Penny Dreadful

This little film really caught me off guard. I couldn't believe this was a student low budget film. The quality is excellent and very very well made.

The director of this film has a bright future ahead of him and I cant wait to see what else he comes up with. \ Betsy Palmer is wonderful as Trudie the psychic and even though his part isn't a big one it was great to see another Friday veteran Warrington Gillette again after an all too long absence from films.

This film deserves all the attention it can get. Don't miss this one and pay close attention to ALL the details.

Synopis: Jessica and David Clausen (Emily Vaughan and Sebastian Lacause) are a young married couple that inherit a beautiful brownstone townhouse in the West Village from Jessica's long lost Aunt. The couple is shown the empty house by an estate attorney (Peter Dupre) who delivers some bad about inheritance tax on the property. Jessica and David, in short, can't keep the house. The couple do, however, move in temporarily, as the agent promises to line up a few buyers. Slowly, Jessica experiences strange occurrences in the house. Noises from downstairs, a blonde child in a red sweater (John Thompson) looking at her from the front window. Instead of being scared off, Jessica embraces it. David, too busy with medical school to care, humors her. Jessica's friend Marla (Tina Krause) dismisses her claims that the house is haunted thinking instead it's some sort of repressed guilt. But is the house trying to tell her something? She enlists the aid of Trudie (Betsy Palmer), a dotty local psychic to figure out what's happening. Review: Right at this moment, the best way for me to describe my feelings on "Penny Dreadful" is that it is cutely, immensely sad. The inclusion of "cutely" there may appear... strange. While this movie was chilling in certain parts, the ultimate feeling it conveys (to me) is some sense of a heavenly, sad and beautiful evil. And also that feeling of how separated from the rest of the world the core story is, it's like an own universe where everything is about someone passing through time in darkness. The story is complex and moving,the acting is very good (Emily Vaughan is very understated and very good in the lead role),the direction is elegant, the sets and locations perfectly fit the mood of the film. I must add that the ending is one of the most stunning and PERFECT ever,in every ways (direction,cinematography,acting,music)! To sum up: this film is sad, chilling, haunting and yes, in some ways, moving. I have read a review that criticized the film's slow pace: I, for one, especially appreciate the Director's willingness to take time to build suspense and terror. I believe that silence is an important part of a horror movie (perhaps almost every kind of movie) and it's obvious that the Director shares my appreciation for what's NOT said. What a treat this turned out to be. If you judge a movie based on blood and guts, or CGI effects, you won't care for this. This film is a much more cerebral movie, which requires multiple viewings to take it in fully

Penny Dreadful is a somewhat simple ghost story with some very unique twists. What makes the film so charming though, is the gathering of many horror icons, like Betsy Palmer as a doddery old psychic, Peter Dupree as a sleazy real estate agent, and Warrington Gillette. Tina Krause also shows up, but has no nude scenes, which lowered the rating of the film marginally.

Also, since it's a short, it doesn't suffer from the usual slow plodding found in most ghost stories.

One aspect that makes PD unique, is the reaction of the main character when she realizes that her and her husband are living in a "haunted house". Instead of the usual freaking out and every one assuming she's crazy, she's excited by the aspect of living with ghosts and embraces it. Very different.

An overall well crafted film.

I've seen plenty of short horror films through my travels. Most are complete trash which make me ask myself "How the hell did this get distribution?" But every now and then, you come across something different, something unique. When it seems like all hope is lost and you're about to give up on movies, that gem comes along that makes the wait worth it. Walking into "Penny Dreadful", I never thought it would be anything more then another sloppy horror short. But it turned out to be that gem us horror fans so badly needed.

After her Aunt dies, Jessica (Emily Vaughan) and David (Sebastian Lacause) inherit a huge house in the upscale section of NYC. Right away, strange things start happening. Jessica is sure the house is home to some odd apparition. She brings in Psychic Trudie Tredwell (Betsy Palmer) to check things out, while David is constantly away, working. According to Trudie, the house is completely ghost-free. Regardless of the house being haunted or not, the weird happenings continue. Incredibly creepy phone calls of a woman screaming for help and Jessica waking up in a refreshingly large pool of blood, really take a toll on Jessica. It pushes her over the edge, and there may be no turning back...

The first thing I want to say about this movie, is that it puts the characters first. That's not only rare for a horror film, but for ANY modern film in general. Being a horror film, it would usually showcase the gore and violence above everything else. But there is little of both in this film. Don't get me wrong, this movie does have some nice gore shots, really good in fact. Nothing extreme to push it to splatter film status, but definitely enough to satisfy the gorehounds and gross out the chicks. There are also some extreme moments of tension here. I've watched every kind of extreme film genre there is, and even I felt a sense of dread at times. The cinematography and music were top-notch as well. I'll leave it at that, or this review will end up being 60 pages long.

Of course, the characters wouldn't have become who they are without the wisely chosen cast. The biggest attention grabber here is obviously Betsy Palmer, which any horror buff will know, played Pamela Voorhees in the ultimate slasher epic, "Friday the 13th." Although her role is brief, she does what she came to do and really adds something to the movie. Another known name in the horror community, Warrington Gillette, also stars. Gillette played the unmasked Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2. He did an outstanding job as the a-hole husband of the couple who buy the house from Jessica and David. I'm not sure who played the real estate agent, but he was a real scumbag and I loved it. Bryan has thrown in some truly REAL characters. Leading lady Emily Vaughan really made this movie something special. I hope she sticks with the craft, because I see big things for her. Oh yeah, and she's really hot too. I had the pleasure of meeting her in person. I'd also like to note Sebastian Lacause, who played the husband, starred in "Boogie Nights" as a character called "Hot Traxx Dancer." That's hands-down the greatest name ever. It has nothing to do with this movie, but it's so ridiculous that I had to say something about it.

Hollywood has lost its magic, it's up to little guys like Bryan Norton to keep that flame burning. Penny Dreadful is a ball-gripping experience that leaves a taste of blood in your mouth. This is an amazing short horror film from Bryan Norton, and I'll be waiting for his debut feature.

Every once in a while comes a little gem of a movie that catches you by surprise and you know you won't forget it.

New York City and Greenwhich Village have never been so lovely on screen as they do for the setting of this story about a haunted townhouse and the young couple who move in. The wife begins to see grisly visions of a murder that seems to have been committed there. But is the house really haunted? The story takes place in October, and you can practically taste the autumn on the screen (I took the Village haunted house tour one Halloween weekend- great fun).

Great setting, great mood. "Penny Dreadful" is a very good film indeed, but is a lot of fun for film buffs, too. There are subtle homages I noticed to other horror films ("Topper", anyone?) - some references more successful than others. Is this really the same setting as "Wait Until Dark"?

"Friday the 13th" star Betsy Palmer has a somewhat humorous role as a Trudie, a looney psychic who tries to help figure out the mystery. The supporting cast is made up of genre actors (Palmer, Gillette, Dupre, and Tina Krause) who nicely play off the attractive leads Emily Vaughan and Sebastian Lacause.

The scene with Vaughan having to crawl across broken glass will have you turning away, and there's a great bit with an shotgun totting intruder trying to break into her bedroom in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm. There is a great ending ( I wasn't expecting the twist at all) .

Perfect Halloween viewing . Sit back with your candy apple and enjoy.

***1/2 out of ****