Cover coming soon |
6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An evil witch gets burned at the stake, but not before vowing to return and get her revenge. A hundred years later a family arrived to spend their vacation at a summer home located in the same immediate countryside area where the witch was killed. Trouble ensues when little girl daughter Gaby finds an ugly doll that's possessed by the lethal spirit of the malevolent witch.
Starring: Julio Alemán, Carlos East, Pedro Fernández, Gabriela Hassel, Nuria BagesHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 51% |
Supernatural | 4% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Director Rene Cardona III tries to keep his filmmaking family’s legacy going with 1989’s “Vacation of Terror,” which mixes bits and pieces of “Poltergeist” and “Evil Dead” to inspire a new nightmare from the Mexican movie industry. It’s a simple tale of malevolence in the form of a doll capable of making things horrible for a family trying to enjoy their summer home, and Cardona III endeavors to do something with his limited budget, laboring to add as much mayhem as possible without the cash to truly do something explosive. Even at 81 minutes, “Vacation of Terror” feels long, with the helmer slipping into repetition to fill the run time, but there are some neat stabs at genre chaos, and Cardona III certainly has a love of the game, pushing to make a little noise with his ode to haunted house cinema.
The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Vacation of Terror" is sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative. Detail is generally good, securing a look at character appearances, with clear facial surfaces and period clothing. House interiors retain a decrepit look, exploring decay, and rotten food and creatures are also textured. Exteriors are limited but dimensional. Color is active, with a cooler sense of haunted house activity, balanced well with the brightness of fashion choices, which offer brighter primaries. Greenery is distinct. Delineation is satisfactory. Grain is fine and film-like. Source has some wear and tear, along with brief stretches of discoloration and scratches.
The 1.0 DTS-HD MA mix provides a basic understanding of dialogue exchanges, which come through clearly, reaching the limits of the sound equipment at times. Scoring cues support suspense adequately, with decent instrumentation. Sound effects register as intended.
"Vacation of Terror" does stall on occasion as Cardona III runs out of new ideas to help terrorize the characters, but nothing stops the feature in full. It's a scrappy, reasonably performed endeavor, with the production retaining a slight sense of humor before managing evil events, and material is mindful of ugliness, trying to remain accessible to a wider audience with its display of household hellraising. Again, it's a movie about a demonic doll, which has been done repeatedly, but "Vacation of Terror" makes a noticeable effort to slip in some craziness, aiming to tickle genre fans and play up horror history as Cardona III runs through a series of highlights and ideas pulled from his favorite films.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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