Macabre…ish Horror Review: Crazy Eights

 

 

Crazy Ei8hts, 2006/ 1 hr 20 min

 

 

Six friends, Brent (Frank Whaley), Jennifer (Dina Meyer), Gina (Traci Lords), Beth (Gabrielle Anwar), Lyle (George Newbern) and Wayne (Dan Deluca) reconnect  when they gather for the funeral of an old friend, Jacob, which was his last request plus they were to gather at his office and open a box, inside are photos, trinkets and a map. The map leads to a time capsule they buried as kids and he wants them to dig it up.

They retrieve a heavy wooden chest and inside are toys, photos, a journal, items from their shared forgotten past.

 

At the bottom of the box of items is a small skeleton that has been there for a long time. On their way out, they keep circling and passing the same white house and finally stop for directions. The house is empty and has been for a long time though they swear they saw a girl run inside.

 

While looking for the breaker in the cellar, Wayne breaks his leg and as everyone tries to help him, the door slams shut. While looking for another way out, they find a lab, then corridors that lead to other rooms, numbered bunks and stairs. It looks like an old sanitarium not a house, it’s aged and crumbling but looks like a facility that should not be here.

 

But still no way out. They are having hallucinations of kids and things begin to happen like a window closing on Wayne’s head and killing him.

 

They know this place but they also seem to have no memory of it. Then they find a wall with photos of children, patients, then they see themselves and have no idea why they are there. Meanwhile, Beth is regressing and unraveling, that is until something yanks her jaw off.

 

Lyle starts reading some of those journals to figure out why they do not remember 20 years.

Brent runs around the building trying unsuccessfully to escape every time something happens. Very slowly they begin to remember.

 

Behind a mirror they find rooms still furnished and documents in the cabinets. They tried to cure autism here. And cruelly. Their parents sent their kids here to be cured, instead they were traumatized and tortured. And now they are back and something is killing them.

 

 

One thing that annoys me about this is there is no clear delineation between the cellar and the building. It seems like they went deeper into the cellar, which would mean underground. Then there are stairs going down and the go down them, then windows…and they could see outside. I have no idea how they got into the building and I was disoriented the entire movie. The flashbacks and visions make it worse.

 

Having said that, this is part of the After Dark Horrorfest and the cast is very good! It is bloody and gory but they do not show the money shots, just the aftermath. There are scary kids and some sort of monster. I really like the idea of this but what was actually happening and why was unclear. There are lots of questions and no answers, which is unfortunate.