Review of The Roost (2005) by J D — 09 Dec 2017

On a trip to a wedding, three dudes and one chick get their car "stuck on a big rock" from swerving on the highway. Not really sure why. They walk to the only house around. The house seems empty, they seem totally helpless as to what to do next, they wind up spending hours there even though they hate it there. A police officer happens by, and he iis the first victim. Though they talk about driving the police car the heck out of there many times, it takes a while for them to make any moves due to fear, and then its too late!

This movie is written, produced and directed by Ti West raises flags as it was done all by the same person with a very small budget.

Some scenes could have had a more exciting climax, but the action was "replaced" by shakey cam and weird shots of the sky.

Some scenes could have been more exciting if the actors didn't all seem zoned out and bitchy, like they were coming down off of valium, for almost the whole movie. The acting reminded me a little of mumblecore but in the worst way possible.

The Roost is obiously an homage to many different genres of vintage horror. It has a total Night Of The Living Dead feel, if the hero was like not there at all for some reason. There is an intro and some black and white footage, the best part of the movie is Tom Noonan pulling some kind of Egor/Cryptkeeper act with his theatre accent. There are some references to grindhouse as the footage stops and starts with film sound effects, often rescuing us from some drawn out scene where we're supposed to feel tension, but mostly feel stressed by the lack of action on the part of the actors. The grainy film quality employed by most of the movie serve the animated bats well.

The baddies are bats and bat-zombies. They eventually see bats chase someone out a window and then all land on him to prsumably bite him.

The movie had a good concept, and ambitiously takes on new paranormal villians of its own invention. It wasn't unpleasant to watch, if you like horror in general. I was only mildly dissapointed. I'm glad I saw it. Keep up the good work Ti! Loved Sacrament!

J Doll.