|
Arkham Sanitarium: The infamous site of the Miskatonic Massacre decades
ago, and the place has been closed ever since and is said to be haunted.
But now actor/wannabe paranormal investigator Mark (Shannon Brown) has
broken into the premises to shoot a documentary all by himself - not too
much of a challenge with today's technology ... and that's all to the
dismay of Jerry (Marc Edwards), a serious scientist trying to debunk
paranormal phenomena, whose equipment Mark has pretty much stolen to make
his documentary. Furthermore, Mark has had sex with Jerry's wife Linda
(Rinska Carrasco), which makes the whole thing an alpha dog situation as
well - and thus, Jerry just had to break into Arkham Sanitarium as well,
with Linda, who's also a psychic, in tow. Of course, Jerry doesn't believe
in any of the haunted house-stories, and when Linda lets of warning after
warning, he thinks she's just delusional, or even still has feelings for
Mark ... and then Jerry's the first to be possessed, and it's actually up
to Mark to save her from Jerry's clutches. But Mark is anything but a good
knight in shining armour, he just wants to make her one of the
protagonists of his documentary he can't stop thinking about. So despite
all the opportunities our protagonists (including an unpossessed-again
Jerry) are given, they just can't help themselves being dragged deeper and
deeper to the core of the Sanitarium's evil, which includes a guy in a
Cthulhu mask, who might be much closer to the ancient God than his cheap
mask might suggest, a face-humping octopus who's orally raping Linda and
the like. Oh, and the place is also haunted by the ghosts of those who
have died in the massacre - but whose side are they on, exactly? One
of those precious few found footage movies that have come out in recent
years that actually adds something new to the genre: Very dark and very
twisted humour (including healthy doses of sarcasm). That's not to say
that Arkham Sanitarium: Soul Eater isn't properly scary, at times
fittingly grotesque in all the right places, but the whole situation - the
serious scientist taken by jealousy and the egotistical actor and wannabe
documentarian fighting over a woman - is just lined with the right kind of
irony to make a film like this properly entertaining, and much more
light-footed than most other found footage movies. Really enjoyable
indeed!
|