Comment by Magic Marmalade:
This might just be brilliant.
This is actually a really impressive slice of American folk-horror, which exceeded all expectations I had, having pretty much brushed it aside at time of release, and filed it away in my brain as another cheap, shoddy, ultra-low budget schlock horror...
...But this has a few points of great distinction, which, although it does seem to be low budget, by any standard, elevate this above it's peers:
Firstly, the acting is pretty darn good, given that you usually get Andy and Annie Amateur in this kind of thing, who are so wooden you could carve a totem pole out of their performances, but everyone here seems quite naturalistic, and very good.
Secondly, the premise is a great idea, tapping into - as alluded to earlier - that very particular brand of "Folk Horror" that suits the American cultural identity with regards horror: That is, unlike the "old world" European superstitions, which have an age old continuity and provenance of sorts, as we've grown alongside them from time immemorial - there's this thing in American cultural superstions that seems to tap into the idea of something ancient, and pre-dating the arrival of those people who would become Americans, and they have inadvertently "woken up".
Here, the father of a child killed in an accident, is driven by grief to invoke some creature who is the spirit of vengeance to exact revenge on the hapless perpetrators...
...But here, it also becomes a great morality tale, as he sees blindness caused by his grief has made him act in error, and so tries to stop the creature he has unleashed - the creature being a living manifestation of his implacable, blind desire for revenge caused by his pain.
No good will come of it!
Quite slow through the first half, but picks up and moves briskly to it's compelling (and poignant) conclusion. And it's this quality of the story that raises this way above the average low budget horror movie.
And finally, the creature, naturally enough, being a Stan Winston project, is breathtakingly good - whether it's animatronic, a dude in a suit, miniatures, or a combination of all three, the naturalistic and organic movement is stunning - especially for a movie of this time.
Should not be just a "cult" classic, but a benchmark in movies in general, not just horror - of what can be achieved with scant resources.
