Offerings
Director: Christopher Reynolds
Writer: Christopher Reynolds
Starring: Loretta Leigh Bowman and Elizabeth Greene
Body Count: 10
Review: Writer/director Christopher Reynolds (this was his first and last film) must have been quite a Halloween fan; his film Offerings is practically the same film!
As a young boy, John is accidentally knocked down a well while being harrased by a bunch of bullies. Ten years later, he escapes from his mental hospital and proceeds to hunt down and kill his childhood tormentors. The similarities to Halloween are almost too abundant to even list, with the setting (suburbia), story (escaped mental patient killing teens), pacing (most of the first hour takes place during the day), music (a direct rip-off of Carpenter's score), characters (the virginal good girl, town sherrif, and "Loomis"-like hero) and even whole scenes (school lecture, weirdo at the graveyard, jump scare at killer's old home, final confrontation) all coming directly off of Halloween influence.
That's not to say that everything in Offerings is a rip-off. There's definitely some original stuff here, it's just that none of it really stands out or makes an impact on the viewer. The bulk of the film is sorta boring, the death scenes are nothing too impressive, and the acting is.....well, you know how that goes.
Oh yeah, and then there's that ending....well, Reynolds goes for the heart and tries to pull of a touching finale, but this effort seems to fall flat.
Offerings isn't the worst, and it's certainly not the best, but not for a lack of trying. Give it a shot if you're in the mood for a Halloween clone, but pass it by if you're looking for much else.
