Friday Night Frights: Banshee!!! DVD Review

In the woods of Connecticut lurks the Banshee, a creature the Irish legends made famous. As several local residents and a group of college kids on spring break were about to discover, some legends are based on facts.

Banshee!!! (don’t forget the exclimation points!!!) takes one of the most basic settings of horror, a mysterious creature cornering a group of people in an isolated location, and uses it to frame some very solid gore scenes and well done special effects. When the first attack was shown, I sat back and wondered how much longer was left but as soon as Colin Theys and Dan Anderson busted out the shimmering effect to illustrate the Banshee’s hypnotic effect on people, I sat up and took notice. Kudos, the special effects in this film are very well done. The monster is effective and looks great. Gorehounds will enjoy the entrail strewn kill scenes and viewers will be able to latch on to at least one character, hoping that they are the survivor when all is said and done. I also liked the wrap sequences at the beginning and end of the movie, including a nice throwback title splash screen.

I only had one thing that threatened to take me out of the movie and that was the college kid, Lake. Accompaning 5 of his friends on Spring Break, he witnesses a few violent deaths and flees from the Banshee through the woods with the other survivors. The thing is, he just keeps joking and goofing around while hiding out. Any believability that the character had was lost as no one would be joking around while waiting to die. I get nervous joking as a safety mechanism but this was just not realisitic. I blame the way the character was written more than the actor.

There is a nice selection of extras included on this release, more than usual for an indie horror film. In addition to an informative commentary track, there is a blooper reel and a collection of deleted scenes. Rounding out the release is the original trailers for Banshee!!!.

If you, like me, enjoy horror films and monster movies (and if you don’t, why are you reading Friday Night Frights?!) you will enjoy Banshee!!!. It is a fun throwback to creature features from the past, with above average special effects and a unique monster. I recommend adding it to your horror collection.

Special Features:

Theatrical Trailers
Commentary
Bloopers and Outtakes
Deleted Scenes

Banshee!!! is available on DVD courtesy of Synthetic Cinema and MVD releasing beginning on March 19th, 2010.

Don’t forget, there is still time to win a copy! All you have to do is shoot me an email at contests@kinkycyborg.com with your Name, address and age. Multiple entries will not increase your chance of winning. Easy, Right?! so go enter now. This contest will wrap up on March 19th, and you will receive your copy on release day or shortly afterwards.