**Supernatural slasher flick, set in Africa** Here we
tmdb17996075
**Supernatural slasher flick, set in Africa** Here we have another flick that is advertised and branded as a sequel for another film, though it has no…
**Supernatural slasher flick, set in Africa**
Here we have another flick that is advertised and branded as a sequel for another film, though it has no connections to it whatsoever. "Curse III: Blood Sacrifice" was originally titled "Panga", so I'll be referring to it with the latter title, because it seems more appropriate.
In "Panga", the story takes places in the 1950s, and our main character is Elizabeth Armstrong, a sweet American woman living in South Africa, with her husband, Geoff. Elizabeth, who is carrying a baby, seems to have a hard time adjusting to the way of life in South Africa, but she's a genuinely nice gal and she wants to support her hubby, who owns a sugar plantation, so she makes an effort to be positive and manages to get along with the residents just fine.
While out one afternoon, Elizabeth and her sister, Cindy (who is visiting for a while) witness a tribe's ritual, in which the natives attempt to sacrifice a goat. Horrified by this, Cindy interrupts the ritual and takes the goat, with the support of Elizabeth and her boyfriend, Robert. Things get really tense between the American bunch and the natives, and the language barrer clearly doesn't contribute. A witch doctor, who seems to be leading the ceremony, starts yelling at the confused American and puts a curse on all of them, which seems like silly hocus pocus, so they don't pay much attention to this. (Stupids!) After this event, those who were involved in the incident begin to get slashed by an unknown figure that carries some sort of machete. In the end, Elizabeth will find herself facing that entity that was summoned by the witch doctor, in order to punish them for disrespecting the ritual.
"Panga" provides a killer that stalks people with a machete, and said killer seems particularly interested in slashing the sex-crazed youngsters, as he/she/it goes after them first. Does it ring any bells? It should! This flick tries to capitalize on the success of slasher films that came out mostly during the eighties, but it also adds a few original details along the way, to stand out. For instance, our villain seems to be a supernatural entity that lives in the sea and is summoned by someone, rather than the average killer who (inexplicably) rises from the dead to slaughter obnoxious teenagers. Also, this story takes place in the 50s, where certain technological devices weren't available to make things easier for the poor bastards who are being chased by the blood-thirsty creature. On top of that, the events happen in a rural area of South Africa, with a really (really!) heavy storm throughout most of the film, which leaves our poor characters in an utter state of defenselessness. Finally, unlike most slasher flicks, in lieu of a main set of characters composed by randy kids, we get quite an eclectic bunch, which features: a sweet old lady, her granddaughter (who is around 10), an old man, a young American woman and her husband, two horny young adults and a local foreman, who supervises a sugar plantation. Heterogeneous characters is something that I very much appreciate in a genre, like horror, that mostly focuses on obnoxious teenagers or young adults.
The movie doesn't really offer an outstanding moment, but the final 20 minutes or so provide a fair amount of tension, with the main characters barricading themselves inside in a big house, in the middle of the country. We do get a final confrontation between the main character and the beast-like killer that stalks them, which is a little bit more on the campy side than anything else (the "less is more" concept would have worked well here). That being said, this film mostly stays on the serious side, while not necessarily being an example of artistic or subtle film-making. Though "Panga" isn't memorable by any means, it really is an entertaining and mildly creepy film for the most part and the fact that we have Christopher Lee playing a main character should give the film, at least, some recognition. Oh, well!
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★ 3 / 10
A slasher film in a completely different locale.
planktonrules
I should point out that "Curse III" is not, despite the name, a sequel. I know this is confusing.The story is set in Africa in 1950 and is, despite this, a…
I should point out that "Curse III" is not, despite the name, a sequel. I know this is confusing.The story is set in Africa in 1950 and is, despite this, a slasher film. A British colonist has married into a family of idiots. When his wife and her sister are on a drive, they come upon a tribe about to sacrifice a goat to their gods. However, the women insist on taking the 'poor goat' and therefore incur the wrath of the tribe. Not surprisingly, soon folks start getting hacked to pieces...and for our supposed amusement.I know that slasher films are popular with many folks, though I find them very dull because they are all essentially the same. Despite the change of locale and African gods aspects, this is just a slasher pic...complete with gratuitous nudity, stupid people you wouldn't mind seeing die and lots of blood. It's pretty mindless, though for the genre it's reasonably well made. Plus, it features Christopher Lee in a supporting role...which is something. Overall, I didn't enjoy the movie but perhaps slasher pic fans will.
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4.0/10
777
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Part one is on here. Look up "The Curse"