CineSavant reviews a (gasp!) DVD release.  UK correspondent Lee Broughton returns with coverage of a low budget comedy-horror flick from Florida about a seemingly harmless old lady who displays psychopathic tendencies every Halloween. The humour is crude at times but the show’s knowing horror elements, spirited performances and decent production values result in a curiously engaging little film.

Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s
Region 2 DVD
High Fliers Films
2019 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 76 min. / Street Date October 14, 2019 / Available from Amazon – 11.03 / Available from Amazon.uk – £3.50
Starring: Madeleine Murphy, Stephanie Town, Gail Yost, Sean Gloria, Chris Cavalier, Lisa McConnell, Melissa Daddio, Rhyssa-Kathryn Marie, Jason Henne.
Cinematography: Jason Henne
Special Effects: Karl Huber, Chris Polidoro
Visual Effects: Sean Hileman
Film Editor: Mazz Appeal
Original Music: Mikee Plastik
Produced by Mazz Appeal, Joseph Mazzaferro
Written and Directed by Joseph Mazzaferro

Melissa (Madeleine Murphy) is the new girl in Yost Town, Florida. She reacts with disbelief when her schoolfriend Mandy (Stephanie Town) points out an elderly lady dubbed “Aunt Ethel” (Gail Yost) and casually remarks that the seemingly demure pensioner celebrates All Hallows’ Eve by luring trick or treating kids into her house with the promise of special candy before slaughtering them and turning their body parts into Halloween-themed foodstuffs.

It seems that most of the town are aware of Ethel’s activities but — as Mandy’s boyfriend Mark (Sean Gloria) sagely observes — “if you don’t have a body, you don’t have a crime” and Ethel makes sure that she never leaves a trace of her victims. With Halloween fast approaching and Ethel still at liberty to carry out her nefarious seasonal crimes, Mandy and Mark cajole Melissa into joining them in a plot to bring the old woman’s reign of terror to an end.

There are scenes within Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s that play out on a pretty puerile — and sometimes quite vulgar — level. Indeed, the kind of crude and expletives laden humour that you might find in old school teen sex comedies takes centre stage on more than one occasion. That’s largely because all of the guys here are sex obsessed misogynistic jerks while all of the girls — with the exception of Melissa and Mandy’s sister Sara (Kierney Nelson) — are manipulative sex obsessed tarts with hearts who routinely refer to each other as “bitches” and “hoes.”

Mandy’s ample breasted mum (Lisa McConnell) is a self-proclaimed wannabe MILF who comes on like an escapee from a Russ Meyer film much of the time and it’s fair to say that most of the female characters featured here are happy to use sex in order to control the men in their lives. In one amusing scene Mark takes a trip to an armed and ultra-paranoid drug dealer’s den simply because his desire to please Mandy — and thus keep her sexual favours flowing — trumps his intense fear of the highly dangerous dealer.

It’s hard to tell whether writer-director Joseph Mazzaferro’s seemingly sexist — and potentially offensive — scenarios are meant to be (a) satirical (b) pointedly employed in a provocative attempt to produce some notably jaw-dropping moments or (c) genuinely designed to appeal directly to the tastes of a particularly politically incorrect subsection of his audience. Given the knowing qualities of the film’s horror elements, I’m tempted to err on the side of (a) or (b) or a mixture of the two. But I could be wrong, so be warned if this kind of thing is likely to cause upset or offence.

Whether or not its humour is judged to be puerile and sexist, the film’s horror elements still make Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s a reasonably entertaining option for genre fans who might be looking for an independent film that stars unfamiliar talent. Whenever Mandy or Mark tell Melissa about a particular aspect of Ethel’s horrific activities, Mazzaferro cuts to a scene wherein Ethel is depicted doing precisely that activity with all of the bloody enthusiasm and gleeful aplomb of an antagonist from a Herschell Gordon Lewis film.

Indeed, H.G. Lewis style special effects are suitably employed whenever Ethel is seen chopping up severed limbs or boiling up severed heads. Given that the film is set in the sunshine state of Florida — Lewis’s old cinematic stomping ground — we might well presume that Mazzaferro is offering a tip of the hat to the Wizard of Gore in some of these scenes.

The film’s puerility and its horror elements eventually come together in a scene where local boy Ricky (Chris Cavalier) — whose penchant for voyeuristically spying on any female with a pulse results in him being repeatedly caught jacking off in public — comes a cropper courtesy of a suitably disgusted and disgruntled Ethel and her impressive axe throwing skills.

In addition to the more visceral action described above, Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s also features some decent enough suspense scenes, and some reasonable jump scares too. The film even boasts some quite creative plotting during its final third when it is revealed that Mark and Mandy intend to kill Ethel and — what’s more — they both have good reasons for doing so.

However, an unexpected series of events unfold when the trio attempt to gain access to the old woman’s house and things get further complicated when Melissa’s young trick-or-treating nephew Gio (Jovanni Mazzaferro) calls by and accepts Aunt Ethel’s invitation to step inside her home.

Ethel eventually gets to explain just why she acts the way she does every Halloween and in doing so offers an unexpected motivation for her nefarious deeds. This revelation has a startling effect on Melissa and leads to huge ramifications for her during the film’s quite clever and unsettling finale.

High Fliers Films’ Region 2 DVD of Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s is a low budget film whose technical specifications hold up well enough. There’s some good cinematography and decent editing on display here and Mazzaferro is skilled enough to briefly introduce some effective split screen effects at one point. Equally effective music video-like techniques are brought into play in the scene that introduces Mandy and Melissa as they walk home from school and a later scene where the local teens are getting loose at a wild party.

Another plus is Mikee Plastik’s soundtrack score which makes good use of a wide range of top-quality synthesiser sounds. And the film’s mise-en-scene works to create a fairly authentic Halloween vibe and atmosphere. Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s might be best described as a tongue-in-cheek comedy-horror flick and the acting here more than fits the demands of such a show. Mazzaferro’s more questionable attempts at humour don’t work particularly well — and certainly won’t be for everyone — but this remains a decent looking and engaging enough little show. The ending is definitely worth sticking around for.

Reviewed by Lee Broughton

Halloween at Aunt Ethel’s
Region 2 DVD rates:
Movie: Good
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: none.
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? N0; Subtitles: None
Packaging: One DVD in Keep case
Reviewed: November 26, 2023
(7034leehall)

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Text © Copyright 2023 Lee Broughton

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