The Gravedancers (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

The Gravedancers

The name pretty much describes it. Three old college buddies mourn the death of the fourth member of their circle of friends, and in the process, they get liquored up and go dancing over the graves of a sadomasochist, a pyromaniac, and an axe murderer. Unfortunately for them, an old Pagan curse causes the souls that have been disrespected to haunt the fellows who chose to celebrate life that night. They seek out a couple of parapsychologists to try to find a way to keep the unfriendly ghosts from killing them before the curse wears out.

I enjoyed this movie, it was fun and it had some genuinely creepy moments. The gravedancing scene was actually pretty good, as they had a pretty rocking song playing on the boombox that I could groove to (Thought I Was Dead by The Richmond Sluts). In the one scene with the writing on the wall around the doorway, I just knew something was gonna jump out of the doorway (cause your attention was being drawn to the writing, ya know?), but it still made me jump! There was a girl sitting down the row that actually screamed out at a part or two - I think that's the first time I've ever been in a theatre where someone actually screamed out! Also, when the parapsychologist was explaining the Pagan curse, it was weird but I totally predicted his exact words just before he said "a spell, a curse"...which was kind of cool for me. The one thing that really bugged me about this movie was the young female parapsychologist - she was just so annoying. Even regardless of that one particular incident, throughout the whole film she just seemed so snug, and trying to be hip or cool or funny or whatever. She was such a poser, and it bugged me. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable film.

Reasons for banning: I'm thinking the reasons would include a) the whole burial desecration subject matter, especially the scene where they actually dig up the dead, and b) the one throat slice which was specifically graphic and bloody, moreso than I recall these kind of scenes normally being.