Search - Possession: Cathy's Curse/Good Against Evil/God Told Me To/The Ghost on DVD

Great Collection

Jonathan Schaper | London, Ontario Canada | 06/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the best Brentwood 4 movie horror collections I've seen so far, but don't expect perfection for the low price.My personal favourite is CATHY'S CURSE. A little girl is possessed by her aunt, Cathy, who died in a car crash with her father after they were abandoned by her brother and mother. Cathy now seeks revenge on all women (and some men). The first 20 minutes are boring, but once the girl gets possessed it becomes nonstop, fun-filled, unintentional comedy as she does such evil things as get an old man stinking drunk, plays with an evil doll and talks in weird voices. Meanwhile her mother gets hysterical (THE funniest bad acting I've seen in ages) while the clueless father just gets confused. Bad special effects also abound (just try to guess how the girl teleports around!). Unfortunately the print is not very good, but it is watchable and I don't know of anywhere else to find this wonderful gem, which deserves a cult following. This one alone is worth the price."GOD TOLD ME TO" are the last words spoken by a sniper who has just randomly killed a dozen people as he lies dying. Other seemingly normal citizens (including a cop played by Andy Kaufmann!) also begin committing murders, uttering the same words when asked why they did it. This film by Larry (It's Alive, Return to Salem's Lot) Cohen is uneven, but is spooky and will freak you out, especially the scenes where the investigating cop confronts "God". Great print, letterboxed. Also worth the price by itself.THE GHOST is a gothic tale in the vein of Corman's Poe adaptations, but without Vincent Price or psychedelic dream sequences. A bit slow, but very atmospheric and ultimately worthwhile, and with a great performance by Barbara Steele. Picture quality isn't great, but has a nice midnight movie quality to it. The first short scene is slightly out of order (apparently to open the film with credits that should have begun a minute in), so you see the end of a seance before it begins.GOOD VERSUS EVIL, the weakest entry, is a pilot for a series that never happened. Basically, Satanists raise a nice,normal girl without telling her she is expected to bear Satan's child (the same mistake as in End of Days: Why not just raise her to look forward to this role instead of keeping her in the dark?). Their plans are messed up when she and an author fall in love. The series was to be about him teaming up with an exorcist to rescue her and battle the Satanists. The villain seems promising, but all you get is a setup for the nonexistent series and a lame exorcism scene (a family friendly copy of scenes from "The Exorcist"). Good picture quality, but a completely unsatisfying film."