Hellementary: An Education in Death (2009) User Reviews (3)

Not bad for what it is

[noellebye · 5/10 · 11 September 2010]

Considering the low budget, "Hellementary" is not a bad little slasher. It gets brownie points for some nice cinematography (slick dolly and crane shots, though the lighting is a bit over-done), cool special effects, and an awesome location (which has sadly since been destroyed).

The story, however, leaves a lot to be desired, bogged down by cheesy dialogue, a lack of character development, and a thin back story. The quality of the cast is literally split 50/50: the males are pretty decent (including the up-and-coming Roger Conners, making his film debut here), but the girls are, to be kind, less convincing. And unfortunately, the filmmakers reward their best actors by killing them off too early, though they do end up with some nifty death scenes (kudos for the creative special effects on such a small budget).

Bottom line: For a little flick out of Northeast Ohio, they've done alright.

Hellementary

[Scarecrow-88 · 2/10 · 8 September 2010]

An elementary school, whose notoriety derives from a classroom slaughter at the hands supposedly of a teenage wacko, is perhaps haunted by the spirits of murdered children. Barely indistinguishable college students(they spend most of the film bickering and arguing, irritable and annoyed at each other)break into the school for a project, ripe for the pickings and fodder for whatever ghosts the halls. A kid named Andy was the one charged with the butchering of those students, sent to an institution for the crimes. It's been 19 years, and these college students' parents were attending school that day and yet haven't mentioned that terrible day that gave birth to the urban legend. Some joker named Josiah Creps(Tammy Beckwith)and his students came up missing never to be seen again, once a part of this infamous' school's history. A book of spells which could grant Josiah all sorts of power is what this "soul collector" seeks. Student Jeff, conducting the research(coercing his peeps to join him on this expedition)on the school, wants to find the book. As you might expect, the group splinters off throughout the school, always a big no-no in these types of films. They canvas the halls and rooms, looking around, falling prey to Josiah who not only kills them, but we see the victims' spirits leaving their bodies after death. As expected, the numbers dwindle when Josiah's spirit picks them off one by one. Small scale computer effects for the ghosts, the kills happening absent from our eyes(the filmmakers purposely avoid gore probably due to the limited resources, and instead use lots and lots of blood), and lots of tricks to show poltergeists at play(such as doors opening and shutting, characters pulled away against their will, their friends unable to rescue them from a grim fate). The ghosts of kids attempt to warn the college students to no avail, Josiah(who looks like pro wrestler, albeit old school 90's version, The Undertaker, wearing a big ass hat and long black coat)running rampant gaining new souls. The book Jeff was talking about must be destroyed in order to conquer Josiah. There's a key around the neck of Sarah(Sarah Domanick), Jeff's sister's neck that must be used to open the book. Andy(Andrew Smoley, who also wrote and directed), the one sent to the institution, returns to the school to see that Josiah and the book are destroyed for good. Josiah's make-up reminded me of Lon Chaney's from London AFTER MIDNIGHT. The flame effects at the end are awful. Some of the death sequences(strangulations of those victims Josiah lifts off the ground with ease, a guy dragged underneath a rug, a girl pulled into concrete)are more than a bit underwhelming.

School Can be Hell

[eagilmore15 · 29 October 2011]

This film was well worth what I paid to watch it, which was nothing. It started out promising, but very soon, became something that looked like a cheesy student film. The characters showed barely any emotion in their dialogue and their reactions seemed rather bland. The ghost children were confusing. One minute,the ghosts are telling the students that they're going to die and the next minute, they're trying to warn the students to get out. The characters spend most of the film getting on each other's nerves. There is such little character development that it becomes hard to want any of the students to survive. Classic horror movie clichés, such as having sex and wandering off alone equals death, run rampant throughout the film. The cast names in the credits verify this movie's low budget, as most of the cast and crew have the same name. The very last scene, after the credits, makes no sense at all. This movie's only saving grace was the visual effects of the ghosts. They were very nicely done for such an obviously low budget film. Take my advice, avoid this movie if at all possible.