Review: The Roost

The Roost (2005)

Plot: Four friends sidetracked on the way to a wedding must fight off vampire bats and zombies.

My take: Wanted to get into the Halloween mood, so I rented this at Blockbuster based on the box cover and the quotes. Something about it sits right with me. It is a student film feature (one location, 6 actors) and some scenes were slow and needed urgency but given they had probably $100 bucks to make it, they used it all on screen. Lighting was good, acting okay. Make up SFX fine, too. Tom Noonan ("Monster Squad" and "Manhunter") opens and closes film as Creature Feature host on fake late night tv channel. I appreciated that even though this film has no comedy relief, it sets itself up as camp right away and pays homage to fright films. It was released by the Showtime channel. Check out director Ti West's short "Prey" in the bonus material.

Mood to be in: When you want something Blair Witch Project-esque but with more frights and gore. Reminded me of the original Night of the Living Dead