Cinematical

The reason that many film festivals have a "midnight" category is that they need somewhere to throw the horror films, and they're sure not going to include them in the competitive sections. And yet, horror earns a place at most FIlm Festivals. The genre is a big part of independent filmmaking, partially because horror films can cost so little to make, and partially because they are so easy to write. No other kind of film allows for nearly as much suspension of logic and belief, and many errors, inconsistencies and far-fetched twists can be excused by either paranormal subject matter or by just plain pardoning of horror in general.

The annoying thing is that with so many films being made, so few have anything to offer. The horror genre, primarily divided into either the slasher or the haunting variety, basically only has one plot: characters run from something frightening and try to stay alive. As long as there are shocks and scares, there is no need for surprises. As your typical ghost story, The Gravedancers is pretty straightforward and predictable, but it has something that I -- a longtime enthusiast of paranormal true-crime but never a fan of horror fiction -- could appreciate and enjoy. It gives its ghosts their own back stories.

There is nothing new about haunting films having back story, but while most use the past to explain the presence of their ghosts, very few of them really personalize their ghosts with that background information. In The Gravedancers there are three distinct ghosts, each assigned to haunt the friends who decided to dance on their graves. Harris (Dominc Purcell, looking much thicker than on Prison Break) with his innocent wife, Allison (Clare Kramer) gets the attentions of a dead axe-murdering piano teacher, Sid (Marcus Thomas) gets a dead pyromaniac child, and Kira (Josie Maran), the least lucky of the bunch, earns visits from beyond by a undead sado-masochistic rapist judge. All three back stories are given reenactments, as if they were a part of the true-crime show Unsolved Mysteries.

The four victims are given the explanations of their individual hauntings by a quirky French paranormal investigator (Tchéky Karyo) and his Velma-esque colleague (Megahn Perry), who also disclose that these ghosts will probably stick around until they've managed to kill their assignments. Eventually everybody, including the investigators, holes up in a giant college building and tries to stay alive.

For a low-budget horror film, The Gravedancers has some very impressive effects and some very cheesy effects, but overall it looks a lot better than the Hollywood haunting White Noise and it admirably makes attempts as opposed to an equally independent film like The Blair Witch Project. But then, who am I to judge the technical qualities of a scary movie? Horror fans could care less about the opinions of a critic not published in Fangoria, and they have every right not to.

So, let me at least speak to the non-fans, especially any who, like me, enjoy reading about the Lizzie Borden ghost, or has gone to hear The Warrens, a husband-wife paranormal investigators, speak, but is pretty much bored with cheap scares on the big screen. The Gravedancers is good, stupid entertainment that knows its ghosts and has a lot of fun introducing them to you.