by Karl Madsen, ComicsOnline.com
The indians call it maize.
Vacations and horror go together like unicorns and glitter. Usually the horror starts with the vacation. And usually the horror starts because the vacationers do something illegal, erotic, silly, or downright stupid. And sometimes the horror starts before the festivities begin, and anyone has the chance to be a bonehead.
In the After Dark Originals film Husk, five friends, Scott (Devon Graye – Dexter), Chris (C.J. Thomason – Harpers Island), Johnny (Ben Easter – Zenon: Z3), along with Brian (Wes Chatham – In the Valley of Elah), and new girlfriend Natalie (Tammin Sursok – Pretty Little Liars) are on their way to the country for a weekend of refreshments, female companionship, and maybe a romantic interlude or two. At least that’s what the plan was until a flock of crows fly into the vehicle, running it off the road. When consciousness is regained, Johnny is missing, the car is un-drivable, and there are corn fields as far as the eye can see. What the eye can’t see is Johnny, so Brian and Scott decide to go into the cornfields to find their friend, and along the way find an abandoned car, deceased crows, a scarecrow, and an old farmhouse complete with ghosts and a story to tell. And Johnny’s there as well, learning a new trade. While all this is happening Natalie sees someone in the corn and decides to follow him into the field with Chris. What happens next is a mix of haunted scarecrows, ghost stories, and friends gone wild.
It seems that the spirit of one of the boys that lived in the house was murdered by his brother, and now possesses the scarecrow in the field. The problem is that the scarecrows wear out and he needs new bodies to posses. This is accomplished by killing someone, posses the body, have the body drive nails through their fingers, and make scarecrow masks. Care to guess what Johnny learned to do? Anyway, our group needs to figure out how to make it through the fields, past the scarecrow, and make it to the road.
It helped me to quit biting my nails.
Special Features:
After Dark Films presents “The Making of Husk”
Commentary with Director Brett Simmons and actors Wes Chatham, Devon Graye, and C.J. Thomason
Sketches and Storyboard
Photo Gallery
Theatrical Trailer
Widescreen Presentation
English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio
English and Spanish Subtitles
Karl’s Scores:
Acting – A
Setting – A-
Special Effects – A
Creep Factor – A
Tension – A
What the Heck Moments – Wowie Zowie
Overall – A+
After Dark Filmshas broken new ground with their After Dark Originals releases. In conjunction with the SyFy channel, several films have been aired periodically, as SyFy Original movies, in their new film time slot, and Husk was the second release in this manner. This new way of releasing the films has not hurt the quality of the movie, and is in my opinion, the combination of DVD, and cable TV releases, is a unique way to have these films seen by the general public. This expands the viewership, and generates interest in often overlooked, but original movies. And Husk is no different. I found this movie original, tense, haunting and nothing like Children of the Corn, as I have heard some comparisons between the two made. Let’s be fair, in this plethora of ghost and possession movie, this is one of the few that isn’t based on an actual event, filmed with a hand-held or hidden camera, and while I’m not afraid to go to sleep or to church, I may think twice about exploring a cornfield after a crow attack.
ComicsOnline gives Husk 5 flocks of crazed crows out of 5.
Get your copy of Husk on DVDat Amazon.com.
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