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HAUNTED
Produced by Ray Storti, Mike Bowler, and Eugene James
Directed and Edited by Dennis Devine
Written by Steve Jarvis
Director of Photography - Craig IncardoneSol Brosky - Peter Tomarken
Kay Taggert - Suzan Spann
Charles Mooreland - Carl MillerThis is the Unknown Productions that I've come to love over the years. Unlike the misguided BLOODSTREAM, this is a movie that gets all the elements right and produces an extremely fun horror flick.
Months ago I had gotten hung up on a BLOODSTREAM review that I couldn't write to save my life; the movie left me with absolutely nothing to say. Sure, I could have trashed it until the cows came home, but that's no fun. There's too many reviewers on the web who write in that vein and I'll be damned if I'm going to become one of them. If there's no discussion to be had then there's no review to be written.
HAUNTED, as I stated previously, gets everything so right that there's plenty to discuss. Other critics would comment on the top-notch acting or the tension-filled atmosphere, but I'd rather tout the structure and scripting of the movie. Those are the points are what causes HAUNTED to excel and the absence of which is why BLOODSTREAM fails. Traits like quality acting and atmosphere are hallmarks of Unknown Productions and I'd just be repeating myself and every other reviewer on the web.
HAUNTED writer Steve Jarvis and director Dennis Devine takes their ques from MacBeth, or at least the mystery surrounding Shakespeare's "cursed" play. According to stage lore, tragedy often befalls those to perform MacBeth and don't adhere strictly to theatrical superstition. In HAUNTED, the cursed play is titled Turpitude - a word meaning "inherent baseness or vileness of principle, words, or actions; shameful wickedness; depravity [syn]."
Think murder.
Structured like a supernatural giallo, the story follows ghost hunter Dr. Charles Mooreland as he tries to find the explanation surrounding a string of murders during producer Sol Brosky's relaunch of his wife's play. During the initial run years earlier, Brosky's wife, Kay Taggert, died under mysterious circumstances. Some think the recent string of murders is Kay enacting revenge from beyond the grave. Mooreland thinks that's a load of garbage.
Following the giallo pattern, characters are introduced with the sole purpose of dying later on (or often on the spot), but even with limited participation in the overall scheme of things, Devine and Jarvis bestow the supporting characters fleshed-out depth in hopes of giving their deaths some weight. More often than not they succeed. When Devine and Jarvis fail it's not for a lack of trying, but due more to the conventions of the genre. The audience knows the kills are coming and wait patiently for the payoff which always occurs when the characters are alone.
The characters themselves are a well-rounded lot well suited to their roles. Peter Tomarken's Sol Brosky is smug and smarmy, like a bull dog waiting for you to step in his yard. Carl Mooreland's Dr. Miller is one part Sherlock Holmes and one part Bob Euker. He's a clown trying to deduce whether its worth stepping in the bull dog's yard. Suzan Spann has the most important part with the least amount to do as Kay Taggert, the dead actress haunting Turpitude's production. With almost no spoken lines, Spann is called upon to be ethereal, menacing, consoling, and desperate, and often all at once. She's both culprit and red herring depending on the story's needs at the moment.
It's that flexibility with the Taggart character that allows Jarvis' script the free range that it has. Jarvis is allowed to play out a number of possible scenarios that could all be occurring plausibly without ever cheating the audience by breaking the movie's own rules. Possiblities include someone disguised as Taggert killing off the cast. Brosky running a scam to gain pre-show publicity. Then again, Taggert's ghost could actually be haunting the play. It's Mooreland's job to weigh each possibility and either confirm on deny the possibility of Taggert as a phantasmic ghoul. The murders force Mooreland out of his closed academic shell and into the role of the reluctant hero, a giallo staple.
Being an enthusiastic fan of the giallo sub-genre I could be taking something away from HAUNTED that was never intended. For me the similarities are too great, especially the mystery aspect that keeps audiences guessing until the final moments. That's a credit to Jarvis' script, and Devine's movie in general. Not only does they care that audience makes it through to the end, they care that enough to make the experience worthwhile.