Rating: 3.5/5
Cult Movie Challenge 2017 | 41/52 | Zombies
Science has learned that man possesses powers which go beyond the boundaries of the natural. This is the story of one confronted by such strange forces within himself.
Andy, caretaker for the Immortal Hills cemetery, shows Robert the lay of the land. Robert recently became the chairman of a committee that oversees the cemetery. In the office, Andy keeps a map of the massive cemetery that marks each gravesite—black pins indicate filled graves, and white pins indicate sold but unoccupied graves. He also shows Robert where they keep the gun—you know, just in case.
A newlywed couple, Stu and Bethie, arrive. Bethie is not amused that their wedding gift from Stu’s father is a burial plot. Robert finds a space on the map for the couple and accidentally marks it with a black pin instead of a white one. Robert goes to the office to be officially sworn in. He receives a call from the undertaker that Stu and Bethie have had a car accident and died. When Robert realizes the map already has black pins for them, he gets the eerie feeling that he marked the couple for death.
To give himself some peace of mind, Robert replaces a white pin with a black one just to prove to himself that he didn’t kill those kids. But we go to that person, who is sitting at his workstation mending a stuffed bear when he suddenly drops dead. Robert believes the map must contain some weird power.
So he gives it up, right? Changing the pins? He doesn’t do it again, does he? Oh, he does? To be fair, he is coerced, but through convoluted reasoning.
The film gets lost in the weeds with the cemetery’s committee. It’s a lot of threading needles, like why Robert would take the chairman position in the first place. The movie eventually uses these relationships, though, so it’s not a total waste.
The film makes some slick stylistic choices that add to the gothic, almost surreal moments as we enter Robert’s dread and experience its heightening. Some shots are pretty killer! It pulls one of my favorite camera tricks for tension—I won’t spoil it.
I believe this is the first Albert Band movie I’ve seen that didn’t involve his son, Charles Band, in any way. And wouldn’t you know it? It’s pretty good!