Director: Tony Schweikle
Year: 2018
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Rum and Hot Peppers
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Hearing about a golden opportunity, a skeptical man visits a voodoo ceremony on behalf of a woman where he sees them carrying out a human sacrifice for a fake voodoo cult, and when he escapes he teams up with a reporter to stop the cult who are out looking for him to finish their next ceremony.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this one. Among the more impressive aspects of this one is the enjoyable storyline and setup that come about here. Given the idea of the investigation involving both sides needing to carry out various forms of investigation to carry out their plans. The guy and his friend going into the history of the cult and the activities going on in the neighborhood around them and trying to stay one step ahead of the group coming after them because of the incident of him escaping the sacrifice. The concurrent investigation of the cult looking into the different possible figures they were targeting and trying to look into him before their next ceremony is a rather fun time and gives the film a great setup that holds the attention throughout here.
That carries over nicely into the films’ few scenes of cult action that take place throughout here. The opening ceremony is quite impressive with the ceremonial dancing and tribal music blaring away creating a lot to like before the sacrifice takes place in front of everyone with all the theatrics required to get through this kind of film. The later sequence featuring the sacrifice taking place in front of him that sets the majority of the film in motion is quite fun featuring the whole thing taking place in front of him when he’s least expecting it creating a fun sense of chaos that goes a long way towards understanding the need for keeping him under control as its a rather fun scene. Including a rather fun boat chase to liven up the pacing and a rather enjoyable finale featuring some more action involving the cult’s next sacrifice taking place, it has enough to like that hold it up over its few minor flaws.
The film does have a few problems about it. The main feature found here is that there’s very little sense of urgency and determination on the part of the characters. With the entire plot revolving around both groups doing their investigations at the same time, the fact that there’s never a threatening feeling generated by these actions taken by anyone, as the cult members never have the sense that the cult’s actions are going to be exposed or revealed while they never have their lives threatened by the cult. This leads the film to be somewhat shock-free and tense-less for a large portion of time as everything plays out instead of dealing with the sacrifices or voodoo ceremonies that would denote more of a general genre atmosphere.
As well, there’s also a rather obvious scene here added to the film that attempts to placate a rather important social aspect involving homeless veterans but does so in an entirely clumsy and stops the film cold to do this. While the film rightfully tries to shine a spotlight on this subject matter, it does so by being especially cloying with stopping the film’s momentum and trying to introduce this topic simply by bringing the conversation about without any kind of warning or setup to the rest of the film. Combined with the inclusion of a somewhat underwhelming and generally uninvolved finale that offers a far more realistic bent to the action but doesn’t come off as emotionally satisfying as something else could’ve been, these here are the issues the hold this one down.
Overview: **.5/5
A generally fun but rather troubling genre effort at times with its storyline not providing the kind of action this expects, this one comes off as highly enjoyable to certain crowds in the long run which is something not all will gravitate towards. Those who appreciate this kind of indie effort or find themselves uninvolved with the flaws might like this one, while most others won’t have a lot to like with the film.
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