Dark Rising | Indie Horror | rated R (A,L,N,S,V) | starring Bridgette Kinsley, Landy Cannon | 1:32 mins
The no-budget Indie horror flick Dark Rising has something to do with witches, lesbians, demons, babes in loincloth, campers and mystery green light. Jason (Landy Cannon) tries to reunite with his ex-fiance by setting up a group camping trip, little does he know that she’s become a lesbian since him, is bringing her girlfriend and their friend has bought a book of witch spells intent on performing and incantation. Naturally they summon a demon who tries to kill them, but they also summon a battle-axe weilding half-naked babe named Summer (Bridgette Kingsley) who has been trapped in the other demension since childhood able to slay it.
Rising is a direct-to-DVD shlockfest that looks like it could have been shot in someone’s backyard, has terrible rubber monster effects, the acting is amature and it’s characters are either too stupid or too cruel to like. Poor, dumb Jason is a sad sack so in love with his ex that he can’t see that she is a demon herself who would rather run around having sex with her girlfriend then let the guy down gently. What this movie does have going for it is a nice, shameless attitude toward delivering the T & A and a light goofy sense of humor that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Kingsley’s body alone will probably make it a late-night cult favorite.
There are low-budget movies, the kind that don’t have big names and special effects, and then there are movies like Rising, Edges of Darkness, One-Eyed Monster and Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter that were shot on a single camera with amatures, didn’t get a release but somehow got cool DVD covers and will be kicking around on Blockbuster shelves, Netflix queues and late night cable. These are the movies that internet nerds who complain about CGI and big budgets need to be watching. If you do find yourself watching it, Rising is cute and painless and it’s sense of humor and Kingsley’s game-gal willingness to stay in a loincloth bikini almost the entire movie, helps make Dark Rising one of the better bad movies. I was amused, but not so thoroughly entertained as to overcome the general stupidity of the story and the crudity of the production.