Jim Haggerty's Grave Danger (2009) - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews: Jim Haggerty's Grave Danger (2009) - By Brian Morton
Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 @ 17:36:48 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

Early on in Jim Haggerty's Grave Danger, one character (who is terrorizing an innocent woman) tells another that she is in 'grave danger', to which the woman responds, "is there any other kind?” That, sort of, sums up the attitude of Jim Haggerty's latest movie, Jim Haggerty's Grave Danger, it's a little scary, it's a little sexy and it's just a whole lot of fun.

Grave Danger starts off in an homage to 'Scream' with a woman being terrorized on the phone by a mysterious caller, the caller wants to tell her a scary story or he'll kill her and so the first tale begins. The first vignette in Grave Danger is a short story of Victor, a man who's convinced that he's being followed by a mysterious man in a tuxedo who wants to kill him. Victor sees this strange man everywhere, even when his friends are around, but his friends (who don’t see the tuxedo clad stranger) are becoming convinced that he's losing touch with reality. As Victor becomes more and more frenzied about this stranger, we can't tell if he's unhinged or if he's actually in danger...make that, grave danger. In the end, when the story is complete the audience is left wondering what was real and what might have been imagined. In this first segment, Jae Mosc really shines as the harried Victor, moving from a near psychotic state to merely confused when his friends calm him down, Mosc gives a terrific performance!

With the first story told, our mysterious caller now threatens to kill the woman if she doesn't reciprocate with a scary story of her own. This second tale is the story of Carol, a young married woman who's husband doesn't appreciate her no matter what she does. When she's ordered to go out and buy a 'classy' gift for a client of her husband's, Carol comes across an African idol that captures her imagination. When she takes it home, she finds that, not only does her husband not like the gift (deeming it 'not classy' enough) but transfixed by the idol, which seems to be taking over her mind. As the idol completely possesses her, Carol lures unsuspecting men into her house, where she kills them! In the end, Carol is found by her husband and, in an ending that's classic 'twilight zone-ish', we're left wondering if Carol is even still alive! In this segment, Vic Martino is fantastic as the 'asshole husband', he's so convincing that I actually found myself feeling sorry for the other people on the set with him...is he a great actor, or is this the way Mr. Martino acts? (I'm sure it's an act, folks!). And Kate Webster as Stella is perfect, first as the mousy house frau and then as the beguiling black widow...I have to admit, if she attempted to lure me into her web, even knowing I'd be killed, I'd still be tempted!

Finally, in the last tale told by our telephonic terrorist, we meet Abe Carney and Phineas. Abe is a down and out, retired ventriloquist, who just needs to make some money to pay for medicine for his sick wife, so, taking a job turned down by a friend, Abe takes his dummy, Phineas, out of mothballs and heads to a local home to entertain a bunch of drunks. When the people at the party begin to abuse Abe, and then refuse to pay him, Abe is left with little choice but to let Phineas return to the house alone to 'collect'. This last tale is a wonderful little story in the vein of a Child's Play or the Anthony Hopkins' classic, Magic. Phineas is a hideous little dummy, while not veering too far from what an old ventriloquists' dummy really looked like. Kaitlin Owens is fantastic as Jenny, the long suffering girlfriend of the lead 'moron' at the ventriloquists’ party. Bud Stafford is perfectly cast as Abe Carney, Stafford plays Carney with the right amount of sympathy, and yet, still an underlying menace when he leave Phineas to do his ‘work’. The only downside to this entire segment is Phineas' vocal performance, he's just a bit hard to understand at times.

When all the stories are told, we're left with our poor heroine standing naked in her home, wondering if she's going to be killed...or worse, and, in the final tally of things, we, the audience, are left with the set up for a sequel that I will quite eagerly await! Jim Haggerty's Grave Danger is an indie movie with a heart, it seems that Jim isn't content to just scare or titillate his audience, Jim actually wants to entertain us! Grave Danger has it's fair share of frights and shower scenes, but it's also just fun, I defy you to sit and watch Grave Danger and not find something to like about this movie, whether it's the paranoid Victor, or the loveable Abe Carney or just the plain bevy of attractive women that Jim casts...who are all fine actresses as well! I'm giving Jim Haggerty's Grave Danger three and a half out of four cigars, it's not perfect, but as Jim's third directorial effort, this one shows how he's grown as an artist! You can get a copy of Jim Haggerty's Grave Danger for yourself by emailing Jim at his Yellow Ape Productions address.