(Streamed via Jungo+)
Last year for The 31 Movies of Horror-Ween, I watched the highly enjoyable horror-comedy Bus Party to Hell starring Tara Reid. Since I’m already a fan of writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky, I figured I would give their follow-up, Art of the Dead a whirl this year as part of The Roku Horror Picture Show. While it falls short of the minor classic that is Bus Party to Hell, it is a fun and entertaining horror flick in its own right.
The opening is surprisingly effective. An art collector (Richard Greico) finally completes his coveted collection of animal paintings (all of which are based on the seven deadly sins) which slowly drive him to murder his entire family. Gina (Jessica Morris) then acquires the paintings at an auction, unaware of their tainted legacy. Pretty soon, she and her family fall under the paintings’ deadly spell and become imbued with each painting’s particular sin.
The cast is solid all the way through. Greico in particular shows he still has some strong chops and makes his brief screen time memorable and impactful. Ally Holmes does a fine job too as the girlfriend who tries to save the family from destroying themselves. It was also good to see Skinamax staple Robert Donavan (who appeared in many of Kanefsky’s late-night cable flicks) as the one-eyed priest who knows the paintings are cursed. Reid isn’t bad either as the art gallery owner who auctions off the paintings. She isn’t given a whole lot to do, but at least gets more screen time here than she did in Bus Party to Hell.
Parts of Art of the Dead are sloppy and uneven, but the movie has some surprises up its sleeve, especially in the third act, so make sure you stay with it. The gory highlights help to keep things on track, even when the plot starts spinning its wheels. The scene where a guy drinks himself until he literally bursts is worthy of a Leprechaun movie, and the part where the budding artist of the family scours the seamy side of town to look for vict… err… subjects to paint felt like a modern riff on The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. Heck, the scenes that take place inside the paintings even reminded me a bit of Kanefsky’s Emmanuelle storybook spoof, Adventures into the Woods: The Musical.
I don’t know about art, but I know what I like. While Art of the Dead is no masterpiece, it’s a fun little chiller that delivers the goods. I say Van Gough see it.
AKA: Seven Deadly Sins.
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