Charisma Carpenter

Excellent cast and really strong ending, but poor writing and directing, and I wish the story started off stronger. Voodoo Moon is writer/director Kevin Vanhook’s third film, and let me tell you, based on his track record; I wasn’t looking forward to watching this film. His past projects have been more or less failures, but hey, maybe the third time’s a charm.

The film opens with the hero, Cole(Eric Mabius), a demon slayer busy with protecting the earth from the various demonic manifestations he runs into. Cole and his sister Heather(Charisma Carpenter), possess a troubled past that provides them with powers necessary to overcome the evil which walks the earth. The powers that Cole has perfected leave him obligated to challenge the evil being, Daniel(Rik Young), who destroyed his childhood and threatens his future. Calling on friends from past experiences, Cole must bring together a group that will destroy Daniel in the defining moments of good vs. evil.

The film has an impressive cast that includes Dee Wallace, Jeffrey Combs and John Amos. Each character truly offers a unique story for the audience’s viewing pleasure, but somewhere the film falls short. For the first 45 minutes of viewing I thought maybe the film’s weaknesses, which include poor lighting, lack of scene continuity, and cheesy dialogue, made this film fall straight on it’s face. I longed for a film that could use all of the potential this one had, and from 45 minutes on, Voodoo Moon provided. Vanhook surprised me with an ending that included zombies, a possessed corn field, body dismemberment, an underwater town, and decently entertaining battle scenes. As soon as the make-up effects and interesting stunts started pouring in, I realized that the movie was actually worth my time. Jeffrey Combs(Re-Animator), as a quirky cop, adds some humorous acting, that by itself, is at least worth watching this film once. If only Vanhook would have created a story that was a little more cohesive, and a bit darker, he would have reached a turning point in his career. Voodoo Moon will appeal to made-for- TV audiences and possibly B-grade fans, but it won’t offer anything new to the majority of audiences. The features include a making of and an effects short that are well made and thorough. The extras also include deleted scenes, a photo gallery, and the screenplay, but decent DVD features don’t make a good movie.

Black Magic: The Stunts, Make-up and Visual Effects of Voodoo Moon

 The Black Magic feature offered some interesting material as to how some of the more interesting parts of the movie were made. The problem is that there wasn’t much that was needed as far as elaborate stunts and make-up go.

You Reap What You Sow: The Making of Voodoo Moon

 I was really impressed with this feature of Voodoo Moon, because the actors and director are very convincing when they show their passion for the movie. The making of feature offers good input on the truths behind Voodoo Moon, and exactly what Vanhook was going for. The Look

The look of the DVD is decent due to the fact that the budget really wasn’t all that bad. The movie is shown in Widescreen (Aspect Ratio 1.78:1), but it should just stick to 4:3 due to the made-for-tv Sci-Fi Original movie feel. The Sound

Audio quality was one aspect of the movie that seemed to come and go. At times the quality is excellent and truly uses the potention of Dolby 5.1, but at other times there is a hollow feel to the audio track. The Packaging

Packaged in a cardboard sleeve and containing interesting artwork, the look of the DVD is pretty upscale. I wish that there would have been some more artwork in the DVD, but it’s pretty bare once you open it. The problems in Voodoo Moon still tend to overshadow the decent ending, but hey, maybe this means that Vanhook is halfway there, which is halfway further than he initially was.