Chosen (2005) - By Timothy Martinez

Film Reviews: Chosen (2005) - By Timothy Martinez
Posted on Thursday, November 30, 2006 @ 23:05:00 Mountain Standard Time by Duane

Billed as the first chapter in a horror/fantasy series, Chosen is about a young woman named Stacey that has been selected to fight the forces of evil that are constantly trying to subvert and conquer our world. Led by the Dark Lord Akkad, this army of demons, zombies and other supernatural killers is preparing for the subjugation of all humanity, but first any who oppose them must be eliminated, including one newly chosen warrior for the forces of good. Forced to accept the responsibility of destroying Lord Akkad and his minions, Stacey has quite the fight ahead of her.

I got a peculiar vibe from watching this film and after much thought and examination, I ultimately decided that the movie gave answer to the question, what would happen if Buffy Summers found herself pitted against Jason Vorhees? Not that the film is a slasher clone. Indeed, the film throws all sorts of monsters and baddies at the protagonists, but the clear focus, aside from main baddie Lord Akkad, seems to be on a killer named the Soul Stealer that doesn’t seem to have the capacity to die. He stalks and kills a fair amount of people, but the confrontations with Stacey (when she isn’t kicking some other demons’ collective asses) are what led to this feeling. That and Stacey suddenly dealing with her newfound strengths and abilities.

The performances in this film are what help sell it, and everyone seems committed to giving it their all, though special note must be made of the great role by co-director Bob Heckman as the jobless and often clueless Eddie. The movie also has a great sense of energy about it, as if everyone involved is having a lot of fun, This is a good thing, as the movie is also an example of ideas and energy outstripping resources. The lack of a giant budget is one thing I can look past; after all, it’s the ideas that count, and this film has some good ones. My only real beef would be with the fight choreography. While adequate, it still appeared somewhat…tame on occasion. A little more desperate energy and emotion thrown in would have helped spice it up…but then again, that’s just me. At less than fifty minutes, this one is a quick and easy way to kill some time.

To learn more about this film, be sure to visit www.ramsteerfilms.com.