Verdict
Summary
Not really a “fun” horror movie like I prefer, but much more a pretty effective dread-building exercise in suspense and doom, Beezel (which, if I’m not mistaken, is a name never spoken aloud in the film) is well executed for an unhappy ending-type of indie horror film. Would I watch it again? No, most certainly not, but it might make a good study in low budget filmmaking where you get drawn in pretty quickly and see how to build a film around a single location, using limited cast, crafting solid suspense and generating fear and dread around a pretty simply concept.
Plot:
A hungry witch inhabits the basement of a house where she feeds on visitors … and homeowners who come and go throughout the decades.
Review:
Starting in the 1960s, a wife and husband move into a house in a rural area. They have a young son, who quickly discovers (literally on the first day of moving in) that there’s a hungry dweller in the basement. She eats the boy, and the film fast-forwards to the mid-1980s where the father from 20 years ago is living alone. He pays a videographer to come and record him telling his story about how his wife and son were killed in the house, but that he wants to come clean about it (he mentions a vague investigation that cleared him years ago), and during the confession the man (who’s really weird and sketchy) dupes the video guy by drugging him … so that he can feed the witch in the basement! The film continues in this fashion like an anthology horror film with little segments where new people move in or visit, each with the witch revealing herself and having a chewy meal. It’s Beezel, guys! She’s hungry!
Not really a “fun” horror movie like I prefer, but much more a pretty effective dread-building exercise in suspense and doom, Beezel (which, if I’m not mistaken, is a name never spoken aloud in the film) is well executed for an unhappy ending-type of indie horror film. Would I watch it again? No, most certainly not, but it might make a good study in low budget filmmaking where you get drawn in pretty quickly and see how to build a film around a single location, using limited cast, crafting solid suspense and generating fear and dread around a pretty simply concept. Director Aaron Fradkin did a solid job with this material (he also co-wrote the script), and I can see this guy moving up in the world of horror.
Dread / Epic Pictures recently released a Blu-ray of Beezel, and it comes with a making-of feature, a pair of short films, and bonus trailers. It’s numbered #52 on the spine if you’re collecting Dread titles.
