Fading of the Cries (2008) User Reviews

Bad movie, please fade away from my memory!

[programmer04 · 2/10 · 9 April 2011]

This brief review contains 'almost' no spoilers, as it would be nearly impossible to spoil this made-for-Syfy movie any more than it already is.

First, I'll admit that I didn't watch "Fading of the Cries" all the way through. I simply couldn't do it. I was hoping to end a Saturday night with a good story through good storytelling. What I got was bored and sleepy, really fast.

It all starts off with, at the time, a very confusing beginning that takes place 14 years in the past. Then it jumps to the present and, shortly thereafter, demons start to inexplicably come out of nowhere and attack everybody in the neighborhood. At this time, the hero shows up (also out of nowhere) wielding only a ninja sword and begins slicing up demons with smooth moves that could only be learned at Summer Camp. Soon after, were transported back to the past for more confusion. The movie never gives you time to care about the characters, the story, nothing.

"Fading of the Cries" has the typical low budget special effects that we've all come to expect from SyFy-esque movies. Unfortunately, that is this movie's only high note (other than Brad Dourif, which is why I gave it 2 stars). The acting is bad, at best, especially when it comes to Jordan Matthews (Jacob), but the director, Brian A. Metcalf, should take most of the blame for how everything turned out. The monologue and dialogue lacked conviction and intelligence, as if written for an uninspiring children's book. However, only a portion of what the characters were saying could be clearly heard when the soundtrack wasn't drowning them out. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise?

This is the movie in a nutshell. Eventually, I'm sure, the past and present are brought together to make some sort of sense, but by then you'll be wondering why everyone hasn't taken turns throwing themselves on that sword. Their careers are certainly lining up to take the plunge. (Not you, Brad Dourif. You rock!)

Very poor

[maohmex2004 · 3/10 · 13 July 2011]

I know there are fans of this film, but is not my case. Even when I saw FX directly from Videocopilot tutorials for AE that I could make much better than the film, there is no storyline in this movie. I found it very bored and some characters don't have any personality. I think that director/writer Brian A. Metcalf needs some lessons of how to make a sci-fi movie like a pro and not like an amateur project of college, full of shaking, bad movement displacement, bad lightning and so on.

Another bad point of this movie is that a lot of explanations are missed. Come on!! Mr. Director, my imagination doesn't work as yours!. Maybe such answers are still flying in his head.

Nonsense ending with guess what… BAD ACTORS TOO!!. Thomas Ian Nicholas .. American Pie times are over... so as you are… . I wish you better luck in your next film.

Laughable

[KingdomSora · 3/10 · 2 September 2011]

I watched this movie a few months back and was recently reminded of it when a friend found it online and asked if i had seen it and i was like "hmmm... Oh yeah...mm.. Oh no" D= I was forced to watch this when my mother chose it one night on Pay Per View, and at first i didn't mind it, it just seemed like a normal movie, but about 15 minutes in i was like "Good god, this sucks, is this a spoof or something?!" if it was a spoof then i would understand but unfortunately it was meant to be a serious film.

The acting was so bad that it was just laughable, The effects were so low budget that it felt like an episode of Doctor Who, The music was Un original and unfitting for most scenes, The story was lacking and the entire movie was Cliché!! To be fair there were some good scenes, but not enough, and this isn't the worst movie i have ever seen but i will admit, it was entertaining (By that i mean it was comedic) =D If you are up for a good horror then stay away from this movie, But if you are up for a laugh then you might want to try this XD (Be warned though, it really is a BAD movie)

fun but forgettable film

[racemonster1 · 16 April 2011]

Fading of the Cries is inconsistent. It packs a punch, but only in certain parts, most noticeable the third act. That is the whole problem with this film from beginning to end. Its biggest weakness - the acting, hands down. Leads, newcomer Jordan Matthews and ER's Hallee Hirsh, who play Jacob and Sarah, both have a serious lack of any chemistry whatsoever and one tends to get quite annoyed at Jordan Matthews at times when he reads off dull monotonic lines with no expression, as if reading from a script on the spot. As an actor myself, I notice he tends to fall into numerous acting traps that many amateurs first do - namely not enough practice/experience. Actress Hallee Hirsh tends to overact all of her scenes with an overabundance of annoyance, maybe overcompensating off her lead who is giving her nothing to work with. I've read reviews stating similarities to both Twilight and The Crow. Here's my two cents: Say what you will about Twilight, there was strong chemistry there between Edward and Bella that you could feel. That's what that film did right and this ain't no Twilight. What Brandon Lee did correct about The Crow was giving his character a sense of pain and emotion. I get nothing from Jordan Matthews. Then again, he could be going for the stereotypical action actor without any acting talent in which case I would state to learn how to walk properly without doing the duck butt sticking out and you're there.

Genre favorite Brad Dourif and even Mackenzie Rosman, on the other hand, managed to pull off decent performances. Brad plays the antagonist of the film with such precise clarity that one almost feels bad he has almost nobody to play with scenewise. It shows what happens when you compare someone of his caliber level with the likes of no-talents like Jordan Matthews who does an embarrassingly bad job in the film's final standoff . Mackenzie also holds her own as the bratty younger sister pulled into the nightmare.

Some of the visuals are breathtakingly beautiful and some are not so great. The scenes deep rooted in reality feel almost like a TV movie of the week while some of the visual effects scenes feel like a major motion picture.

The strongest consistency this film has is the pacing. It never tends to let you down and picks up pace quite quickly in the third act.

Some of the scenes are very well directed while others are lacking. Since this was also his first movie, I might assume that Brian A. Metcalf might not fall into the same trappings again. I will state that the film had more of a story than I had originally expected and if only the acting had been better, the characters might had been more believable. I actually feel that writer/director Brian A. Metcalf might have had a little cult gem had he worked with stronger actors as he does have quite a unique and stylized vision, i.e. the sunrays that seem to overtake this film and constant movement of background bats and crows. His dialogue needed some polishing but again, had he worked with more talented actors, they might have been able to pull it off more convincingly. This was the case with Brad who by far had the most elaborate lines in the film and pulled them off with such ease. As director James Cameron says, choosing the right actor is by far one of the most important tasks in a film because once you have them, you're stuck with them. I would like to see how another film by Brian would turn out given a better budget, stronger cast and crew. But Brian is not off the hook so easily as some of the scenes felt there was a lack of coverage. The kitchen scene tends to show the most.

Costuming was terrible and the costumer, Elizabeth Jett should be quite embarrassed about the poor job she did, showing her extreme lack of talent and vision. Same can be said for some of the creature makeup effects. Lighting on the other hand was very nicely tackled. There are so many independent films where you can't see a thing at night due to lack of experienced DPs or budget constraints. I could at least see every scene with a decent amount of detail in the dark and that is becoming a rarity these days with independents.

I understand that dealing with the independent world, there are many challenges foreseen and unforeseen. As a person who works mainly with the independent film world, I get a lot of the problems that happen. I do feel many of these mistakes could have been avoided had proper planning been in place, again I revert back to the acting. All considering, for a low budget indie film, Fading of the Cries seems to be a strong step above other independents, namely the production values and locations. I would recommend this film only if you can get past the bad acting and have nothing better to do. Overall it turns out to be a fun but not overly memorable film.

Final rating: (1 to 10)

Story - 7 Execution - 4 (largely due to poor acting) Acting - 2 1/2 (not a 1 only because actor Brad Dourif does remarkable) Directing - 6 Production Value - 7 (largely due to well lit scenes at night and some decent fx) Costuming - 3 Makeup - 4 Sound Design - 3 1/2 Music - 7

I give it 5 1/2 out of 10 stars, only with the consideration it was an independent film.

Wow, do not waste your time

[echo834 · 1/10 · 28 May 2011]

An Oscar should be given ... to whoever can sit through this movie.

Seriously, some of the worst acting I have ever seen. I do not know how this movie could have been worse, the sound and scene editing was off and the story was 1) not backed up, 2) ruined by the distractingly bad acting, and 3) made worse by the thought of attempting to make you care about the actors.

I've seen over 1300 movies, this one makes me wish I was blind. Do not even attempt to give it a chance.

I'll put it plainly, if you were going to make a drinking game out of the amount of "OMG this is horrible" moments ... you would be wasted at the 20 minute mark.

enjoyable for lazy Sunday afternoon

[tsolidas · 5/10 · 2 May 2011]

I watched this film and found it to be an entertaining piece if you have nothing else to do. The production values were pretty frickin' good for an indie since I was expecting SyFy channel quality but thought it was better. The acting was to be what one would expect for a film in this genre with teens with little to no acting experience and there were no recognizable actors in the film at all. The best part was the story. But the execution didn't come off quite as well. I thought it was the first original film I had seen in a very long time. It really kept me interested and I liked the fact that there were so many zombies in this movie. I was a little nervous at first because it takes place in some small town and I was afraid there wouldn't be enough but there were so many everywhere. Also the small town feel was greatly escalated from the scenes underneath the shack. The ending - it really shocked me and I loved it!! I was so surprised to see Jacob turn the tide on badguy with long hair (can't pronounce his name) and to show that he has evil in him as well when all is lost. The film did have some issues though. Some scenes felt really big scale while others felt small in nature. I wish I had known more about the backgrounds of some of the characters. But overall, it was entertaining enough to keep me interested.

Failing of the Cries

[dumbster47 · 1/10 · 3 June 2011]

Brian A. Metcalf has in under 90 minutes managed to use every cliché from classic the horror and fantasy movies and yet manages to go against everything that makes up a compelling movie for any fan of the genre.

The script, to begin with, is a horrible mess starting off with a narrative ego within a flashback of many making parts of the story over explicit whilst absolutely impossible to engage in. The fact is that it's very hard to grasp (or care) what story line is important and which are less so until the far to drawn-out ending.

The characters act inconsistently all over and the very same threats that oppose them are as often deadly in one scene to be ridiculously easy to defeat in the next.

The scenography and the special effects are flat and ugly and the fighting scenes (there's A LOT of them) mainly consist of monsters running straight into swords.

I think that Metcalf was aiming for a mix of "The Lord of the Rings" and "Night of the Living Dead" but ended up with Uwe Boll's "Dungeons and Dragons" mixing with "Resident Evil" (the first of the video games, if you remember the script and acting in that).

It made me sad to see Brad Dourif wading around in this crap and not even he manages to be free of its stench.

Fading of the Cries - More Like Fading Into Nothingness

[hedgehogworts · 1/10 · 26 June 2011]

I really struggled to watch this movie from start to finish as it was nothing more than cliché dancing over clichés and, matched only with the continuous bad hammy acting.

Might be great for the kids or 1, but I doubt it as I'm convinced they have at least a modicum of sophistication.

The concept, brilliant. I cannot not fault, the acting and choreography I can.

If I could get away with returning my DVD and claim my refund I would. Its that dire. I only paid £7.00 and even that was way to much.

I would like to say it belongs within the B movie rank and file, but alas, its not even that good.

There... I think I've given a clear picture of not liking the movie!

Makes you ashamed to have eyes

[beckslayer · 1/10 · 11 June 2011]

Right what would you get if you had a £10 budget, rubbish CGI people, people that have never stepped foot in an acting class, a director out of there senses and production who are apparently drunk? The simple answer is this film. No one can give me back the time this film has robbed me of. It is certainly the worst film i have ever watched, and i have watched many. I love films from many different genres, but I'm always up for anything with action, occult and horror references. This film however bobbles all over the place, between really awful acting, terrible effects and a rambling strange and often incomprehensible story. People will say this is a B movie but really it can't even merit that! the characters are so wooden i think they came pre varnished. All you are really left with is sitting there thinking, how the hell did i fall into the trap of paying to watch that? Trust me don't pay to watch it, don't even watch it when its available for free, there are many more worth while things to do with your time like counting dust particles or individually plucking the hairs from your toes!

Painful to watch

[louie999 · 1/10 · 10 April 2011]

I was duped into watching this film by some of the good reviews I read. They are false. I was expecting a 'made for cable' 2nd rate quality movie. This thing is 4th rate. The Pro's are that it is in English and does not require subtitles. The background music is tolerable. The credits were displayed in an attractive font. The actors appear to know their lines, and the crew members do not walk into the scenes.

Aside from that, this film is about as bad as you can get without being so bad that it is funny in an ironic way.

Don't waste your time. Do not believe any reviews over 2 stars. I wish I knew of something equally bad to compare it to, but I cannot remember the last time I saw something this bad.

Awful...just awful...

[cradle_of_filth_tb · 1/10 · 10 April 2011]

I watched this movie in hope i would spend a pleasant 1 hour and a half of my Sunday...i regret my decision.The effects wore poor, like the movie was made in some 3rd world country.the story is ambiguous you don't get many details about the past of the characters, and I had the feeling that even the actors didn't put much work into this movie.The idea however was pretty good and they could've made more from that if it had more work put into it

In conclusion everything is bad about this movie and I wrote this review in hope that nobody has to go trough the same 1 hour and a half of agonizing pain that i did.

interesting approach to the zombie genre

[janetmane · 8/10 · 23 April 2011]

I'll be the first to mention I don't like zombie films. But I was actually surprised at this little piece. There were cheesy parts to it but also some really fascinating scenes. Part of the film felt sort of like a Twilight movie but goes into ultra violence towards the end of the film. There is a really touching scene of daughter reuniting with her mom only later to have to tear into her face with a firepoker which happens to be the most intense scene of the film. I really felt this film was almost a coming of age movie with really pretty landscapes and serene moments throughout which gives it even more of an eerie presence. There's also a scene that reminds me of children of the corn which I thought was fun too. The story was really something new and I quite admired that. I did not think the acting was particularly great but one probably expects that in this genre. Overall, not a bad little film to pass the time by :)

entertaining low budget indie horror film

[dchepret · 7/10 · 11 April 2011]

So I've read all the reviews, watched the film and now have come up with my own conclusions. I guess after reading so many comments I felt inclined to put in my own thoughts.

My friends and I went in simply expecting an entertaining low-budget zombie horror movie and we got an entertaining low-budget horror movie. The film starts off with Sarah finding some antique in her attic along with booze, leaving and finding her friend. Within a matter of minutes they are attacked by zombies when Jacob comes in to save the day out of practically nowhere, which is later described in the film. Soon they are running around on streets and into the fields hacking and chopping up zombies and dismembering them. Okay, we had fun watching that and were always excited to see them getting sliced by the blade.

Soon they run into an abandoned shelter or something where they are attacked by some wraith or something that reminded me of the glass creature from Conan the Destroyer. The creature jumps out the window and the two are forced to then go down into some huge tunnel or cave. And it goes on and on and on with different obstacles like a bridge and cornfields (which was my personal favorite scene). Some stuff didn't make sense and you have to allow yourself to just relax and be entertained and go with it.

The FX: I've heard a lot of positives and negatives comments. Personally for me, I was lukewarm - nothing new that wowed me but nothing that felt overly fake looking to me. Despite reading some comments, this was nothing near as bad as a sci-fi channel movie and many of the other typical horror films.

In addition, the film did not feel one bit claustrophobic. I hate indies where the locations are just one room or two. This was everywhere and it was quite enjoyable. Some of the scenery was really pretty and epic looking like the wideshot of the cornfield and the bridge so they got some really nice shots from whatever locations used.

I knew I recognized the bad guy from somewhere but it was not until someone told me he was chucky that it stuck together. But he was fantastic. The rest of the acting was okay, but no worse (and no better) then any other horror film. That's the other thing, I wouldn't even call it horror. I don't know why they promote it as that as its simply not true, well except maybe towards the end. But its much more like an action quest film of sorts with the baddies being zombies instead of say, whatever. What gives it the most points for me are originality. I haven't quite seen anything like this before. What hurt it was lack of budget. It was apparent they didn't have much to work with. But We all had fun with it and never felt bored. The last part of the film is pretty intense and we all got into that. So I thought it was fun, but I wasn't expecting Schindler's List either. Its a frickin' zombie film for crying out loud. Of course its not gonna win any Oscars.

I love that genre and support by all means. That being said, there were still some issues. Some of the scenes, like the beginning with Sarah and mom fighting felt fake. They could have just cut that whole scene out. I didn't care so much about how the zombies were raised, they could have cut that shorter and just focused more on slicing and dicing zombies.

I pretty much got what I expected from the trailer and that says a lot since I won't go on about the misleading Sucker Punch and we did start to watch Monsters and got bored with that one. We saw a zombies being hacked to death indie film filled with lotsa action and lousy acting and loved it.

They should be ashamed not afraid

[steve-birch · 1/10 · 8 May 2011]

This is possibly the worst movie ever made. 105 minutes of my life that I can never get back.

The plot - there is no plot or story worth talking about. No explanation even to people with a great imagination where anything comes from. e.g. young boy's family were slaughtered years ago but he is suddenly some sort of super hero - why? Where has he been all this time; squatting, hiding?

Acting - Even worse than the plot. I thought it was a parody at first like Scary Movie but then I realised they were actually trying to act. The direction - The scenes are fragmented and have no link to each other and thus make no sense at all. Continuity is non existent.

"Special" effects - Laughable

Repetition - stupid boy with sword easily kills several thousand even more stupid zombies again and again and again..... Silly young girl screams a lot. Eveil guy looks like and old Dr Who and ...............well thats it.

Scareyness - I only became very afraid for the cast when I realised that they didn't realise the movie was really a comedy.

Verdict - Don't waste your time.

Fading of the cries review

[homenka · 12 April 2011]

I saw the film this weekend. Had to give my own review after reading every single review here.

My bottom line, everyone is far too biased on both ends. This is not the worst movie in the world deserving 1 star as I've seen countless worse and I think you guys have either bones to pick, like to just thrash others or are disgruntled movie wannabees (like me but I'm honest and going to school for this thing). On the flip side, it is not the greatest movie either as I've seen better as you guys are serious zombiefags or dating someone on the film.

To me it stands pretty darn near the middle as there are both good and bad things to this movie. I don't have bones to pick nor relationships with any film members so you get the whole truth and nothing but the truth from me.

My categories: Story/concept: the story idea is pretty good. It did stand out as original and all of the characters did seem to have purpose. I give extra points for this on the sheer fact of not being overly recycled and a remake. There was actually more of a story than I expected. I guess from the trailers I expected the two leads running through an obstacle course of things only. There were some cliché moments like having to go save the damsel in distress and all and defeating the badguy but thats in every film.

Acting: This is the super-ouch department. And I feel bad for the filmmakers because this film could have been good had the actors been decent. The two leads were terrible. Both bothered me in ways that I couldn't get over. Sarah has the most annoying voice that irritated me and Jacob reminded me of a stiff monologue wood. Their dialogue was terrible and there was no chemistry between the two leads. Anyone stating that they were decent or good are simply lying. Go back to acting school. I'm giving this part 3 stars (out of 10) only because of Brad Dourif who cries and shoots snot and really goes medieval on some teens here otherwise this would have been a 2 or 1 as the rest were as bad as any Friday the 13th.

Directing : So I guess this is director Brian A. Metcalf's first official film. It wasn't a bad first attempt as there were some very beautiful shots that come to mind. But he lost points because he should have definitely paid more attention to how the actors acted, or maybe they were under time crunches, or sadly, he should have chosen better actors, again the two leads being most crucial. But there were some really nice angles and great wideshots.

visual effects : I have read more comments on this topic for this film for some reason than any independent film ever. To be harping on them this much is stupid. I read some people bash the fx to such a degree I wonder if there is some disgruntled fx artists here doing this. They were fine and they weren't as bad as Syfy or made for TV and they weren't as good as 300. It was a midgrade hybrid to me. Not mindblowing but not bad either and there was a sheer amount of them. I have also seen a lot of movies where they take me out of the story.

Final Execution: (4): This went downhill fast, largely to the lousy acting and non believability of some of the actors. The story was just far too epic on such a tiny budget. A lot was done well but some of the sets were lousy, the makeup of the weird monster creature bugged me and the wardrobe was horrible. Some of the dialogue felt way off but again I strongly blame the lousy actors in this film. Music was nice and fx were nice.

Final thoughts: The idea was good but execution fell short due to budget and acting. The beginning of the film was a little difficult to get through and there is no feeling of chemistry with our leads. None whatsoever. Still it was okay to watch and felt like a Schwarzenegger film where you watch simply for the action because the pacing was excellent. Visuals were pretty to stare at. I would have given much higher grade if the actors had been replaced with real actors. Okay Brad can stay, the rest of ya, especially you leads gotta go. I would love to see this film remade (yes I said remake) with a bigger budget and real actors on board.

My final grade is 5. Those of you claiming it was the worst film or the best film are full of crap. Entertaining to a degree but with annoying parts. I've seen worse and better and so have you.

An abomination against horror and movie production in general

[dmstokes73 · 1/10 · 21 April 2011]

This has got to be the worst, most disconnected, poorly edited and shockingly acted piece of cinema I have ever had the misfortune to stumble across. There may have been a plot-line but it was lost somewhere in the jarring transitions, poorly timed music and generally bad direction. I appreciate B-grade and I understand special effects on a budget but there is no excuse for this sort of thing outside high school drama class and YouTube. Do not go near this unless your purpose is to make out with the person you see it with and you don't want to miss anything worth watching. Even then it probably won't make for decent background noise.

Oh Good God!!

[imdb-867-175501 · 1/10 · 12 April 2011]

By far, one of the worst movies I have ever seen! ---- The acting was bad, and I mean really bad. High school theater group bad. (Well, maybe that's not fair...high school kids can be better than this with some direction.) ---- "The script/dialogue was the worst. Think about the last comedian that you heard make fun of how bad the scripts are in most porno's...there ya go..now you have an idea. ---- The effects. There were two types; speeding up the demon characters so you couldn't see the bad body suit, and showing the zombies from a distance..the same half dozen people but multiplied to make it appear as if there were thousands. (Okay, there was the green screen method to make you believe there was a cavernous, column-filled, temple under the single room shed in the middle of the field.) ---- The story. It made almost no sense. This story seemed to come from a couple of boys sitting around with a "pipe"...having some beers. Later, one of them tried to write it down from what he could remember. The forward/backward in time type of story telling is difficult enough and this movie fails miserably. ---- Brad Dourif. SHAME ON YOU. You really need to go to your room and think about what you did here mister! ---- Brad Dourif. I mean it...SHAME ON YOU. ---- To wrap this up...think about the worst, cheesiest episode of the cheesiest form of the Twilight Zone/Outer Limits type of TV show from the 80's, and you have an idea of what this movie is like (except the TV show would have been 20 minutes and this last an hour and a half).

A Waste of time

[maximefenaux · 1/10 · 2 January 2019]

Everything goes wrong in that movie. This is so bad that you might think it will become funny but it failed that way too. A total waste of your time.

Nonsensical mixture of disparate sub-genres of horror; bad screenplay.

[suite92 · 1/10 · 26 November 2013]

Michael's wife and daughter die in a car crash. Then 14 years go by. However, this point in time is returned to more than once, such as when Maggie introduces very young Sarah to Uncle Michael at Echling Manor.

In the present, bad-tempered, ungrateful teenager Sarah steals some booze and a necklace, gives her mother a hard time, then goes to see her friend and fellow drinker Emily. They drink and talk about how creepy Echling Manor is. That does not last long. The zombie apocalypse arrives in the blink of an eye. Emily gets killed right off the bat.

A young man (I guess) rescues Sarah, and they make their way through small mobs of zombies. These are fast zombies. The young man is even faster with his sword, but he and Sarah have to run to get away from the remaining zombies.

In the past, Michael finds a large, creepy book under a broken floor board in Echling Manor. All this back and forth over 14 years is irritating. Perhaps I'll see the utility later.

Sarah and the young man hole up on the 'old church' which looks absolutely nothing like the rest of the town. They have an incredibly inane conversation filled with bald assertions that often make no sense. The young man finally identifies himself as Jacob. With lines such as 'Hey, I need you to trust me,' and 'The sanctuary has been breached,' I'm hoping the zombies get him first. As well as the zombies, we have a gorilla-Predator-Spiderman cross-match, and hordes of low-flying bats. Sigh.

In the past, Michael reads the journal or whatever. He's tormented by bumps in the night and feelings of doom. He reads the journal (a spell book) and ignores writing his current novel. Eventually, he starts invoking spells. He shows Maggie and Sarah one of the more elementary ones. Unfortunately, it immediately starts warping his ego and ethical sensibilities.

Jacob and Sarah go down the secret exit from the church. The church is one small room, maybe 1000 square feet. Underneath the church is huge, as in hundreds of football fields of area, huge supporting structures, and quite a high ceiling. Sarah meets the necromancer Mathias, who wants the necklace from Sarah's neck. He cannot take it from her, for unknown reasons. Soon Mathias shows up as does an enormous crowd of CGI characters. To escape, they climb a cliff hundreds of feet high. Sure.

Maggie and Jill hide in a closet at home. Maggie hears a noise, and goes to see whether it is Sarah returning. It's not; it's the zombies. Maggie and Jill run for it.

Jacob and Sarah have more run-ins with zombies. They have some quality time together where they discuss the necromancer, the necklace, the book of spells, and the monsters. Jacob lived at Michael's house a bit after Michael. They discuss Sarah's meeting of the necromancer, and the 'Rune of Syirlan,' which Sarah had been wearing as a necklace. Jacob tells her that they've been trailed because she had skin contact with the Run. Sarah tells Jacob that she inherited the necklace from Uncle Michael after he died in Echling Manor. Jacob relates that his parents died soon after they moved into the house a few years later. Also, Echling Manor used to be the necromancer's house. No one else has been welcome since.

In the past, Michael kills the drunk driver who ran down his family. He uses that to bring forth one of the more advanced spells. That is, summoning one of the necromancer's familiars. Then he summons another. Later, when Jacob's family moves into Echling Manor, the servants of the necromancer are all present.

In the present, Sarah and Jacob confront the necromancer too early; Jacob loses his sword and they lose Jill. The necromancer invokes night, and the zombies rise. Jacob goes to meet the necromancer in Echling Manor.

Will anyone get out alive?

-----Scores------

Cinematography: 6/10 Fine most of the time. Occasionally, as in the tombs under the town, the mob made of CGI looks totally fake, which it is. Unfortunately, it's horribly fake. Demerits for shaky camera and out of focus passages.

Sound: 8/10 Well recorded at least, with some reasonably creepy incidental music.

Acting: 2/10 Brad Dourif has been in some bad films over his 38+ years of acting. He has also had many much, much better roles than this; The Lord of the Rings comes to mind. Veteran character actress Elaine Hendrix has had 20 years of better roles in television, plus some movies. The rest of the cast I do not recognise and expect that I never will recognise, since they seem to be non-actors. Hallee Hirsh is a terribly bad actress, and Jordan Andrews is just as useless. Also, the 24-year-old Hirsh (as of 2011) looks much older than her age, and has no business playing a teenager.

Screenplay: 2/10 Yikes. Worse conversation than one would find in a bad original high school play. Bad dialog, horrible exposition, sad logical failures, hundreds of continuity errors. The beginning to middle to end progression goes somewhat well, but the rotten dialog and horrible acting ruin the film.

So sorry....

[jjedd · 1/10 · 30 September 2018]

I actually got my friend to buy it as the title sounded cool.....and man....It was terrible.....luckily I didn't paid for it.....I still watched all over it.....So if you want to know why it it titled as such....watch the end.....I told my friend it was super good....he then watched it too and said it was terrible.....So sorry. But good effort on the directing....and acting just the story plot was like...'huh and more huh'

Ugh...

[hailtothevictorz · 1/10 · 18 November 2011]

...this would be perfect MST3K fodder if that show was still on the air. Hallee should have turned to porn instead of making this career move, it would be less embarrassing. The special effects are hilarious: they look like they're filmed through water, blurred to cover any mishaps. One chase scene looked like a Scooby Doo cartoon. Watch the things in the filler scenes where the characters really have nothing to do but stare or fidget until the director finally, mercifully pulls his camera away. Why the heck does the hero hold his sword backward through the entire thing? Is that the equivalent of holding a pistol sideways? Anyway, the acting is awkward and wooden, and the dialog could have been written by a ten-year-old. Utter dreck.

Possibly the worst B movie (or lower) of all time!!

[vincerodriguez447 · 1/10 · 1 February 2021]

I cannot see how anyone would rate this higher than the 1 they allow as the lowest score! I saw it and reviewed it when it came out in 2011 as a Redbox Rental & it was even one of their "recommended new release" movies. I've never thought about getting a refund back on a really bad movie no matter what it was until I saw THIS! It's ABSOLUTE garbage. The only redeeming quality it has is exactly HOW bad it was and that some sly screenwriter was able to sell it to both the actors and to the executive producers who put money (the little they did) into it.

It reaches a new level of bad in every possible way. I'm not joking when I say that NO ONE involved cared AT ALL! Bad acting, editing, effects, plot, screenplay, direction, gaffer, camera loader, production design, art department, makeup, grip, sound crew, boom operator, caterer, wrangler, ect, ect. It almost reninds me of that eposode of The Big Bang Theory where Penny is working on the set of her Serial Apeist 2 and the director just wants to wrap it up because HE KNOWS it's a trash B movie production. In this case though, someone actually thought they were making a decent direct to DVD movie which is astounding! It's NOT a "so bad its good" movie. It's a so bad it's cursed forever movie, lol. It makes Tommy W's "The Room" seem like a Hollywood blockbuster in comparison! Literally (not figuratively) EVERYTHING is horrible! How they accomplished that I honestly don't know but its really hard to screw up Literally everything!

I'm doing this long ass review because in 2011, this "movie" stole almost 2hours of my life that I could of better spent watching at paint dry or arguing with random trolls on Twit-ter. Some movies are bad in a good way (cult classics, exploitation films, ect) but this was NOT! So, save yourself and watch a rerun of literally anything on any channel including one with a language you don't understand.

Oh, my spoiler is this movie will spoil your day lol. Please do not rent, buy or watch it in any way that gets the studio their $1.25 monthly pre tax residual check.

Actually, for everyone who sat through it, any length, should be compensated for our lost time and our hypnotherapy sessions to forget the movie entirely. Just writing this precautionary review I'm already getting flashbacks about the main character: a teenage emo wannabe Brandon Lee of "The Crow" stumbling around all goofy & flailing around a clearly fake katana handling it like he's never ever swung a sword, stick, or anything. Kinda like a toddler would with a pool noodle but way worse (how hard would half hour how to handle a katana video on YT been for him to watch prior to the filming?).

Anyways, you've been warned! Do not watch this or it'll be your "cries" that will be "fading" as you fall asleep...speaking of Fading (of the) Cries, WTF does the title even have to do with the movie, lol? Its all just a huge waste of time and a zero sense making nonsensical movie. SOOOOO bad it technically should be good but alas...it's not. However, I actually would be interested in seeing a remake of Fading of the cries by Tommy Wiseu with a 30k budget. Now, THAT would probably be 1000x better!

• Rating = 0 (ZERO)*

*unfortunately they make you choose at least 1 star. They should allow a zero rating and/or negative numbers of stars up to negative 5 stars, of which I'd give it negative 4 stars (based on the fact the writer got it funded lol).

Another Brad Dourif Movie

[james-kat · 9/10 · 9 April 2011]

Good movie along the lines of Labyrinth and The Crow. Some of the acting left something to be desired but over all good with a good plot line. THe best acting was by Brad Dourif though he is always good. The story is somewhat original, at least i have not seen another movie with it in before. It is also one that i wouldn't mind letting my 12 + year old child watch because it really isn't that scary but more fantasy. I would definitely watch this one again. It does get a bit confusing at times but it seems to tie everything up in a neat little bundle at the end. The ending does leave you hanging a bit though and make you wonder just what is going to happen next. Maybe a part 2 in the future?

I got into this film

[jnemetz100 · 7/10 · 30 April 2011]

My and my girlfriends just watched this and we agreed this is the first zombie film we actually liked. We almost didn't watch it had it not been for the previews showing more then just zombies eating people. But the film started out kinda weird and we only started paying attention to it after the two teens make a run into the fields. But by towards the end of the film, we were all hooked with eyes fixed to it. There was like no actors any of us knew but it didn't bother us as the baddie was really cool and we all liked the Gothic style of the film.

We got a little confused with the flashback scenes and didn't understand why the dude in the past was suddenly here now but then again, we weren't 100% focused. Anyways, afterward, I watched it again alone and it made a lot more sense the second time around. I love all the variety of locations the film takes place in, especially the cornfields. But there were some really cool parts that grabbed us and almost felt like an anime like walking against a huge moon and the attic scene where all these light-rays come in. The zombies looked really cool and original. And we totally loved wrap-head chick who touches things and weird black veins seem to sprout out. She should have been the main bad guy in our opinions just because of the coolness factor. The lead guy looked pretty cool with the whole dark mysterious thing and the sword as weapon of choice. Some scenes actually reminded me of my summers, hanging out in the fields and under bridges. Just the feeling has a very innocent quality to it. My only gripes are the ending tends to get all bloody and there was one scene we just couldn't watch when girlfriend beats her mom's head in. Also I wish there had been a little bit more of a romance between the two teens and less scenes of the flashback with the artist guy.

Basic low budget 90's style low budget made for video type flick

[MadRotaryOne_DDCgod · 4/10 · 9 April 2011]

What can I say, its a low budget fantasy horror flick... If you have nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon and have some time to kill, and like watching cheesy movies, this ones right up your ally. Hero kid meets girl who attempts to save the day. I immediately noticed Hallee Hirsh, who played Dr. Greens daughter on ER. I always thought she had potential, but she was rather numb throughout the film. the only saving grace would be the always talented and always creepy Brad Dorif(wormtongue from LOTR), who plays the usual sinister villain. all I can add is I've seen worse. most people will probably hate it, but the true fans of cinema must always take the good with the bad!