Watch The Gravedancers For Free

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Admirable film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The Gravedancers starts as three close friends Harris McKay (Dominic Purcell), Kira Hayden (Josie Maran) & Sid Vance (Marcus Thomas) mourn the death of friend Devin Lansing who was buried earlier that day. For some reason Sid suggests that they all go to the cemetery, break in with lots of booze, sit around their Lansing's grave & get drunk which Harris & Kira surprisingly agree to. While at the cemetery Sid notices a note & starts to read it as Harris & Kira randomly dance around on graves while drunk. Two weeks later & the three friends are experiencing supernatural phenomenon, they see ghost's who try to attack them & notice things moving on their own & general spooky stuff. Sid contacts paranormal investigator Vincent Cochet (Tchéky Karyo) who quickly realises that they are dealing with a bad case of burial desecration, with the vengeful spirits of an arsonist, a axe murderer & a rapist trying to kill them Harris, Sid & Kirra must lay the ghost's to rest before it's too late...Directed by Mike Mendez this was one of the so-called Films to Die For at the 2006 After Dark Horrorfest or whatever it's called along with the likes of Wicked Little Things (2006), Unrest (2006) & Penny Dreadful (2006) & isn't the worst of the bunch but The Gravedancers isn't the best either, as a straight supernatural horror film it's watchable enough but it's by means any sort of masterpiece. The script is a mixed bag really, the tone is very serious & I just couldn't get over how three grieving friends would break into a cemetery in the middle of the night & get drunk while dinging & dancing, you know I just didn't buy it & these are supposed to be adults with one a respected lawyer. The first hour or so of The Gravedancers is quite slow, doors open by themselves, the pet Cat goes mental & strange noises are heard but it's all pretty standard dull haunted house horror stuff. Then the final thirty odd minutes is a roller-coaster of effects & set-pieces as we get rotting zombie ghost's, possession, an obvious plot twist, giant screaming ghost heads, & fires popping up all over the place as it feels like the makers wanted to cram as much in as they could during the last thirty minutes to compensate for the none event of the first sixty. To be fair to it The Gravedancers is alright, sure there are elements of Poltergeist (1983) & any Japanese-Asian ghost horror you can name but it's watchable & it competent if not amazing.Ther's not much gore here, there's a cool slit throat & some blood splatter but nothing else really, the body count is low & all the death's happen during the final twenty minutes except one during a seemingly unconnected opening sequence that was included against the director's wishes apparently. The special effects are pretty good actually, the giant screaming ghost face that chases Harris & Alison through the house is actually quite impressive. While the first hour or so goes for suspense & cheap scares the final thirty minutes goes all out for spectacle, as I said it's just rather uneven & why didn't they dance on graves belonging to nice people?Probably shot on a low budget this was apparently meant as the start of a trilogy & the script was around as early as 1999 but didn't get made until 2005. Filmed in Greensboro in North Carolina. Apparently the actor's didn't meet each other until two days before filming, while it's not great I have seen worse acting I suppose.The Gravedancers is an alright supernatural haunted house horror that has obvious influences, the whole story is silly yet it takes itself very seriously which gives it an odd vibe. Worth watching as a cheap rental or if you can catch it on telly for free but otherwise you can easily skip this one.

When it comes to horror movies, I'm not very demanding. It probably helps that I'm spooked pretty easily. Rating a horror movie is never done in the way one rates "serious fare," such as "Atonement," or "Casablanca," which is another reason. The rules that govern movies such as my given examples do not apply to the horror genre. That being said, horror movies have to deliver the goods that they promise. "The Gravedancers," one of the "8 Films to Die For" in the 2006 AfterDark HorrorFest, contains some spooky and freaky moments, but it is by no means an unqualified success.After the funeral of one of their college friends, Harris (Dominic Purcell), Sid (Marcus Thomas) and Kyra (Josie Maran) find a note amongst the flowers with a poem telling the to "celebrate life." To that end, they dance on some graves (all three of them are completely wasted at this point). Unbeknownst to them, they have subjected themselves to a curse by the graves they danced on, which include: a pyromaniac, a murdering adulteress, and a sadist. They seek the help of a pair of parapsychologists, Vincent Cochet (Tcheky Karyo) and Frances Culpepper (Megahn Perry) to help them survive.Acting is never a definitive requisite for horror movies. Protagonists usually take the form of the "average guy," and this makes less interesting (this doesn't just apply to horror movies; most movies that have "average guy" characters as leads suffer from this problem). Additionally, most horror movie villains don't talk, which eliminates this problem (although there are exceptions). Therefore, acting ability only matters so far as we can care about their fate, or failing that, they aren't so annoying/badly acted that we actively wish for them to die (women have an additional requirement: good looks and the ability to belt out a great scream). The acting in "The Gravedancers" is on the lesser side of the in between. Dominic Purcell is so low-key that he's just dull, and his cursed co-stars don't fare much better. Tcheky Karyo is an interesting character actor in his own right, and would seem to be right at home in his role as the wannabe Ghostbuster. Sadly though, it is immediately clear that he does not want to be a part of this film, and plays his role as if he were forced to do it. The bright spot in terms of acting is Meghan Perry, who is delightful as the somewhat sassy and sarcastic Frances.The most important part of creating an effective horror movie is generating an ominous atmosphere and properly pacing the story. Director Mike Mendez tries to do both, but fails. He lays the atmosphere on thickly, but it isn't effective. The first part of the film is poorly paced, and that is the film's biggest flaw. In order to generate tension, it must be built slowly. Even the all-out action thrillers like "The Descent" or "Aliens" (which was a sequel, so audiences were already freaked out by the aliens before they walked into the theater) had a starting point for the thrills. "The Gravedancers" doesn't do that. It skips the build-up and goes straight for the scares. Pacing issues are resolved one Vincent and Frances enter the picture, but suffice it to say, the film doesn't get off to a good start. Worse, he uses some quick cuts to "build tension" in some scenes, but thankfully, he doesn't do it often, and never during the action scenes (which begs the question why he would do it in the first place...) Although it's not a classic, it's watchable and contains a few good spooky moments. If anything, it's a outlet for those who like their horror violent, and with actual blood.

I admit I haven't seen too many of the "8 Movies to Die For" and overall, from the three I've seen, I have not been that impressed. On one hand I kind of like the idea of rehashing some old school horror for the general public, but on the other I felt there's been something missing.I really tried liking Gravedancers, mainly cause I love ghost stories and this film actually has some pretty good stuff in it.After a friend's funeral our main characters find a card on the tomb containing a bad poem. Apparently they're just partying next to the grave late at night, or something. I didn't find they seemed that distressed over his loss. Many he was jerk or something? Who knows.. so they do a dance on a few graves, read the poem (which sounds like a spell from Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and end up waking a few spirits, who were all mental patients before they died, of course. You know standard stuff.There is a lot of effects, and many of them are well done, considering the budget. They are well executed, well placed and even the CG isn't too bad (from me that's saying something). The ghosts look spooky and there's some good atmosphere. It's a very formulaic film, contrary to other reviews I've read. I was able to predict pretty much every death, every jump scare and even the who will be standing at the end of the movie. But that in itself is not a bad thing. Many horror films are formulaic and still good. Sometimes it's that familiarity that gives some horror movies that level of comfort you need to find them entertaining. Like I said I tried to like this film. I just hated the characters, and if you don't like the characters in a ghost story your attention begins to wane. It's not like the acting is bad either. Lets put it this way, "there is even a love triangle in the plot". Like come on. Maybe I'm too insensitive about these things, but I just didn't care. I must admit I didn't mind the heroine till she started to act like every other heroine in a modern western horror movie, and the hero just was there. The film could have killed him off on the first scene I would have not even have noticed. I had other minor complaints, but most of them stems from the characters. If you can't stand the character, or don't care about them, then you start looking for things to hate. It's also not creepy, which for me, a good ghost story should be. It is exiting, and it never really dragged. There is something to like here. It's one of those, "I didn't like it, but you might" movies. I give it 2 bad poems out of 5.

The scare factor is pretty good in THE GRAVEDANCERS. It's a shame the script which relies heavily on special effects for most of the scares, isn't more intelligent. Toward the last fifteen minutes the scares are so over-the-top that they become laughable. It doesn't help that the principal male performance by Dominic Purcell ranges from bland to bad.The plot has three young people who disrespected a grave site getting visits from evil spirits. Seems the site was the burial ground for a bunch of undesirables--an ax murderer, a pyromaniac and a rapist.When they seek help from a parapsychologist and his assistant, the fun begins in earnest. A graveyard scene where a few of the bodies are uncovered is gruesome and frightening. But after that, the scenes with the evil spirits are way too grotesque for comfort and the plot becomes an extended ghoul fest full of blood thirsty creatures.Basic idea for the story is a good one. Executing this idea doesn't quite work beyond a surface level of shock moments that become increasingly unbelievable before the story is over.