It’s difficult to come up with an original horror film icon,
a monster or murderous character that can carry a movie from start to finish
and filter into the imagination of viewers even after the lights have gone up
and the film finished on the screen. The names of Jason, Michael and Freddy
bring about those fears with ease to movie fans even though it’s been several
years since any have had a major release to theaters. Some of these characters
never made it to the big screen but have developed a following on DVD. Names
like Victor Crowley from the HATCHET films or Chromeskull from LAID TO REST are
well known to horror fans. My hope is that The Drownsman will be added to the
lists of those fans.
After nearly drowning in a lake, Madison develops a near
catatonic fear of water. She soon becomes a shut in, unable to deal with her
fear and finding herself on the downside of friendship with girls she’s known
for years. In a last ditch effort to break the traumatic fear that keeps her
captive an intervention is brought on by those friends where they include
having a séance to help alieve those fears.
Bad move on their part. It seems that once they do that the
long dormant killer known as the Drownsman rises once again. And he intends to
add more victims to his list. The killer received the moniker because of his
penchant for taking his victims to a hidden location where he would proceed to
drown them, not quite all at once but enough to keep them going before
finishing them off.
As the night and next few days progress, the girls begin to
become his newest victims. It doesn’t take a lot for him to appear, just enough
water to make his way into their world. Sure, you could see him doing this in
something the size of a bathtub but instead he makes his way from his world to
ours through things as small as a sink. He reaches through, grabs a girl and
pulls her from this world into his, the dimly lighted sub-basement where he
kept his victims long ago.
As the number of missing girls rises Madison’s decision to
face her fears and save her friends takes hold. But will this be enough for her
to face down the Drownsman or will he merely add her to his list of victims?
And once she enters his world how will she get rid of these ghostly killer?
What will it take to rid the world of this evil?
The movie offers some truly creepy moments. While the whole
séance seems incredibly stupid for anyone to do to someone who has a fear of
water and what could be in it, it’s the normal thing that happens in horror
films. It’s along the lines of “oh gee, we’re in the woods and we’re teenagers,
let’s have sex” type situation. That aside the character of the Drownsman has
few lines but does offer an image that is nightmare inducing for some.
While definitely a low budget affair the whole package has a
well-polished look and the performances are above par for direct to DVD status.
Each actor involved makes his or her character seem real and that’s not an easy
thing to do in a horror film. The fact that the atmosphere seeps into each
setting makes it that much more believable and aids in making their portrayals
just as real.
There are plenty of horror films on the shelves these days
and far too many of them are direct to DVD. Most aren’t worthy of your time but
THE DROWNSMAN doesn’t fall into that category. Instead give this one a watch
with the lights out and then I dare you to take a bath.
Click here to order.
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