An early Halloween present! For most folks Halloween season starts in October, but – much like football fans – I have a Halloween pre-season where I start getting into the festivities. The Tour was the perfect way to kick off my personal Halloween pre-season.
The Tour is written and directed by Alex Mathieson and Damon Rickard. Cast members include Jessica Cameron (Camel Spiders, Silent Night, Truth or Dare) and Heather Dorff (What They Say, Poetic, Truth or Dare). The film also introduces horror fans to Tom Gordon, Damon Rickard (as an actor, too), Robert Rickard, and Emma Tighe.
“Darkmoor Manor is England’s most haunted house, its doors closed to the public. It is now just part of a tour which helps attracts visitors to a struggling town. That is until the tour guide, trying to impress two attractive American visitors promises to get them inside. But none of them could be prepared for what was waiting within the shadows of the house.”
I thought the casting choices here were very interesting. Jessica Cameron and Heather Dorff are very well known in the independent circuit, especially for their work in horror titles. Recently they started together in Cameron’s directorial debut, Truth or Dare, which displayed awesome chemistry between the duo. It was nice to see them together again on-screen, and I enjoyed the role reversal. Speaking from my own perspective, Jessica always plays bitchy or sultry roles with Heather usually taking on the role of the outcast or quieter one. As a viewer and fan of both girls it was great to see them switch it up, with Jessica being the scaredy-cat and Heather being the outspoken slut. They had a little Thelma and Louise thing going on, too, and it’s really one of the highlights of the film. Also, this appears to be Tom Gordon’s first horror film and he did a fantastic job. He was believable and women are going to enjoy the accent. Honestly, I can’t pinpoint my favorite actor/character here because they all did such a great job.
Any frequent readers of my reviews will know it’s difficult for me to review short films. It’s easy to love or hate them, and half the time I wish that the short film would be reworked as a feature. Well, it goes without saying that I love The Tour, and I’m actually glad that it’s not a feature. Haunted house films are a dime a dozen right now because of the success of Paranormal Activity. This means that the subgenre is a little stale and the same scare techniques are being used over and over again. It’s become a little boring and repetitive. Luckily, since The Tour is a short film, it manages to condense all of the scare techniques and plot devices into fifteen minutes which makes for a much more captivating experience. You don’t have the opportunity to say, “Well, that’ll happen again in ten minutes. It’s ok that I missed it now.” No, The Tour will make you pay attention because you know something creepy is going to happen any second and you have no idea if it’s going to be a jump scare, ghostly CGI, or what. A film that holds your attention all the way through? Check mark. Also, thank you for making a ghost movie that wasn’t found footage!
I also got a kick out of the fact that writers Mathieson and Rickard added a few horror film references to The Tour. I caught little homages – or else I thought so – to The Blair Witch Project, Hostel, and The Conjuring.
There are a few things I didn’t like and things I considered to be errors. First, I really hated the CGI blood. It was so obvious that it was fake, almost purple, and it didn’t fit in a movie of such high quality. Never again, guys, you’re better than that! Secondly, the audio at the very beginning is a little off and sounds like a voice-over, which it probably was but it’s just so obvious. There was another error that I caught during my viewing, but I can’t remember it now. Oh, well. I’d criticize the lens cap being on the camera near the beginning as a blooper, but I’m pretty sure it was intentional. Right?
I was sent my screener by Annette Rickard (hi, Annette!) who turns out is the executive producer on The Tour. In our initial email she cautioned me about releasing any spoilers because The Tour has a lot of film festivals lined up in the coming weeks and months. I’m bet money that The Tour is going to win a lot of awards in the film festival circuit. I mean a lot of awards, like awards falling out of the sky like frogs…or rain…or something. This is going to be a highly decorated movie. I’m telling you that now, so mark my words.
If I had to rate The Tour, I’d give it an 8.5 out of 10. There’s so many different components that make this short film work. The setting, the actors, the chemistry, the perfect length, a great script, excellent cinematography, a few scares and laughs. It’s just a really excellent product. I hope that Alex Mathieson and Damon Rickard stay in the horror genre – or at least do another horror film in their careers – because I’m very pleased with their first effort and look forward to what they may have in store for us in the future. The Tour succeeded where a lot of ghost flicks have failed. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.
