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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Starz / Anchor Bay
Salesrank: 98417
Released: October 3, 2006 |
| Our Price: $8.30 |
| Used Price: $1.67 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Twenty years ago, a demonic massacre in a sleepy Southern town left two young siblings as the lone survivors. But for adult Cole (Eric Mabius of RESIDENT EVIL) and his younger sister Heather (Charisma Carpenter of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL), an obsession with their parents’ satanic slaughter has lasted a lifetime. Now through Cole’s psychic connection with a group that includes an outlaw biker (John Amos of THE WEST WING), a traumatized cop (Jeffrey Combs of RE- ANIMATOR) and a mysterious healer (Dee Wallace of CUJO and THE HOWLING), vengeance is about to take a very unholy turn. Tonight they will all be brought together in a place where depraved secrets are exposed, legions of the damned are unleashed, and the final battle between Good and Evil will be fought beneath the VOODOO MOON.
Voodoo Moon Reviews:
Kevin Van Hook: America's answer to Uwe Boll. 
2009-05-22 - Voodoo Moon (Kevin Van Hook, 2005)
Oh, why do I never learn? I should check the directors on movies before I watch them. This is my fourth Kevin VanHook movie, and each time I subject myself to another one, I ask myself why in the world I would do such a stupid thing. VanHook is the American equivalent of Uwe Boll, but without the in-place settings Boll gets from the videogames he desecrates when making them into movies. Which, arguably, makes VanHook's movies even stupider. And while Voodoo Moon is the best of the four VanHook movies I've seen, it's still an execrable mess of a movie that should never have seen the light of day.
The movie centers around Cole (Resident Evil's Eric Mabius) and his sister Heather (Charisma Carpenter of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the only survivors of the destruction of the town where they were born by a... warlock? demon? depends on which summary you read. In any case, the bad guy, Daniel (Rik Young of that really bad Beowulf adaptation) is still around, and Cole has been battling him over the ensuing twenty years while Heather has been growing up and trying to make her way as an artist. The final battle approaches, however, and Cole enlists Heather's help, along with that of a number of other people he's helped against Daniel over the years--a cop (Jeffrey Combs), a biker (John Amos), a housewife (Jayne Heitmeyer), a hotel owner (Dee Wallace), and some others whose careers we never find out, in order to make sure Daniel stays put once and for all. In order to do that, they all need to convene on the ruins of the town where it all began--which lay deserted until the county decided to make a reservoir out of it.
I can usually find one aspect of a particularly bad movie that makes it worse than it would otherwise be, even when the movie didn't have any potential in the first place, and in the case of Voodoo Moon, it's the acting. Mabius is flat as a board. Carpenter shows a good part of the reason why both Buffy and Angel were such terrible shows. Wallace sounds as if she's on Xanax throughout the entire film. Combs, well, Combs has always been popular because he's such a bad actor that he usually transcends that and achieves a kind of mentally-deficient brilliance, but not here (though he does provided some much-needed, if unintentional, comic relief). The only half-decent actor here is Amos, and it seems as if VanHook was standing over his shoulder every time the camera wasn't rolling giving him lessons in overacting.
This is not to say that other aspects of the film are any better. The script is hideous, taking dribs and drabs from a number of other flicks that were overused even when they appeared in those other flicks. (Did we really need another ghostly chase through a New Orleans graveyard?) VanHook's direction is as uninspired as ever, though at least the subject matter isn't as tremendously stupid as it was in, for example, Slayers. The settings are stock, the events are stock, it's all just derivative tripe. Avoid like the plague. *
If Only ... 
2008-07-03 - If only the film considered religion seriously
and developed characters beyond the superficial
this could have been a great horror film.
There are very good effects and cinematography.
There is action and humor and decent acting.
The look and feel of the film were very good
and the plot was interesting.
But when the Devil has at least as much respect
for the Holy Bible and the morals and theology
of the Christian religion as the exorcist
and his friends, you have a problem.
Camp is good and this film could
have been very good camp.
I wanted to like this movie more.
The movie ended with our hero
letting his sister drive the car.
What a guy!
Daisy the Cat
2007-10-07 - I thought the cat, who ends up licking blood from a severed head, was a phenomenal extra. Her name is Daisy and she is completely underrated. I hope we see more of her in the future.
A Saga of Fear, Faith and Zombies?
2007-07-07 - First of all, Kevin Vanhook's Voodoo Moon is a B movie. It is not meant to be great cinema. If you take it at that level its not really a bad film.
Starring Eric Mabius and Charisma Carpenter as brother and sister, Cole and Heather, the last two survivors of a demonic massacre on their home town, the film attempts to portray the ultimate battle between good and evil. With that being said the film is like all good vs. evil battles except on a slightly to much lower budget. Vanhook is a hands on film maker and he has performed the task of writing, producing, editing and directing the film.
The story while it has some plot holes is not really that bad. The concept is pretty good even if the execution is flawed by the lack of budget. The supporting cast is solid also. We have both John Amos and Dee Wallace in decent form. Less strong performances are given by Jeff Combes and Jayne Heitmayer as part of Cole's team of zombie slayers.
Religion is used effectively in the film and the key battle is more out of the Exorcist than a film like Blade. The zombies are simply there for the gore factor. The film plays more like Shaun of the Dead than Dawn of the Dead, even though both may be counted as sources of inspiration.
With a higher budget this one could have been a contender instead of o straight to video release. The DVD includes two featurettes on the making of the film, three deleted and extended scenes, a photo gallery and a commentary by writer, producer, editor, director Vanhooks.
Rent it for an evening of lite horror fun.
Too many unanswered questions...
2007-01-07 - Having just spent the last 90 something minutes of my life watching Voodoo Moon, I have too many unanswered questions. The first and most important is "Did the movie creators loose interest or run out of budget?" This is very much an unfinished work, a diamond in the rough that was never honed.
After the first hour, I was ready to give Voodoo Moon a 4 or 5 star rating. The characters have potential, the plot was intricately woven, everyone had a role to play in this great fight against good and evil, and there were a hundred small subplot just waiting to be resolved. The villain even alluded to `making' the hero twenty years ago. Cool! How did that happen I wondered eagerly. I was almost bouncing up and down in my seat when I heard about a really cool underwater ghost town. YAY! This was going to be fun!
Then....
Nothing. No subplots were tied up. The main plot isn't resolved. It isn't like they tie up a few loose ends then prepare you for a sequel- that's not the feeling that you get here. No ones powers were explained, the big, build up fight took ten seconds, and the main `boss' villain was defeated in a silly, too easy way.
If the movie had been developed more, polished more, it would have been great. As it is now, watch it only if you want to have some cool character ideas to play around with in your mind, because nothing will be fixed on screen.
Bottom line, I can't recommend it in good conscience.
