The Bell Keeper Featured, Reviews Film Threat
IN THEATER AND VOD! The Bell Keeper started out as one of those C-grade slasher movies that was mocked by the excellent The Cabin in the Woods (2012). A group of young, attractive people, all classic characters, are filming a documentary about spooky places in the United States. They arrive at Bell Lake, where rumor has it that the murderer will appear if the old bell rings at midnight. Of course, they ring the bell and we can guess what happens next… or maybe not. After a brutal opening scene, The Bell Keeper takes its time to build up its story and plot elements. The first act is long and seems to take up almost half of the movie. As usual, the boxes are checked. The documentary crew gets tips at a dingy gas station, walks past a woman who will clearly be the final girl, makes jokes about genitals and virginity, and more. Just as I was starting to wonder if The Bell Keeper had anything new to add, the script by Joe Davison and Luke Genton dropped a curveball on the audience midway through. An axe-wielding assassin – humorously named Hank (Randy Couture) – arrives after the bell rings, but his target takes a new turn. I won’t reveal how, but The Bell Keeper becomes less like a slasher and more like a different kind of horror film after this point.
Davison and Genton’s writing often relies on choppy exposition, sometimes childish dialogue, and shifts in tone from scene to scene that can be jarring. That said, the writers also have fun subverting expectations in the second half and, in turn, throw in some pleasant surprises. Hank is actually an interesting character with some depth and isn’t just a man behind a mask massacring teenagers, although he does his fair share of killing. The actors who make up the group of victims, including Reid Miller, Kathleen Kenny, Mike Manning and Cathy Marks, are clearly having a good time with the movie. Miller leads the way as a nerd named Liam who’s trying to fit in. These players’ performances may have been hit or miss, but no one completely dropped the ball. Director Colton Tran could not exploit all the intelligence waiting for Davison and Genton’s script to convey. Its staging is often superficial and The Bell Keeper offers little suspense. It also just cuts or uses bad CGI instead of letting the blood flow with realistic effect at certain points. Despite its many flaws, The Bell Keeper offers an enjoyable horror adventure for fans of the genre. There’s enough twists and turns in the second half to make it worth recommending to slasher game addicts. Don’t expect this to completely shake up the formula like The Cabin in the Woods did.