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Instant Favorite.

As Good As It Gets

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I wasn't sure about Voodoo Moon at first, but after seeing it while less than perfect it wasn't bad and one of SyFy's more tolerable efforts. It looks decent with the effects not too cheap and the filming stylish on the most part. The acting is also better than average, especially from Charisma Carpenter and Jeffrey Combs, and the premise is great and helped in the film by a great opening sequence and a nice ending. The music also has its haunting parts, and doesn't interfere with the tone too much. On the other hand, while not as annoying and stereotypical as I have known SyFy characters to be the characters don't have much to them, if anything especially in the case of John Amos's character they were underdeveloped. The story does begin and end promisingly and has one good jump scare and a strong atmosphere, but the pace drags too often, apart from one scare the film is not very scary and the middle is too reminiscent of overlong exposition. There are worse scripts around, but generally it doesn't flow very naturally and nothing really stands out. Overall, not a bad movie and surprisingly tolerable by SyFy standards, but still lacking for me. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I have only seen the first 45 minutes. It's horrid. The acting is stilted. That actor from "Reincarnator" (whatever) is an energy sucker. He huffs and puffs and looks as if he might inflate and explode. That's not acting. That's behaving. Of course he's always been a total ham. CC is herself, sweet, pleasant and Cordelia. The film is shot on what looks like 16 mm school grade stock. The camera work looks like a drunk monkey stole the tripod and ran around with it while the actors just kept speaking. The scene with the priest and the cop is some of the hokiest, idiotically juvenile dialogue and infestation of hideous special effects "artistry" (please: the cop raising up? You could plainly see where the wires were jerking up his pants, and the priest fires two bullets at the guys's chest, and a third squib exploded accidentally!) CC deserves to have actual roles, not washed out copies of Cordelia Chase.

I really think that 10, maybe 15 years down the line, this movie will be fondly looked upon as a horror classic. I had seen Kevin VanHook's "The Fallen Ones" on SciFi and was quite impressed with it (much more than most of their movies), plus having Jeffrey Combs (a personal all-time favorite since "Re-Animator"), John Amos, and Dee Wallace (along with a great sticker price!) made it a good choice to pick up.This film kicks ass from the opening scenes and doesn't let go until the end. I only wish it had been a bit longer and gone into some greater depth and detail. Kevin VanHook is clearly a fan's filmmaker, and I'm willing to bet he makes movies the way he'd like to see them as a fan. The budget may be relatively low on this one, but the effects are first-rate (which should really be expected, considering that VanHook comes from an effects technician background). VanHook is one filmmaker I'm going to be keeping an eye out for - he may not ever graduate to the big leagues, let's face it, big-name genre directors are few and far between (which is a shame in and of itself), but I'm hoping his writing/directing resume becomes a long one.I highly recommend picking up a copy and sitting down to watch it with a bunch of munchies, as you won't want to pause it to run to the kitchen. My only gripe on the DVD is that there's no Director's Commentary - but it does have a couple of Making Of/Behind-The-Scenes extras.

"Voodoo Moon" is a big wasted opportunity.**SPOILERS**In Haiti, Cole, (Eric Mabius) is told that his skills in demon-hunting will be needed elsewhere in the world. His search takes him to Louisiana,, where artist sister Heather, (Charisma Carpenter) works. Hiding away, he calls for some friends, Frank Taggert, (Jeffrey Combs) Dutch, (John Amos) Ray, (Reynaldo Gallegos) Lola, (Jayne Heitmeyer) and Diana, (Kimberly Hawthorne) to help him out in his quest. As Cole gets stronger to fight the demon, it starts killing off his friends and those around him. Banding together with the surviving members of his friends to battle the demon.The Good News: There are some nice atmospheric moments spread throughout. The early sequence where they are wondering through the graveyard is quite eerie, and it really ratchets up what shouldn't have been so creepy. The final resolution of that scene is what makes it so great, as the payoff is a nice shock jump. It's the only one in the film, so it stands out even more. The premise is quite interesting. Having a man assemble people from his past to hunt down a demon is something new that is quite nice. The ending twenty minutes is quite ice and features enough action to get the viewers awake and end the film in somewhat of a happy note.The Bad News: Frankly, this one simply didn't have enough going for it. It has an interesting premise about a man gathering people he has helped in the past to fight a demon, but its wasted by a humorously inappropriate lot to battle the creature. It's not exactly a very threatening posse that's rounded up when you have a housewife, a mechanic, a biker, and two who aren't given occupations. I don't blame the guy for laughing at them, as it's a very non-threatening group. The aforementioned lack of jumps is also an issue in here. It simply makes the film all the less enticing when nothing keeps the attention going. That's a deadly combination when mixed with so little action in the middle section that it's almost criminal. The middle section is just pointless conversations to get us to know the characters and features no real action at all, and the dialog isn't anything that important. They never talk about the story, they never talk about the demon, and instead it is useless chatter that means nothing. It drags down the pace of the film to a near stand-still at that point, and it never fully recovers. The film had plenty of potential but never utilizes it.The Final Verdict: An interesting premise ruined by a lack of action or anything else. Might be worthy of viewing for some, but it might be a struggle to do so. Only recommended to the most discriminating of horror fans, while those that like a more upbeat pace will want to keep a fast forward button handy.Rated R: Graphic Violence, some Language, and Brief Nudity