New
York State is home to some pretty eerie locations, such as Sleepy Hollow
Cemetery, the Amityville Horror house
on Oceanside Avenue, and the Dakota Building. Granted, nothing is as terrifying
as our congressional representatives, but Buckout Road takes the honors for the
state’s creepiest place. The infamous albino cannibals are a major reason why
(that’s a true urban legend). Yet, the infernal stretch of asphalt has several
more sinister myths attached to it. All the major ones will work their way into
Matthew Currie Holmes’ The Curse of
Buckout Road, which opens today in Brooklyn.
Troubled
Aaron Powell has just returned from military academy, but his grandfather
leaves him hanging at the bus station. That is par for the course for their
rocky relationship, but in this case, Dr. Lawrence Powell has a good excuse.
The former minister turned head-shrinker has been consulting with the police on
a hideous suicide. The location: a clearing off Buckout Road.
Sadly,
Det. Roy Harris will soon be returning to that area, on related police
business. Being a grown-up in a horror movie, he doesn’t want to hear about his
daughter Cleo’s fear that she might be next. It turns out she and the
sub-literate stoner Ganzer Brothers produced a class project video, supposedly
debunking the myths of Buckout Road. So much for that. Clearly, there is a
malevolent power out to get her—and she can only count on Aaron Powell to stand
with her.
About
halfway through Curse, the film turns
on a dime, going from banally blah to off-its-rocker bonkers in a matter of
seconds. Essentially, that is the moment when Holmes and co-screenwriter Shahin
Chandrasoma go all in on Buckout urban legends. They also add some old-time
religious elements (or rather the perils of the lack thereof) as well as some
old school demonic paranoia. In the process, they develop some decent Buckout
lore of their own.
Danny
Glover is faultlessly professional as Dr. Powell. However, it is prolific
character actors Henry Czerny and Colm Feore who really shine as Det. Harris
and Rev. Mike Reagan, the new pastor at Powell’s old church, who never really
had faith per se, in the first place.
Although
not as well known, Evan Ross and Dominique Provost-Chalkley deserve credit for
being considerably more engaging than most college student horror movie punching
bags. Frankly, Aaron and Cleo do a lot of complaining, so it is rather
impressive Ross and Provost-Chalkley prevent them from becoming gratingly
annoying.
Frankly,
this film probabaly is not substantial enough to justify theatrical ticket
prices, but it will probably over-deliver on horror fans’ expectations when it
streams on Shudder or wherever (which will presumably be soon). In the
meantime, The Curse of Buckout Road opens
tonight (9/27) in Brooklyn, at the Kent Theater.
