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Plot: journalist and detective run afoul of escaped masked serial murderer.

Cry Havoc is the first installment in the newly-minted Havoc series, and the fourth in the original (and much larger) Playing with Dolls franchise. After three Playing with Dolls episodes writer-director Rene Perez has finally come to the realization that a slasher cannot work on a premise alone. Cry Havoc is what Playing with Dolls (2015) should have been some four years earlier. As a soft reboot of sorts Cry Havoc, for the first time in the series, actually attempts to tell a story. Cry Havoc ramps up the gore to Alex Chandon levels while increasing the boobage as if he’s trying to channel the spirit of the late Andy Sidaris. In truth it’s just an elaborate excuse to have a character utter the famous English military command, "Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war."

Investigative journalist Ellen Weaver (Emily Sweet) thinks she has happened upon the opportunity of a lifetime. She has been given the chance to interview an enigmatic and reclusive criminal mastermind who goes by the handle of The Voyeur. After a number of increasingly ridiculous precautionary measures Weaver is taken to his hidden compound by press liaison miss Wallace (Linda Bott). The Voyeur turns out to be none other than The Watcher, or Scopophilio (Richard Tyson) as he was once known. Weaver informs after the ethics and morality behind his skewed social experiments and the criterions by which he choses his “dolls” for psychotic masked serial killer Prisoner AYO-886 (J.D. Angstadt), these days simply referred to as Havoc, to “play with”. The Voyeur explains how he found Havoc and that these experiments in homicide aren’t his first. When The Voyeur questions her motives for accepting the interview Weaver suddenly finds the tables turned on her. Instead of becoming a famous reporter she awakens in Havoc’s woodlands. Around the same time a hard-boiled police detective (Robert Kovacs, as Robert Bronzi) has tracked down the whereabouts of his missing daughter (Spring Inés Peña) to a mysterious woodland area and cabin. In his search he comes across survivor Stina (Karin Brauns) but is too single-minded to safe her. The area is monitored and guarded by an extensive surveillance system and the well-equipped Echo private para-military force. Nor the Echo leader (J.D. Angstadt) and his troops or Havoc are going to let anybody trespass their domain without consequence.

For better or worse Cry Havoc seems to serve as a soft reboot of sorts. For starters it does away with the Playing with Dolls name and, perhaps more importantly, distills the basic outline of the previous three installments into a brief info dump (complete with recycled footage) to set up what should have been the backstory of the original Playing with Dolls (2015). If anything else, Cry Havoc is the most ambitious of the current Playing with Dolls episodes. Perez always was a good enough cinematographer and he has an eye for locations and composition. As such Cry Havoc is custodian to some of his best work yet. Everything from the camera set-ups, scene compositions, lighting, and the more mobile nature of various sequences; everything screams ambition. Perez still is in no hurry to detail the origins or Havoc or to humanize him, and as a barb-wired composite of Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, and Ogroff Havoc truly is about the only thing the Havoc franchise has going for it. Well, that and the attractive babes Rene Perez keeps finding to take their clothes off and die. Usually in that order.

For the first time in the series there seems to be a concerted effort on Perez’ part to flesh out, both literally and figuratively, what few characters there are. In record time he manages to get Spring Inés Peña, Sierra Sherbundy, and Nicole Renae Miracle out of their clothes. It feels almost as if Perez is angling and testing the waters for something completely else. Not that we would mind. At this point Rene seems to dabble almost exclusively in horror, westerns, thrillers, and various permutations thereof. His European fairytale adaptations have completely halted in favor of expanding upon his existing franchises. Given Rene’s predilection for high-octane action (which he is, admittedly, pretty good at staging and filming) and beautiful babes we’re still holding out hope that he will finally helm that long awaited LETHAL Ladies franchise derivate the world has been silently pining for. It would be the ideal excuse for Rene to bring back Alanna Forte, Elonda Seawood, Sierra Sherbundy, Nicole Renae Miracle, Spring Inés Peña, and beloved Perez veterans Irina Levadneva, Jenny Allford, Nadia Lanfranconi, Omnia Bixler, and Stormi Maya. Put them in small candy-colored bikinis and have them flaunt over-sized guns on sunbaked California beaches. If the late Andy Sidaris managed to perfect that formula in the eighties and nineties, there’s no reason why Rene wouldn’t be able to do the same in and for the current day and age.

The biggest change of guard in the last couple of years is J.D. Angstadt taking over from Charlie Glackin as Havoc. Glackin could be last seen as the masked killer in Playing with Dolls: Bloodlust (2016), and remains within Perez’ stock company. Angstadt took over the character for Playing with Dolls: Havoc (2017) and there isn’t too much of a difference between Glackin’s earlier portrayals, and Angstadt’s current iteration. As this is a villain-centric series nobody’s really here for the other characters and they are merely here to facilitate the body count. The kills have become more creative and spectacularly bloody where and whenever possible. From Glackin’s almost spectral killer to Angstadt’s brute force hack-and-slash madman Havoc is the reason to stick around. A running joke of sorts that continues with Cry Havoc is that Perez remains adamant about not explaining why Havoc is so aghast and repulsed by the sight of his female victims’ exposed breasts. It’s probably something Freudian and one of the enduring mysteries of the Playing with Dolls franchise. That it continues to persist three sequels in remains unintentionally funny no matter how you slice it. Breasts are, of course, something no Perez feature is complete without so he invents plenty of excuses for his actresses to either undress or lose their tops whenever convenient.

It stands to reason that Rene Perez is a resourceful enough director who’s able to make much of what is, by all accounts, very little. While he isn’t the best writer around (he doesn’t work with scripts as much as he works around scenes and set-pieces we're told) he has an eye for visually arresting locales in his native California, and he’s able to continually work with hungry young actors and actresses. Over the last decade he has shown that he’s able to creatively work around budgetary limitations, and mask them where and whenever possible. There’s no question that Perez could possibly do greater things if he was able to work with a director of photography as Benjamin Combes, George Mooradian, or Howard Wexler. In the two years since Playing with Dolls: Havoc (2017) Oliver Müller and Marcus Koch have grown along Perez and the two worked on an array of high-profile productions since then. As disciples of Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero there’s no question as to why they are so in-demand when it comes to splattery prosthetic special effects. If only Rene could find a decent writing partner, and try his hand at some different genres (spy-action, cyberpunk, martial arts) and he’s well on his way (together with, say, Neil Johnson) of usurping the throne vacated by the late Albert Pyun. Prisoner AYO-886 or Havoc is one of Perez’ greatest creations. Four years, and two sequels, removed from the original Playing with Dolls (2015) sees Perez, now almost a decade deep into his career, actually showing some mild promise.

In all likelihood we haven’t seen the last of either Havoc or the Playing with Dolls series. Of all the things Rene Perez has done over the years this ongoing franchise has proven to be the most lucrative, by far. Given how Perez has been working with pennies and small change it makes you wonder what he could do on an actual budget. That Perez hasn’t yet been contracted by The Asylum, TomCat Films, Kings Of Horror, or similar low budget production/distribution companies remains a mystery as well. If Rene Perez has proven anything, besides his tenacity, over the last decade is that he’s able to work around whatever limitations are imposed on him. There’s a lot of dreck to be found in the slasher subgenre and it’s rare seeing a director this young grown that much in just a few years. To go from the non-committal Playing with Dolls (2015) to something as confident and straightforward as Cry Havoc is worthy of admiration. It’s not exactly a loving pastiche to stab-and-hack horror in the way Benjamin Combes’ Commando Ninja (2018) was to 80s action. No, Cry Havoc finally knows what it wants to be. It’s not pretty, and even by slasher standards it’s perfunctory, but at least it has an identity its predecessors so lacked. It might not be much, but it’s a beginning.

Plot: troubled young woman is beset by ghouls and ghosts.

Very much a transitional piece between the glorified cosplay of Little Red Riding Hood (2016) and his earlier European fairytale adaptations and the later Playing with Dolls (2015-2017) sequels The Obsidian Curse is rank horror pulp that barely ever generates so much as a pulse. As a remake of Perez’ earlier Demon Hunters (2012) (released domestically as Obsidian Hearts) it recombines props, creatures, locations, and plotlines from the early Perez canon and reconfigures them into something that hopefully will elicit a reaction and sway a few into watching. Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot to get excited about with The Obsidian Curse. Overall it looks more like a technical exercise than a real attempt at crafting a horror movie. It truly is sad that Reggie Bannister and Richard Tyson ended up in the warped world of Rene Perez.

The Obsidian Curse is not your typical Perez fare which is about the best that can be reasonably said about it. It eschews much of the plot-free meandering of his earlier fairytale adaptations and at this juncture his expertise wasn’t at the point where it matched his ambition. As such The Obsidian Curse is a strange nonentity that is neither here nor there. It starts as a conventional human interest drama, but quickly abandons that in favor of stereotypical ghost movie shadows and jumpscares before attempting to sell itself as an exercise in the open-gateway-to-hell subgenre that was popular in Italy in the nineteen-eighties. Suffice to say it succeeds in neither and very much recalls the bygone days of Little Red Riding Hood (2016), Sleeping Beauty (2014), and The Snow Queen (2013). Unfortunately Natasha Blasick, Irina Levadneva, Nadia Lanfranconi, Aurelia Scheppers, and Jenny Allford are nowhere to be seen. At this stage in his career Perez had a thing for the petite Nicole Stark and Swedish svelte Karin Brauns. Brauns would reunite with Glackin, and Tyson in Playing with Dolls: Bloodlust (2016) and with Stark in Playing with Dolls: Havoc (2017) a year later. The biggest name present is Reggie Bannister of the Don Coscarelli horror classic Phantasm (1979) and Richard Tyson from Kindergarten Cop (1990), There's Something About Mary (1998), Battlefield Earth (2000), and Black Hawk Down (2001). Nicole Stark and Karin Brauns currently count as the most recurring Perez babes of this period.

Newly released after a year in federal prison for felony drug charges 25-year-old single mother Blair Jensen (Karin Brauns) is struggling to make ends meet. In the year that she was incarcerated her estranged husband Roberto (John Caraccioli) remarried and is now with white picket fence Donna (Julia Lehman) who keeps tabs on Blair’s daughter Linda (Leia Perez), much to her dismay. She has found temporary housing with her friend Kitty (Nicole Stark), but she will have to find a legal source of income and suitable housing of her own if she’s to retain visitation rights with Linda. A social worker (Marilyn Robrahn) is assigned to her case to monitor her progress in getting her life in order. In her desperation to find employment Blair is lured into a cave by a Mr. Cobb (Robert Koroluck) on the promise of an interview for a possible tourist guide job opening. In the darkness she has a hex placed upon her by a witch (Jessica Koffler) but Blair won’t be realizing that until much later. Before long she’s under assault by ghouls, ghosts, and the denizens of the dark. While everybody thinks Blair’s losing her mind, paranormal investigator Professor Reginald M. Sydow (Reggie Bannister) and his associate Arthur (Richard Tyson) are drawn to her case for their own personal reasons. Also on the prowl is psychotic serial killer Rudolf Masterson (Charlie Glackin) who has a thing for girls like her as his captive Yvonne (Cody Renee Cameron) attests to. Will Blair be able to break the curse of the Obsidian Heart that was bestowed on her?

In its defense The Obsidian Curse is a cut above the cinematic LARPing of Little Red Riding Hood (2016), and Alien Showdown: The Day the Old West Stood Still (2013) but that is faint praise. Indeed, there’s a lot that will look familiar to the Perez faithful: the woods and cabin from Playing with Dolls (2015), the castle and Eye Creature from Little Red Riding Hood (2016), the bar from Playing With Dolls: Bloodlust (2016), the caves from Playing With Dolls: Havoc (2017), and the witch attire from The Snow Queen (2013). What mostly kills The Obsidian Curse is that it’s all over the map. It begins as a ghost horror or demonic possession movie, briefly toys with the idea of turning suburban gothic horror before throwing in a modest legion of the living dead and a serial killer to facilitate some form of action. That it never decides what it wants to be is perhaps its biggest undoing. Somewhere in The Obsidian Curse there’s a decent little fright flick but under Perez’ direction nothing ever comes of it. Even by Perez standards it’s curiously low on both blood and boobs. Nicole Stark and Cody Renee Cameron both have brief topless scenes and the gore isn’t as abundant and gratuitous as it would be in Playing with Dolls: Havoc (2017). It’s also marred considerably by rather dubious looking visual effects from Perez regular Ignace Aleya. Rene Perez certainly has a penchant for making the most of what is very little, but not everything is defensible.

More than anything it’s unclear what the point of The Obsidian Curse is supposed to be. As a human interest drama it isn’t very interested in the human aspect and the drama isn’t explored beyond its general contours. As a horror movie it borders a bit too much on the fantastic to be scary or tense, and for a very late fantastique (a genre typically practiced in France and Spain) it has none of that deeply intense oneiric quality that the genre requires. It has superficial elements of it and it will occassionally wander into a fantastique moment or scene by mistake, but that’s the extent of it. You never get the impression that Blair’s life as a former felon in any way poses a challenge. Almost immediately she finds appropriate housing and access to fashionable clothes, a cellphone, and transportation. Certainly it’s not the focus of The Obsidian Curse but had that subplot been better developed it would make Blair’s subsequent plight a whole lot more believable. The stakes are never clear either. She obviously wants to be reunited with her daughter, but Donna’s opaque motivations are never made clear why she visits the Obsidian Heart curse on Blair, or how that forwards her objectives. Whether the Obsidian Heart is supposed to be an inversion of the Catholic devotion of the Sacred Heart of Christ is another thing entirely, but not within the purview of this review. That Kitty, Roberto, and the social worker completely disappear and are never mentioned or seen again in the second half only makes matters worse. Thankfully Rene Perez has improved in leaps and bounds in his writing since The Obsidian Curse. Not that that is saying much, but regardless...

Cody Renee Cameron

As a technical exercise The Obsidian Curse is good enough. Perez has mastered aerial drone shots, mobile and moving camera set-ups; and the whole thing is not nearly as static as some of his earlier productions. The rubber monsters refurbished from Little Red Riding Hood (2016) look the part as does the witch attire from The Snow Queen (2013). The remainder of the monsters and the cave witch do look like the cheap Halloween costumes that they are and the handful of zombies were recycled wholesale from The Dead and the Damned (2011-2015).

For the most part The Obsidian Curse feels like a patchwork of mostly disconnected scenes that Perez was dying to commit to film and that he wrote a perfunctory story around. In other words, the various elements in The Obsidian Curse never gel and the only remotely good thing here is Nicole Stark and the movie completely forgets about her halfway through. Cody Renee Cameron on the other hand is too good for inane cinematic swill like this. The Obsidian Curse is more of an experiment in camera set-ups and moving shots than anything else. For all intents and purposes it’s one of those features that should have remained in Perez’ personal vaults, but we somehow got it anyway. The only good thing that came from The Obsidian Curse is that it begat Playing With Dolls: Havoc (2017), Death Kiss (2018) and Cry Havoc (2019). Unless you’re a Rene Perez completist there’s no reason to rush out and see this mostly uneventful exercise in horror banality.