At the turn of this millennium Michael Raven was riding high as an acclaimed porn director. I love his final film "Fairy Tale", but this late-in-the career big-deal production is a loser.
It comes in a fancy boxed-set package implying "importance" but is a trifle whether judged by Adult Entertainment standards or from a horror/thriller vantage point. Even star Kirsten Price, one of the best actresses in the Wicked contract lineup, seems off-kilter, walking through her role. That might have paid off if Raven were remaking Val Lewton classic "I Walked with a Zombie", but not on this baby.
It's in the tired haunted-house genre, which reached its apotheosis in modern times ('70s is still modern for me) with "The Amityville Horror" but has latterly produced little in the way of interest. Kirsten is grieving for her late husband Eric Masterson, with the picture beginning at his funeral.
With sister August (odd casting of WASPy Price and Latina August) living with her, she's trying to get back on track, stuck in a depression. Some weird sounds and happenings in the house disturb her further, and pretty soon well-meaning friends are going the seance route.
Script assumes we all believe in the supernatural, and characters like Steven St. Croix keep stressing its scientific validity, citing university studies in parapsychology. These sort of stipulations and assertions don't cut any mustard for me: after seeing thousands and thousands of fantasy and horror films I need Raven and company to demonstrate some believable (in context -this is fiction of course) and interesting manifestations to get me with the program.
Instead "Supernatural" just plods along without much of any interest happening - it's deadly dull in some stretches. The sex scenes are trotted out with the necessary regularity - people don't buy Wicked Pictures videos out of intellectual curiosity any more than guys of my generation bought Playboy Magazine mainly to read the admittedly excellent interviews. So busty Katie Morgan upstages the rest of the cast with her sex scene shoe-horned early in the proceedings.
Key plot line revolves around Randy Spears being the evil ghost, supposedly warring with Eric's spirit as sort of a Casper nice-guy ghost. There's a murder/suicide mystery at the heart of it which in Raven's telling is more confusing than compelling. Supposedly Eric's death triggered the previous dead guy Spears' spirit into action. Much to Kirsten's (and our) relief, Eric wins the battle of the Iron Ghosts.
On the way there, Spears as an invisible, then visible entity rapes August in her bed. This scene lacked the oomph I was expecting: Barbara Hershey in "The Entity" is my favorite classic film in this particular sub-genre and Raven shows none of that mainstream feature's ingenuity in staging this particular scene. It's ho-hum like the rest of the film.
Because Raven was a big deal, the industry awards body gave "Supernatural" the left-handed compliment of 3 unearned nominations: Best Special Effects (they're mediocre), Best Marketing Campaign (yeah, right -just like the boxed-set effect, gotta work overtime to push a turkey) and Best Supporting Actress - Video for August (I always like August, but what kind of horse's ass category is that -you mean if someone acted in front of Panavision 35mm cameras or maybe Super-16 that would make much difference, in 2008 yet, when film was already nearly obsolete in shooting porn?).
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