The Horror Show
Dead On Appraisal
by Sean Canfield, Scott Dawson,
and David Sherbrook
I'm a personal fan of anthology horror films. Tales from the Darkside and Creepshow are classics. I've also enjoyed more recent ones such as V/H/S and (parts of) The ABC's of Death. Anthology films are great because they take a very minimalistic approach to horror. You get a quick set up and then thrown right into the action. Rarely, anything is extraneous. The framing devices are often just as entertaining as some of the segments. That was one of the reasons I chose to watch the Brain Damage Films release, Dead on Appraisal. It was an interesting take on the subgenre, to say the least.
John Dante is a real estate agent who can't sell a cursed house. Many of the people who live in said house die very gruesome deaths. “The Morning After” takes place in the wake of young entymology student who found a never before seen insect cocoon. It infects some people at the party and turns them into horrid monsters. The surviving students call in a firearms enthusiast to help deal with the situation. In “Father Land” Robbie returns from Iraq a changed man, there is something sinister about him. His father, Brad, thinks Robbie may be suffering from PTSD. The son eventually opens up about what actually happened in Iraq and why he is so different. John decides to rent the house to Freddie. Here, Freddie plans to make it big with his band, sharing the name with this segment, “Freddie and the Goblins.” Eventually, Freddie starts seeing bizarre monsters who start to provoke him into doing something he will regret. In one final effort to get rid of the house, John decides to hold an open house.
I've been over this before, but I love practical effects. So naturally, I loved the special effects in this movie with a few exceptions of some crappy CGI. The monsters were awesome. It definitely felt like a throwback to 80's movie monsters, which is really cool. They were a blend of one part creepy and one part silly. A Cyclops unicorn monster is definitely silly, but also for some reason, disturbing. I feel like sometimes indie horror flicks are overly serious. It's like they have something to prove. Dead on Appraisal didn't feel like it had to prove anything. It felt like the directors were just trying to have fun with the movie, which also allows for the viewers to have fun with it.
Now back to the CGI, there are times when it's obvious how fake it is. There are decapitation shots that just look like heads removed from the neck with Photoshop or a similar program, then animated. I would have preferred if these were also done with practical effects. I guess it couldn't be helped though. Some things are just easier to do with computers.
My biggest complaint about this movie was the whole framing device. I understand that the real estate angle brought a sense of cohesiveness to the very different segments. It was also the most boring part of the movie. I honestly contemplated skipping over these parts to get to the individual segments. I could've cared less about this guy's inability to sell a house. In the final few minutes it escalates to this over the top craziness; it was fun to watch, but completely out of left field. I hate it when there is no rising tension. It lacks suspense which is important because suspense is what keeps someone wanting to watch a movie. It's like getting a present for no reason, sure it's nice, but you don't feel like you really deserved it.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS
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