Extraordinary Movie & Video Guide

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The Halfway House. USA 2004. Directed by Kenneth J. Hall

Mary Magdalen Halfway House seems like an innocent place for troubled girls. But under the surface there is happening a lot, and it ain't innocent at all. Larissa Morgan's sister has disappeared and everything points in Halfway House, where dark and strange Sister Cecelia and her handyman live with the badass girls. Soon she finds out that in the cellar of Halfway House lives a huge monster!

Kenneth J. Hall (Evil Spawn, writer of Puppet Master) really knows how to pull the strings of a exploitation lover. The Halfway House has it all : beautiful topless girls, lovecraftian monster in the cellar, Mary Woronov as not-so-nice nun ... Everything here has been made with tongue-in-cheek mentality, but never under-estimating the potential viewer. Humour is usually fun and in some instances even clever, although there are few somewhat embarrassing moments - which are caused by amateur acting. The monster on the other hand, looks great even it looks clearly "rubbery" - or maybe because of that?

Mary Woronov is a delight to see in a low-budget exploitation pic after a while (of course, there are number of low-budget films in her filmography but not many interesting ones since Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989). Surprisingly, the lesser-known actresses like Janet Tracy Keijser (as Larissa) and Stephanie Leighs (as "Cherry Pie") got a lot of appeal and definitely a right touch to act in roles like these. When it comes to male actors, particurarly Joseph Tatner and Clive Hall (director's brother) are in the roles they seem to like play. And that was a compliment.

The Halfway House is pure entertainment, with enough edge to keep demanding exploitation fanatics on the seat. A nice and positive suprise in the genre.

Unrated DVD release by BV entertainment/Ventura has nice extra material : there's audio commentary by director Hall and producer Ed Polgardy, deleted scenes, making of -featurette called "Gut Eating Monsters from Hell", trailer and Insecto Circus : Halfway to Hell -music video. Technical quality of the picture and sound is good.