Speaking of family, after that funeral mentioned up yonder, our heroine starts gettin’ chumy with the local gravedigger, J.P. (Dylan Kellogg), who tells her of her family’s rather unsavory history which results in Sam beginning to loose her ever-lovin’ fucking mind as she experiences strange dreams and hallucinations. Now is this a growing evil presence, or has Sammy gone looney fuckin’ tunes. Dean Cain ensues.

The Incantation, if you haven’t guessed by now, has it’s essence entrenched in full on Gothic thriller territory; you get the secluded location populated by a young woman with no idea of the dark secrets that hide in the shadows of her family’s past, along with a supernatural contingent that may spell doom for our heroine… and it plays with these tropes well, if not in a new manner.

So atmosphere rather than over-the-top effects is the order of the day, and here writer/director Jude S. Walko (yup, the same dude that plays that aforementioned Vicar) succeeds admirably building a (mostly effective… more on that below) slow burn pace that leads to a great creeptastic resolution, with plenty of visual flair.

On the negative side, this film can get talky at times, and while serving the narrative and mythology it can get a tad monotonous at times… and Dean Cain’s character name is such a fuckin’ groaner I’m not even going to mention it here so you lot can experience it’s full cheesy glory for your damn selves.

All in all, The Incantation is an effective neo-Gothic thriller, well told and acted, and definitely worth slappin’ your eerie eyeballs upon if you are a fan of the genre!

After some good ol’ drunken antics, a photo of the group turns up… but no one knows where it came from, or who took it as everyone present is in the picture… and soon more strange pictures of the group appear… as does an old man (John Willoughby Noble) who claims to be Kip, who went on a food run and never returned… and then normal-aged Kip arrives…

Lake Artifact is one hell of a surreal journey into a drunken Twilight Zone and while it isn’t perfect it nevertheless gives the viewer plenty to try and wrap their monstrous lil’ minds around!

One of the checks in the success column is the world building present in the narrative courtesy of writer/director Bruce Wemple. Under his eye, Lake Artifact becomes a wicked whirling dervish of cults, found footage interviews, malleable time and space, and even some splashes of full on comedy. It’s a decidedly heady hodge-podge, but man oh man does it offer plenty of mythology… but there are some sacrifices to be made to cram all of that craziness into a nintey six minute runtime.

One of the biggest flaws in this film is the fact that there are plenty of plot points that are never brought to anything remotely like a satisfying conclusion. Whether being intentionally vague to let the story have a lasting sense of mystery, or to set up a sequel, this failure to clarify things can be frustrating at times.

That being said; Lake Artifact is a fantastic horror/sci-fi hybrid and will surely appeal to lovers of the aforementioned Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits… just don’t skimp on the Genesee as you indulge in this surreal fright flick!

As fate and horror biz tropes would have it, that studio has one of those dark pasts that are so popular with the kids these days, as it once was the home to ventriloquist Mr. Jolly (the equally legendary Bill Oberst Jr. who has starred in a literal shit-ton of fright flicks, and was recently seen in Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell), his dummy Handy Dandy (Jake LaMarca on vocal duties), and their children’s program… a program who’s prepubescent studio audience keeps turning up missing.

Well, that shouldn’t be a problem for our heroes as Jolly is long dead, right? Fuckin’ wrong amigo; Jolly is in actuality a 200 year old magician who possessed a host of relics that give him power… and he’s back to rip Steffen and company some new assholes!

Man, Devil’s Junction could have been a by-the-numbers stalk n’ slay affair; and make no mistake, those notes are definitely hit throughout the flicks runtime; but unholy hell does it ever deliver a whole hell of a lot more.

For starters, the acting in this is fantastic with Oberst Jr. absolutely owning his role as the demonic Mr. Jolly, and Moseley turning in another strong performance. Also of note is the acting of our heroes… these folks do a fine job as well, and you actually give a flyin’ fuck if they live or die… and that’s a huge plus in a film such as this!

Also in the plus column is a fun story with a solid lil’ bit of world building with the whole magical relic angle, entertaining twists and turns, and plenty of the ghoulish good stuff us horror hounds crave! There’s also some delightfully goofy elements on display as well… as you’d expect in a film about an evil children’s show host!

If you’re in the mood for a slasher flick that delivers a tongue-in-cheek narrative that brings the laughs and lacerations give Devil’s Junction: Handy Dandy’s Revenge a wicked whirl… I think you’ll have yourself a gruesome good time!

The Grave Caller is an interesting one, but there are some problems that seemingly keeps it from becoming a total fright flick success story…or so it appears upon first glance. For starters; the narrative unfolds unevenly due to the constant switching between the present and the events of thirty years prior. Both stories are interesting enough, and both play out as slow burns pace wise…but the transition every few minutes halts the momentum of each story, and lessens their initial impact….but read on dear readers, read on…

In a twist scarcely imaginable, those negatives up yonder don’t mean squat because as we enter the third act everything becomes topsy-turvy and nightmare logic rules the day (which as anyone that has slapped their putrid peepers on this column well knows I absolutely love). The story lines dovetail, nothing is as we were lead to believe, and maybe…just maybe, something supernatural is afoot.

As you can surmise from my rather scattershot review, The Grave Caller was a hard one to review; it started as an uneven psychological thriller and ended up an extremely well executed surrealist nightmare…so what can I say…this one pulled the rug out from under me and I loved every minute of it!

Wicked Witches has it’s fair share of problems, chief among them is the narratives non-use of characterization. Mark is a rather unlikable protagonist, his friends show up only to be serve as a way to increase the film’s body count, and the titular witches themselves have nearly no backstory. This makes it incredibly hard to give a singular damn about anyone involved in these goings-on, so all tension is rendered pretty moot.

On the other hand, lack of relatable characters can be over looked if a fright flick delivers some solid effects work…at least for your’s cruelly anyway. On that front I’m happy to report that Wicked Witches excels as the film features a beastly bevy of eerie effects; all brought to life by good ol’ practical wizardry! Also of not, the climax of the film is handled really well, and is worth sticking around for.

While a decidedly mixed-bag of a fright flick, I’d say give Wicked Witches a ghoulish go if for nothing more than the fun as hell effects work on display…just don’t expect this one to become a creepy classic.