The Gravedancers (2006)

After taking some time away to prepare for and attend my sister’s wedding in Santa Cruz, it was time to get back into the horror stream. Tonight’s movie, the 2006 After Dark Horrorfest entry The Gravedancers.

Plot / After the funeral of a old friend who died in a car accident, former school friends Harris, Kira, and Sid break into the local cemetery after dark, and after Sid reads a mysterious incantation he finds on one of the nearby tombstones, they dance on the graves. Soon, the three of them find themselves haunted by three different ghosts whose graves they desecrated. Harris and his wife Allison find themselves haunted by a deranged female pianist/ax murdered. A child pyromaniac haunts Sid. and Kira haunted by a sadistic rapist. All of them turn to a paranormal investigator named Vincent Cochet and his assistant Frances to try to help them break the curse they imposed on themselves before the next full moon when they will be killed by the ghosts’ wrath.

I have watched most of the entries in this After Dark Horrorfest series and more often than not found the entries quite bland. However, this film was different and actually well worth watching. While not totally original, the movie is crafted in a way that works by opening with a bang, and following that stanza with some character / plot development, then picking up the pace until the end. The make-up effects and soundtrack really work well together (although, the CGI at the end did leave a bit to be desired). In fact, the ending itself seemed a bit much and could have made a greater impact if completed in simpler terms. In all, this was an awesome flick and one that I wish I would have seen earlier.