All Hallows’ Eve (2013) Review

Surprisingly, it’s not that easy to find a good film to watch at Halloween that actually has the word ‘Halloween’ in the title.

This is because unscrupulous marketeers try to cash in on that spooky time of year, and of course that the John Carpenter franchise that has become synonymous with this spookiest day.

When you do find a film with Halloween in the title, it generally means you should avoid it, even more so if they are low budget… But there are exceptions to this rule. And All Hallows’ Eve might just be one of them.

Made up of three short stories with one wrap-around, the plot centres on the discovery of a mysterious VHS tape that is collected by two young siblings during an evening of trick or treating. With their Mum away, the pair is being looked after by her Sarah. Being new to the babysitting game and not great at making sensible decisions, she allows the children to play the tape.

Once it starts, they see bizarre, dark and sinister things which Sarah puts down to being a poorly made film. But as they continue to watch, it seems that some of the footage could be real.

Each section of the tape tells a different story, and a terrifying clown (Art the Clown) features throughout:
Part one shows the abduction of a woman at a train station. When she wakes after being drugged, she finds that she has been chained with other unfortunate girls and each of them awaits a horrifying ordeal at the hands of deformed creatures that lurk in the underground tunnels where they have been incarcerated.

Part two changes step with a woman alone in a large country home after recently moving in. Bored and waiting for her husband, her evening takes a scary turn when an object falls from the sky and the power goes out.
Making matters much worse, something gets into the house and stalks her in the darkness – intent on abducting her.

The third, scariest story follows a woman driving home late at night on a quiet road. After stopping at a service station, she is unfortunate to become entangled in a disagreement between the attendant and Art the Clown.

Mid-way through filling the tank, the attendant leaves his post to investigate further Art-related disruption and meets his untimely end. The woman, being the only witness, is then pursued by Art who – it soon becomes clear – has supernatural powers and evil intentions.

Of course, Sarah the baby-sitter can’t help but watch the whole tape to the bitter end, transfixed by the brutality and curious as to whether the footage is real or not. But soon after reaching the end of the tape, she finds that bearing witness to it has plunged her into her very own horror story and that she and the children she is supervising aren’t alone in the house.

As mentioned in the opening of this review, All Hallows’ Eve is a relatively low-budget film. At least two of the short films that make up this anthology are films previously made by the writer-director Damien Leone and the ideas, though simple, are pretty terrifying.

Although you can tell by the quality of acting and special effects that this isn’t a high-end production, the blend of atmosphere, twisted tales, disturbing characters and apparently motiveless ultra-violence makes the film horrifying and memorable.

The recurring theme of the abduction and brutalisation of women plays on long-established horror conventions but takes them to the extreme and might be a bit too much for some to stomach.

In a genre where film studios feel the need to continually resurrect and re-boot the same characters and stories (Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees etc), in All Hallows’ Eve Damien Leone proves that you can make new characters that are every bit as scary as the long-established horror icons and take them in new directions, offering something fresh for horror lovers.

All Hallows Eve won’t be to everyone’s tastes. It’s unpolished, a little lacking in areas. But there’s something about it that just sticks, it’s as if it unlocks a new fear in the mind of those that watch it. And much like Sarah, our main character in the film, it’s hard to resist wanting to watch more.

Movie Rating:

All Hallows’ Eve trailer