness - or a simple (and fun) slasher movie: it tries to be both, or neither (something new and exciting!), but either way it fails dismally. The only horror element of this entire movie is it's epic dullness.
I think the editor (if there was one at all) must have been drunk when s/he chopped this thing up - there are awkwardly foreshortened scenes; scenes that appeared to be out of order (but that could have just been the poor script). LIkewise the director & cinematographer - there were some very strange shots and framing that I think were meant to be tributes to Hitchcock or Browning, but just ended up looking silly (again, fine in a noir, but this was trying to be something else.)
The whole thing perhaps may have been funny (in that way that previous reviewers have mentioned - "OMG how did this get made?!?") if I had been in the mood for some trash- bagging, unfortunately for me I had settled on the couch, with the lights down low, with the express intention of scaring myself silly - this is a very poor film, and I'm afraid I can't recommend it to people, not even for laughs.
Please, please, don't waste your time or money on this - either borrow a real horror/thriller film, or find yourself a copy of Poe's fantastical tales, either way, you'll have a far more enjoyable and frightening night than you could ever hope to achieve with this rubbish.
Laughable
Perselus2227 November 2006
I don't usually comment, but there are things that need to be said. Where to start...
The acting, on Jeremy London's part was horrible! I didn't think he could be so bad. The plot could have been good, had it been well directed, along with a good solid performance from the lead actor. Unfortunately, this is one of those movies you read about and think it has great potential to be entertaining, but get disappointed from the start.
Well, at least I got good laughs. I wouldn't waste my time if I were you.
The acting, on Jeremy London's part was horrible! I didn't think he could be so bad. The plot could have been good, had it been well directed, along with a good solid performance from the lead actor. Unfortunately, this is one of those movies you read about and think it has great potential to be entertaining, but get disappointed from the start.
Well, at least I got good laughs. I wouldn't waste my time if I were you.
INCEST RUNS IN THE FAMILY
nogodnomasters22 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The biggest butchering was what they did to the life of Edgar Allan Poe. This story is based on the false notion Poe not only had heirs, but the House of Usher was a factual story.
Ann Hedgerow (Katherine Heigl) is the main character in this tell-tale. She inherits a rather large house. She is loved by her brother Keifer (Matt Farnsworth)is a most unhealthy way. She also has the the attention of a distant cousin Ethan Poe, who uses her to release his writer's block. Unfortunately Ethan is not all there and talks to the image of Edgar (Arie Verveen). Sex, murder, and bits and pieces of Poe's stories are used in the film.
Outside of the brief nudity, the quality of the writing was made for TV. The acting was bad, but to honest, the script never gave them a chance. Available on a Wal-Mart 20 film multipack for $5.00
Parental Guidance: No f-bombs I recall. Sex and nudity.
Ann Hedgerow (Katherine Heigl) is the main character in this tell-tale. She inherits a rather large house. She is loved by her brother Keifer (Matt Farnsworth)is a most unhealthy way. She also has the the attention of a distant cousin Ethan Poe, who uses her to release his writer's block. Unfortunately Ethan is not all there and talks to the image of Edgar (Arie Verveen). Sex, murder, and bits and pieces of Poe's stories are used in the film.
Outside of the brief nudity, the quality of the writing was made for TV. The acting was bad, but to honest, the script never gave them a chance. Available on a Wal-Mart 20 film multipack for $5.00
Parental Guidance: No f-bombs I recall. Sex and nudity.
One Of The Funniest Films Ever
zhriengler1 February 2004
The Film must have been shot in a day,there are scenes where you can see the camera reflections and its red pointer,even the scenery's green light that blends with the actors!!!The plot and the lines are really awful without even the slightest inspiration(At least as a thriller genre movie).Everything that got to do with Poe in the movie,has a shallow and childish approach.The film is full of clise and no thrilling.If you want to watch a funny b-movie for a relaxing evening with friends then go for it you will enjoy it (As I Did) but there's no way to take this film seriously!
A little vein of Poe gold mined again
ronnier-11 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This film remains true to the thriller/murder mystery genre. I think it does a fair job of it. But what makes this film different is its descent into the life of Poe at the same time. It touches themes that Poe touched in his wonderful tales of romantic horror and makes a true Poe fan smile time after time. This film is unique and follows a simple story line to its logical conclusion in an entertaining fashion for those who love Poe.
The leads are good actors and "Ann" is lovely.
I think anyone that has poured over the bloody pages of Poe's short stories surely will be entertained on two levels by this far too easily dismissed attempt, an attempt to do something more than just entertain us with a mystery murder story. It is a tale of madness, of love, of confusion and killings.
The leads are good actors and "Ann" is lovely.
I think anyone that has poured over the bloody pages of Poe's short stories surely will be entertained on two levels by this far too easily dismissed attempt, an attempt to do something more than just entertain us with a mystery murder story. It is a tale of madness, of love, of confusion and killings.
do not watch this frickin' movie!
NunnyC220 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers
actually, it was pretty funny... in a "god, how the hell did this movie get made" kind of way. if you life making fun of movies... which i kinda do... go ahead and watch it... but if you're actually thinking "is this a good movie?" eff off.
this movie sucked from the very beginning scene with the worst acting i've ever seen in any movie.... usually they get five minutes into it before you realize "this movie might suck".. but no, you know right off the bat. this movie talks about edgar allen poe... never tried to explain it though, to people who haven't memorized poe's life story... so i don't know if any of what was said is fact.
this movie is about a writer "ethan poe" hookin up with his cousin "ann".... they're both descendants of edgar allan poe... or are they?!? apparently, people give a what their ancestors did. this guy ethan poe is actually ethan "usher", who is supposed to be descendants from the story "the house of usher" that was written by edgar allen poe. ann's brother shows up sometimes to try to rape her... ann's also being stalked, at one point in the movie, by three different people on the same street (seriously, three... they're like right behind her glaring at her and she doesn't even realize). the characters that are being murdered throughout, show up at the end to try to save the day.... but they can't. at the end, ann shoots ethan while he's trying to kill her best friend. of course, before she shoots him she has to scream out "nevermore!" this movie should be seen nevermore!
this movie sucked from the very beginning scene with the worst acting i've ever seen in any movie.... usually they get five minutes into it before you realize "this movie might suck".. but no, you know right off the bat. this movie talks about edgar allen poe... never tried to explain it though, to people who haven't memorized poe's life story... so i don't know if any of what was said is fact.
this movie is about a writer "ethan poe" hookin up with his cousin "ann".... they're both descendants of edgar allan poe... or are they?!? apparently, people give a what their ancestors did. this guy ethan poe is actually ethan "usher", who is supposed to be descendants from the story "the house of usher" that was written by edgar allen poe. ann's brother shows up sometimes to try to rape her... ann's also being stalked, at one point in the movie, by three different people on the same street (seriously, three... they're like right behind her glaring at her and she doesn't even realize). the characters that are being murdered throughout, show up at the end to try to save the day.... but they can't. at the end, ann shoots ethan while he's trying to kill her best friend. of course, before she shoots him she has to scream out "nevermore!" this movie should be seen nevermore!
"You know I never read any of his books, I just watched all those old Vincent Price things on TV." Different but doesn't quite work.
poolandrews20 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Descendant starts in the 19th Century as Frederick Usher (Jeremy London) snaps, he beats his girlfriend Emily Hedgerow (Katherine Heigl), ties her to the bedposts & then proceeds to cut out her heart... Jump forward to the present where Ethan Poe (Jeremy London again) writes horror novels for a living & it helps that he happens to be a descendant of legendary horror author Edgar Allan Poe. Ethan is currently in the small town of Tennison attending a seminar about his illustrious ancestor whom he doesn't have particularly high opinion of, it's here that Ethan is introduced to Ann Hedgerow (Katherine Heigl again) by their mutual friend Lisa (Whitney Dylan), Ann has recently lost her Mother & has her Brother Keifer (Matt Farnsworth) stalking her so she is feeling a little vulnerable. Both Ann & Ethan are attracted to each other, a romance begins to blossom & Ann invites Ethan to stay at her house to finish off his latest novel. However the town is stunned by the discovery of a murdered prostitute named Camille Lane (Cheryl Dent), police officer Deputy John Burns (Nick Stabile), who just happens to be a personal friend of Ann's, is investigating & becomes suspicious of Ann's new house guest...
Co-written, co-produced & co-directed by Kermit Christman along with Del Tenney who also executive produced I have to give Descendant some credit for trying something a bit different but in the end it doesn't quite work. The script by Christman & William Katt, who appears in the film, starts off with a bang as Emily has her heart cut out but as soon as you realise that Heigl reappears as Ann & London as Ethan you know exactly where the film is going to end up & if you don't I have no idea why because you should. Then there's the murders, for a start the killer is totally obvious & the film makes no attempt to try & fool the viewer with red-herrings or other suspects despite the fact that they aren't revealed until the end. Then there's the fact they aren't very good at killing people, out of their three victims two don't die straight away. Then there's the terrible climax where, amongst other things, the killer stops Ann from escaping in her car by blocking the road, OK fine. So Ann jumps out of her car & runs off into the nearby wood to try & escape, again not a problem. But then Ann stumbles across her Mother's dead body, for a start it wouldn't be perfectly preserved & secondly out of all the directions & places she could have run too she had to go straight to the point where her Mother was lying within an entire wood or forest or whatever it was, the chances of that happening are almost statistically impossible! There's a supernatural element that's never clarified although I just like to think Ethan was seeing things. On a positive note it's certainly different & kept me watching until it's end, the character's are decent but some of them felt very forced like Keifer who is there merely to be an aggressor, cause trouble & nothing else.
Director's Tenny & Christman drop a few Poe references in throughout for eagle eyed viewers to spot like shots of a raven, someone being buried alive along with various mentions of his work. There's not much violence, the opening scene is quite strong but after that it's pretty tame with just a dead body & someone being impaled on a wooden pole.
Technically Descendant is pretty good despite it's obvious low budget of about $650,000, it's well made & has some nice cinematography. The acting was OK & Heigl is a bit of a babe which makes it a bit easier to watch...
Descendant has an interesting central idea that gets lost & ultimately goes nowhere. The murder mystery elements are severely lacking & the ending is so signposted & predictable it disappoints that the filmmakers didn't put a bit more effort & thought into it. I think it's worth a watch as it's different & I really wanted to like it because of that but in the end Descendant just doesn't come together in a satisfying manner.
Co-written, co-produced & co-directed by Kermit Christman along with Del Tenney who also executive produced I have to give Descendant some credit for trying something a bit different but in the end it doesn't quite work. The script by Christman & William Katt, who appears in the film, starts off with a bang as Emily has her heart cut out but as soon as you realise that Heigl reappears as Ann & London as Ethan you know exactly where the film is going to end up & if you don't I have no idea why because you should. Then there's the murders, for a start the killer is totally obvious & the film makes no attempt to try & fool the viewer with red-herrings or other suspects despite the fact that they aren't revealed until the end. Then there's the fact they aren't very good at killing people, out of their three victims two don't die straight away. Then there's the terrible climax where, amongst other things, the killer stops Ann from escaping in her car by blocking the road, OK fine. So Ann jumps out of her car & runs off into the nearby wood to try & escape, again not a problem. But then Ann stumbles across her Mother's dead body, for a start it wouldn't be perfectly preserved & secondly out of all the directions & places she could have run too she had to go straight to the point where her Mother was lying within an entire wood or forest or whatever it was, the chances of that happening are almost statistically impossible! There's a supernatural element that's never clarified although I just like to think Ethan was seeing things. On a positive note it's certainly different & kept me watching until it's end, the character's are decent but some of them felt very forced like Keifer who is there merely to be an aggressor, cause trouble & nothing else.
Director's Tenny & Christman drop a few Poe references in throughout for eagle eyed viewers to spot like shots of a raven, someone being buried alive along with various mentions of his work. There's not much violence, the opening scene is quite strong but after that it's pretty tame with just a dead body & someone being impaled on a wooden pole.
Technically Descendant is pretty good despite it's obvious low budget of about $650,000, it's well made & has some nice cinematography. The acting was OK & Heigl is a bit of a babe which makes it a bit easier to watch...
Descendant has an interesting central idea that gets lost & ultimately goes nowhere. The murder mystery elements are severely lacking & the ending is so signposted & predictable it disappoints that the filmmakers didn't put a bit more effort & thought into it. I think it's worth a watch as it's different & I really wanted to like it because of that but in the end Descendant just doesn't come together in a satisfying manner.
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