The cast of The Amityville Moon is quite a mixed bag. As Kimball, McCurley is a bit of a blank slate, not exactly wooden, but not a well of deep, contextual emotions either. However, he is believably gruff and frustrated by the clergy’s runarounds of his questions. Rinehart is fine as the scared escapee, and Meadows is entirely menacing and unnatural, in a way that will eventually make sense, as the off-putting priest.
But some of the supporting cast is not very good at all. Kelsey Zukowski plays the murdered best friend from the beginning and is wretched. Her version of scared sounds like a spoiled Karen complaining to the waiter at a wine bar; aka, it is more grating than fear-inducing. During a counseling session, a lady with a very fake southern drawl heckles another resident who wishes to talk. The character is so inconsequential I don’t remember her name; the accent is so atrocious it will elicit laughter from anyone living below the Mason-Dixon line. Plus, Augie Duke gets like, three, maybe four scenes, probably totaling ten or so minutes. It should be a crime to underuse the actor in such a fashion.
“The [werewolf] suit is hulking and intimidating…”
But, The Amityville Moon has a lot going for it. As it is a creature feature, the werewolf must look great, and, thanks to Roy Knyrim and his team, that is the case here. The suit is hulking and intimidating, and audiences will easily buy into it. Plus, the filmmaker wisely teases the werewolf throughout (dumb prologue excluded), so once it does arrive, the anticipation has been nicely built up.
But that is overshadowed by the compelling sinister church/police procedural plotlines. The build-up to what the priests and nuns are hiding is captivating (another reason to drop the prologue), as is Kimball’s exhaustion and annoyance for what he deems as “babysitting.” Alyssa making her case for something frightening being afoot, and the detective believing her feels authentic and allows the supernatural elements to be somewhat grounded.
The Amityville Moon is exploitative, a bit too long, and features some iffy acting. But, it offers an engaging story with believable arcs, a killer score, and outstanding special effects make-up that create a very cool-looking werewolf. So, while it isn’t perfect, it is not a waste of time either, and that is good enough.
"…low-budget tie-ins still deliver something the audience expects..."
I’m sharing this in hopes that Sarah Polednak’s experience with Thomas Churchill doesn’t get swept under the rug. I’m an actress that has been warned about Thomas numerous times. At one point he was interested in casting me in a project. But in order to write the role for me I needed to go to his apartment so he could get to know me better. You know, to properly write the role. I turned him down and didn’t get cast. I also heard from other actresses that he offered them the same part under the same terms. This was par for the course for him and fit with the warnings I had heard. He plays the God loving Christian publicly but behind the scenes he is far from that. I’ve been wondering when something about him would go public. It never got to the point where he did anything to me. I am thankful for that. But he has done it to others. Sarah Polednak’s story is proof of that. I applaud her bravery in coming forward and hope other’s that have experienced this treatment from him do as well. These sorts of people don’t belong in this industry. There were always rumors about Thomas Churchill. Now we have a first hand account. Sadly, there will be more. As much as things change and we feel we are moving forward, this still exists.
I’ve been talking about it since i worked with him years ago. At least it’s being heard now.
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