Banshee!!! (2008) User Reviews (10)

Not very good.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 13 July 2009]

Banshee!!! is set in Connecticut where local man Jack Gorman (Kevin Shea) pulls a rusted thirty year old car out of a ravine thinking he might get some money for it for scrap metal, while checking the car the trunk opens & an odd large cocoon like things falls out. Unknown to Jack an ancient creature known as a Banshee breaks out of the cocoon & starts to terrorise the area, first up is Jack, his wife Rosemary & nephew Rocker (David McCarthy) but when they barricade themselves inside Jack's place the Banshee then goes after a group of camping teenagers. The Banshee kills some of them while the other's make it to Jack's house & hold up inside with him & Rocker. As the Banshee prowls outside looking for a way in the terrified survivors inside look for a way out...

Co-edited, co-produced & directed by Colin Theys who also gets a visual effects credit too Banshee!!! (why three exclamation marks? I mean why not two or four?) is a fairly poor low budget 'Creature Feature' horror film that tries to be a bit different, a bit modern & have a sense of humour but at the end of the day it's a pretty lame film that isn't nearly as much fun as it likes to think itself is. I sort of got the impression that Banshee!!! wasn't even finished & maybe there were a few parts that were unfilmed or unfinished like the baby Banshee maggot thing that literally comes from nowhere, the way a lot of the story is forgotten or never developed like a big deal was made of the fact that a Banshee is a local Irish legend but this is never followed up on & there's no reasons given as to why this thing exists, why there aren't more of them or what an Irish monster is doing in Connecticut killing teenagers. Banshee does have a nice pace about it & it moves along at a fair rate, there are one or two nice moments & certain parts of the film feel quite energetic but the poor story that quickly turns into a standard The Night of the Living Dead (1968) scenario with a group of people trapped inside a farmhouse trying to keep something nasty out & ultimately goes nowhere, poor effects, annoying teenage character's only there to be killed off & a real predictability sink it. A good effort but not good enough really, I honestly can't say I enjoyed Banshee!!! & ultimately that's what watching a film is all about.

There's an unbelievable bit at the end that has to be seen to be believed where Rocker gets his guitar & sound equipment out & uses his (awful) rock music skills to fend off the Banshee which doesn't seem to like certain sounds & the way it is shot is hilariously funny with his Uncle Jack & Veronica in the background dancing & it's just one of those priceless 'what were they thinking' moments that is one of the most absurd things I have seen in a while both from a conceptual & technical viewpoint. There's some gore here, a sharp stick is thrown through some guy's mouth & it exits out the back of his head, there are guts, blood splatter, a ripped out throat, a splattered ripped apart Dog, a pair of legs are seen walking along after someone is ripped in two, someones head is torn off, a car crushes someone & in the best gore scene someones head explodes after a blast of a lethal sound-wave from the Banshee. The special effects are a mixed bag, some of the CGI is alright while at times it's simply awful with some shots looking unfinished & very choppy.

With a supposed budget of about $1,000,000 Banshee was filmed in Connecticut & as yet has no other IMDb reviews (both on site or external) which makes me wonder whether this has even been released in the US yet, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it hasn't been picked up for distribution to be honest. The acting from no-one I have ever heard of is pretty poor & for some reason Deputy Sheriff Julianna sounded (badly) dubbed for the first half of the film.

Banshee!!! does have one or two moments that save it from being a complete 'One Star' disaster but not enough & it's not a film I would ever want to see again. Ever.

Banshee!!!

[Scarecrow-88 · 3/10 · 30 October 2009]

A predatory creature, which can imitate human form and inanimate objects, hunts a group of characters for food..locals in a small town and college students on spring break camping vacation. This winged creature screeches before attacking it's human targets and seems to be using a type of hallucinatory power which can help manipulate the minds of those it plans to assault by emulating it's victims.

We follow a trio of remaining students holed up in the cabin of a local whose wife was lunch for the banshee and his visiting rock singing nephew, not to mention a female constable on patrol, all eventually coming in contact with the monster at one point or another, joining forces in an attempt to both fight and escape it with their lives hanging in the balance. One weapon they discover is that the creature reacts painfully to loud noise, but doesn't seem to be affected by bullets at all.

Some pretty good prosthetic gore effects early on, but the creature is a disappointing CGI abomination. When it attacks law enforcement officers, the lame CGI effects fail to impress, and the series of decapitations are laughable. Quite a low budget creature feature, shot in Connecticut, probably cast using locals. My favorite scene shows the removal of a stick that went through a victim's leg.

Banal

[ledragonquidort · 2/10 · 11 August 2009]

I have to agree with the previous poster who quite rightly mentioned the unfinished and/or incomplete feel of this movie. It's quite evenly paced but there are a few superfluous scenes used as "filler" which beggar explanation. For example, after the group witness two of their number killed in the most gruesome manner they very quickly revert to cracking jokes and giving someone a hard time because he needs to pee!!? I mean.. what?? The creature itself is passable given the budget but the Banshee of legend has more in common with the fairy folklore than what they have here, which seems to be some kind of hybrid "shrieker" from the Tremors movies, I was also reminded of Rawhead Rex (1986). The acting was patchy at best but the most disappointing element of this film was the ending where it descends into some kind of lame pseudo pastiche of visual styles which ultimately fails to impress. That said, I've seen a lot worse.

Interesting but unfortunately unimpressive

[BakuryuuTyranno · 5/10 · 28 January 2011]

Okay, a film about people being stalked and killed by a banshee!!! was pretty interesting at first, especially because as we all know, said critter can make people hallucinate.

Actually, the oddity of the monster was pretty much the only thing setting "Banshee!!!" apart from the average creature feature and unfortunately, not much becomes of it. The banshee!!! does naturally use illusions but inconsistently.

The banshee!!! does wreck some things, like cars and such, unlike many other creature features. Additionally, many supposed central characters are dispatched pretty quickly, and at least on scene featured the banshee!!! killing multiple victims within one scene.

However the protagonist is the most irritating character. She comments on how some guy named Lake keeps stalking her; which is at least an exaggeration, although his making moves on her aren't too common, certainly not nearly as common as her comments about him. Yet apparently she finds his immature jokes funny (in one scene, she's the only one laughing) and... actually it's unclear how much he's bothering her.

The only scene where he is occurs directly after said protagonist flirts with a guy she just met & they start mocking Lake. Naturally this instigates conflict, after which the protagonist calls Lake out on his thinking about her being inappropriate in the situation. Lake also wasn't currently doing anything that was cause for ridicule. Naturally nobody calls out said protagonist out despite her.

Wow...not in a good way.

[robert-brokenflowers · 1/10 · 13 October 2014]

I am not being hyperbolic: easily one of the worst films ever to find distribution. With the exception of the acting (which isn't great really), every other aspect of this film is grossly incompetent. From the writer of the script to the mixer of the sound, pretty much no one knew what they were doing. Obviously, the director deserves most of the derision. Scenes that make no sense and/or go nowhere; moments meant to be gratuitously cool that are laughably stupid; surprises that fail because you've long since stopped caring. Let me give one example: In one later scene, one of the heroes fights the monster by playing an electric guitar solo. It's entirely possible this was meant to be a comedy...but it failed on that point as well. It ranks up there with "The Room," among movies that were made out of someone's shear ambition and ignorance without any regard to skill or content. I highly recommend you watch it so you will appreciate every other film you'll ever see.

Completely Awful

[venuslove106 · 1/10 · 1 May 2015]

This movie came on TV one evening when there really wasn't anything else on, and being a horror fan, I thought I would give it a chance. It was astounding how terrible it was! I think I watched it through to the end in order to see if it would improve. It did not. SOME SPOILERS.. The basic premise is that there is a banshee, (a large, winged creature) killing and tearing local people apart and it does this by emitting high-pitched screaming and/or ripping people apart with its teeth and claws. Strangers get stuck together after some teenagers get attacked at their campsite and some of them get killed. The survivors run until they find some houses and are allowed in by two men. In addition to being huge, fast and winged, the banshee can cause hallucinations which it uses to clone people, which then allows it to get close to its victims. This hallucination ability is loosely explained suddenly by a zoology student who states that the low frequencies the banshee emits are too low for humans to hear and it becomes a hallucination if it gets too close to human eyes.

I am not sure if the writers or the actors were bigger offenders here. Not only were the lines boring and not ever what they intended to be (cool, tough or funny), the actors were not able to convey much either. If you watch this movie, watch it with the intent to laugh AT it and you will derive much more entertainment from it. As a horror movie, which it is billed, it fails miserably.

Yikes!!!

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 20 April 2012]

Actually Banshee!!! is not quite as bad as the review title suggests, but it is hardly a good movie either, at least to me. The only things that stop it from being any worse than it turned to be were some pretty good prosthetic gore effects and a couple of scenes where it is energetically paced. But these few good moments fall far and between because the rest of the movie is to sum it up in one word...lame. The creature of the title is cheaply made, inconsistent and apart from the fact it kills it is not menacing at all. The look of the film also is not much better, the sets are decent actually but the filming generally is static and unfinished, with the use of various styles at the end proving to be too much. The dialogue is choppy and does flow very well, the story is underdeveloped with a high predictability factor, and the character especially the lead are irritating. The acting is not terrible, but it is never above mediocre level. Overall, I've seen worse but Banshee!!! was still a mess. 3/10 Bethany Cox

One Fine Performance is Only Redeeming Feature

[jlthornb51 · 5/10 · 8 April 2015]

While this film deserves to be panned for its overall failure, an outstanding and memorable performance by Kerry McGann redeems this lackluster effort from total oblivion. She is simply excellent as a local police officer who goes to battle with the dreaded titular banshee. Her portrayal of a strong and competent female character is refreshing in this sort of horror outing. Despite a weak script and poor dialog, she manages to make clear what a gifted actor can do in the worst of movies. It is only because of McGann that this is not a complete waste of time. The rest of the cast seems amateurish, as does the direction. The special effects are terrible and the cinematography is abysmal. The film is only recommended as an introduction to the work of Kerry McGann and little else.

Scream

[kosmasp · 3/10 · 3 December 2019]

There is a certain charme to this - if you are into very low budget horror movies. Otherwise there is nothing that will have your attention. Quite the opposite will be the case. The audio commentary which is quite honest in many regards, might be the best thing about the whole thing.

The movie itself - maybe one star less from me. So I guess I was smitten by the filmmakers. Still while I don't like to be negative overall and I don't mean to be here either, it would not be honest me praising the movie. It is very likely that a lot of people are not going to like it. Unless as I already stated they watch it with the audio commentary and maybe in a different state of mind/mood - not telling you how to get there or encouraging you to drink for example ... then again if you're partying anyway ...

Cheesefest of the highest order

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 4 April 2015]

On a camping trip for Spring Break, a group of friends run across a farming family engaged in a deadly struggle with a legendary creature and are brought into the blood-soaked war between both sides.

This here was quite an enjoyable creature feature with a lot to like about it. One of the more enjoyable aspects here is the rather novel creature are the center of the film, which has plenty to like. The design and overall look to this one is pretty intriguing as this one plays out rather nicely here by being quite a unique and enjoyable design which fits the creature rather well. It also has some rather intriguing effects on the other parts of the film by showcasing some pretty intriguing tactics and abilities to make this quite unique. It's primary tactic of a hallowing, debilitating shriek which disrupts those around it as well as giving it a weapon based off its own history and is all executed quite well, while a secondary ability in the shape-shifting causes this one a lot of fun in the few scenes it's utilized. The distrust among the survivors in the house at the end by switching out different people and bring along all the different confrontations in the house due to that are all really exciting which settles onto the film's best aspect which is the rather exciting action scenes within this one. These are spread throughout here which makes for a pretty thrilling pace in addition to providing this one with a slew of exciting moments. The opening attack on the campsite which leads into the chase through the train-tracks through the woods, the two different flashbacks showing the family's struggle with the creature and the encounter in the family barn all manage to include that kind of exciting and enjoyable action while still maintaining a healthy dose of fear for the creature. Along with the rather bloody kills and a fine sense of cheese delivered through the different seduction techniques with this one, it has a lot to like though there's some minor flaws present. One of the biggest here is that this one never really gives this a healthy back-story for the creature. This one never gives up much of anything about the creature or why it's going after the family or why it's there to begin with, and there's little about that which fits this. Aside from this, the only other flaw would be the lame CGI here for everything from the creature and the kills which stands out quite readily, and slightly lowers this one.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity.