I have been reporting on BOO, the Anthony C. Ferrante directed haunted hospital tale for quite a while now but had never had the opportunity to actually view the film. That changed this evening when Sci-Fi channel hosted the world premiere of the film.
Gotta tell ya, this film was a pleasant little surprise. It started off a little slow with a SCREAM style opening that had me a little concerned but it shifts gears pretty early on and becomes a much more enjoyable film. A pretty standard ghost story Boo tells the tale of a local hospital with a reputation of being haunted and is paid a visit by a group of local teenagers around Halloween time. The dudes are planning a scary little time for their girlfriends and send in someone to set up some tricks to set the mood while the other guys head over to the girls� house to convince them what a great time it is going to be.
Reluctantly they all agree to go. The setup dude has run into some problems of his own though and by the time the rest of the gang arrives the local spirits have already kicked into gear and the film at this point actually kicks into high gear itself.
Ferrante has a keen eye and uses shadows and quick edits to really set a creepy-ass mood for the film. I was kind of surprised by all the blood in the final reel of the film as it flows pretty freely and we are actually even treated to a couple of pretty cool headshots that surprised me for a Sci-Fi airing. Is it just me or is Sci-Fi actually becoming a bit of a player in horror programming? They have had some pretty good world premieres in recent weeks (Mortuary and Boo just to name a few) and seem to be a little more open to showing some mildly risky programming.
Although the story for BOO is pretty lame in parts and the script is more than weak at times, Ferrante�s commitment to atmosphere and styling more than makes up for it and that leads me to recommend viewing this film when you get the chance.
It was great to see Dee Wallace Stone. Hadn�t seen her in a film for quite a while.
If things follow suit for these Sci-Fi showing then we should expect a DVD for this film soon. I can�t wait to see what kind of special features might come our way.
There is another player on the block kids, his name is Anthony C. Ferrante and we should all keep an eye on what he is up too. He has the potential to be haunting our dreams for some time to come.
