Desecration

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Beginning
Review: 'Desecration' is one hell of a ride! From the beginning to the very end this movie keeps your mind engaged in a horrific nightmare. Tomaselli weaves brilliant elements of psychological horror into this film, leaving the audience with chills. Wondering whether or not the film's characters are entering Hell or if it's just a preview of what's coming for them. It contains a combination of gory murder scenes and supernatural happenings that keep you guessing all the way through. The acting was wonderful, the most terrifying character for me being Brother Nicolas (Vincent Lambarti). As for the first-timer Danny Lopes (Bobby) the camera loved him and his portrayal of a disturbed and terrified young boy was amazing. His line ". . .some people are blessed and others are just cursed," is perfect to describe the events in this film. It also reflects back on some of the bizarre logic used in religion. This is the type of horror movie that would creep into my dreams as a child and still does as an adult. I'm anxiously awaiting the release of Tomaselli's next film 'Horror.' There can only be bigger and better things to come from Tomaselli and new comer Danny Lopes.

Rating:
Summary: Creepy in spots
Review: A nun dies when a model airplane bores into her temple. A troubled youth watches a friend disappear into a hole in the ground. A mess of vines fills a dorm room while a young man lies on his bed in a stupor. Ominous clowns invade dreams. A pair of scissors soars through the air and stabs another nun to death. A ghostly apparition exuding an aura of spine chilling dread appears at random to terrorize the living. A grandmother with a hacking cough frets for her grandson's safety. A jigsaw puzzle has a mind of its own. An insane mother long dead makes herself felt from beyond the grave and from the deepest pits of Hell. Just another day down at the local church, right? Wrong! These elements are only a few of the disturbing images you will see in Dante Tomaselli's ultra low budget shocker "Desecration," a movie that none other than Image Entertainment decided to release on DVD. Someone in Tinseltown ought to give this guy a budget and a chance. "Desecration," in certain respects, is one of the better low budget shockers I have seen.

The story focuses on Bobby, a lonely teenager attending a live-in Catholic school somewhere in New Jersey or New York (it's gotta be one of the two after hearing those accents). The kid's life is a mess, partly due to the oppressive atmosphere of the school and partly due to growing up in a household where the mother had a serious mental problem. Bobby's mother died years ago, apparently, and the only family he has left is his aging Italian grandmother and an uncle. His life begins a huge downward spiral when he accidentally kills a nun with his remote controlled airplane. Sadly for Bobby, the nun dies immediately after discovering that she couldn't light her candle during a ceremony in the chapel, an event the movie leads us to believe is some sort of unholy omen about the nun's spiritual state. Further confirmation of the nun's problematic relationship to God arrives when her spirit begins haunting the grounds of the school. Then she starts haunting Bobby in a big way, causing the young lad great stress. Bobby's grandmother and uncle enter the picture after learning about the nun's gruesome death, and they too experience extremely unpleasant encounters with the world of the dead. At some point in the film, it appears that the death of this nun opened a portal to the underworld through which Bobby's loony mother attempts to return to the world of the living. The horror, the horror!

"Desecration" has plenty of flaws, plenty of painful, groan worthy cinematic agonies best forgotten. The script, for example, is often extremely tedious. Much of the dialogue simply doesn't make sense in the context of the larger story. Moreover, actors with all the allure of a block of lead deliver these lame lines. Probably the worst actor is the young male priest who turns up from time to time to hassle Bobby. Where did Tomaselli find this guy? The morgue? Regrettably, the rest of the cast isn't much better. As for the special effects, it's a mixed bag. The scissor killing worked in a sort of cheesy way, but that model plane to the head scene towards the beginning of the movie was memorable for the sheer hilarity of the whole thing. You can tell the actress is just holding the plane up to her head while she hams up her death sequence. I see a few people comparing Tomaselli to Dario Argento and even, lord help us, Mario Bava. Now that's just ridiculous. Tomaselli's movie in no way captures the magic of Argento or Bava, not in any way, shape, or form, and to make such a comparison is blasphemy of the most subversive sort.

What did work with "Desecration," and worked very well, were certain eerie scenes involving the spirit of the dead nun. She's a creepy lady when she turns up to harass the living. Check out the part where Bobby's relatives are cruising down the highway and the nun turns up on the side of the road. As the car passes by at high speed, you can see the ghastly face of the nun glare into the car as it moves by. I thought the scene was highly effective. I also liked the flashback/dream sequence where Bobby sees his warped mother tormenting him in his crib. And wouldn't you know it? At some point in the film the faces of the deceased nun and Bobby's mother look strikingly familiar. What's the message? Who knows, but it works and helps give what is otherwise a tepid film a few memorable moments.

"Desecration" on disc comes with a few extras, most notably a short film made by Tomaselli that served as the impetus for the lengthier feature. Additionally, the film comes with a widescreen picture transfer, surprising for such a low budget effort. I see most people spend a lot of time knocking this movie down, and it is certainly easy to do so on several major points, but I'm going to have to go against the grain with my review. I liked "Desecration" to some extent, so let's give three stars to Tomaselli for crafting a few creepy scenes. I truly think this director could do as good a job with a bigger budget as some of the hacks that churn out some of the studio sludge I have witnessed over the last few months (Ghost Ship, anyone?). Fans of low budget horror might want to check this one out.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Bizzare !!
Review: A real weird, confusing horror story that some may say borderlines blasphmy, or just plain is ! The story revolves around a yong Italian boy at a Catholic school that accidentally kills a nun with his remote airplane. After that he begins to see haunting images of the nun returning and other weird goings ons. Not a bad horror flick especially if you have ever gone to a Catholic school as I did. The film ends up going in a million different directions, yeah you know the kind ! This really takes away from the film it begins to look like someones bad trip and by the end you will find yourself skipping back to some scenes to try and piece the puzzle together. Don't bother !

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother with this one
Review: As a lover of all things horror, slasher, etc. I was looking forward to receiving this. Unfortunately this movie does not provide anythng of value. No scares, no creep you out stuff, no extreme violence, no erie plot, no gross out effects. I could go on. Giant holes in the plot and many unexplained sequences. The film makers attempt to add a tripping erie set of sequences which will only get to someone under 14 years old or someone who is actually tripping at the time of viewing. Try Eric Stanze's Ice From The Sun for a low budget acid nightmare feel. This movie fails on so many levels I wonder how it even made it to DVD. After 30 minutes (which seemed like 2 days) I was checking the clock. Save your hard earned cash!

Rating:
Summary: The worst horror film I have seen in a long, long time.
Review: Bad acting, bad directing, no writing to speak of. This gets inexplicably good reviews, but any comparison to Argento (or any other competent film maker) is way off base. Avoid.

Rating:
Summary: EURO-HORROR IS REBORN FOR THE 21st CENTUREY!!!
Review: Dante Tomaselli's "DESECRATION" is a nightmare caught on film! by far one of the all time most BRILLIANT directorial debut's. Dante Tomaselli is carrying the(almost lifeless these days) EURO-HORROR GENRE into the 21st centurey in a giant back pack with a whole lot of goooooooodyz to eventually put on display for our sick & twisted EURO-HORROR FAN minds! I CAN'T WAIT! Tomaselli has got a new film coming out at some point this year called "SATAN'S PLAYGROUND" i hear its his best work yet! if thats true then WOW! he also is working on another movie called "THE OCEAN" don't know when its coming out but im sure its gonna be great! ya know there is also a buzz going around about Dante maybe directing the remake of "THE EVIL DEAD" i personaly don't like the idea of a remake myself but if i had to pick a new upcoming director to do the dirty work & to trust with remakeing such a legendary movie it sure as hell WOULD be Dante Tomaselli!

Rating:
Summary: DESECRATION
Review: DESECRATION is a modestly budgeted dazzler of the first order. This movie keeps you enthralled throughout with its crisp and colorful photography, eerie music and sounds and above all its "ideas". It bears comparison to the classic "Phantasm" in the fragmented, dreamlike trance it puts you in.It is a religous allegory of a young Catholic boy, his maternal grandmother, and an otherworldly prescence and their journey from the boys adolescent obscurity to persoanl revelation. This is a thoughtprovoking movie that the director, in his debut, has cleverly made each viewer interperet theirselves. The boys journey is one we have all taken, and his journey becomes our personal one. It is a film that demands repeated viewings, and , like a good book, youll find yourself thinking about it and every so often going back to it,each time, seeing someting new. It is an inverted "Wizard of Oz", with the main character being the Tin Man, a hollow,emotionless shell of a boy with no mother, finding that to him,"anyplace" but home is where he finds his heart- and soul. Prepare for an intellectual horror film that will occupy your mind as it races your heart. A fantastic debut.

Rating:
Summary: Masters Of Horror
Review: Desecration is a nightmare! The dream sequences are magnificently thought out and the acting is incredible...That lopes kid shows many dreamlike reactions and shows he has a natural skill to act...He is definately a rising star...along with dante tomaselli...Christy sanford is great as the demonic nun. St. paule has a cough of terror...and lamberti has the eyes of a hypnotist...WATCH THIS MOVIE...(bobby rullo)

Rating:
Summary: WHAT A TRIP
Review: DESECRATION is mind-warping and occasionally horrifying. Everybody is sleeping, daydreaming, taking pills, passing out, hallucinating...This goes on constantly throughout the film. The mood the director creates is impressive, if drug trips are your sort of thing.

Rating:
Summary: A scary art-horror film
Review: Desecration reminds me, visually of SUSPIRIA, another fairy-tale horror film. There is barely any story but you're kept moving along by startling imagery. Tomaselli paints pretty pictures. There are a few moments of genuine dread in Desecration. A boy at a strict Catholic school mistakenly kills a nun and it turns out that she's actually his dead mother. Some of the deaths are actually so out-there that they're funny, reminding me of Ulli Lommel's THE BOOGEYMAN. Some of the nightmares have the raw power of true supernatural hallucinations, scary and convulsing. Desecration is all about atmosphere and I'd love to see this new director come up with an outer-space horror film, you can tell he has a painter's visual sense. There's plenty of fog, colored gels and an overall blurring of reality here. It's like Tim Burton spooked out on acid. The ending leaves you hanging and is a bit of a let-down (I loved the burning picture, reminded me of an Italian horror film). Personally, I wanted to see/know more. Will there be a Desecration 2?