BEEZEL (2024)
Label: Epic Pictures
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 82 Minutes 24 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, 5.1 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Aaron Fradkin
Cast: LeJon Wood, Bob Gallagher, Victoria Fratz, Caroline Quigley, Nicolas Robin
Beezel (2024) is a witch story that follows several generations of a family whose home in New England is also home to an ancient witch named Beezel who dwells in the old dark cellar, and who has influence upon the ill-fated inhabitants, which we observe over the course of 60 years. It's a film in four parts, opening briefly with a scene of a young boy in the mid-60s who hearing noises from beneath the floor in the bathroom opens the cupboard door beneath the sink revealing a with a trap door, opening it revealing his mother, who clearly looking a bit possessed, who then proceeds to grab and kill the kids. Then we move onto what seems to be the 80's where a VHS documentarian named Apollo (LeJon Woods, The Hangman) arrives at the same house, he has been hired by the house’s owner Harold Weems (Bob Gallagher) to video Harold while he talks about how the house in rumored to be haunted by a witch, and that many people blame for the murder of his first wife and their young son years earlier. He's now married to a new wife, Delores (Kimberly Salditt Poulin), and he says he's making the video to prove his innocence once and for all. As the off kilter interview continues we get the feeling that Mr. Weems is a little bit off, he seems guilty as shit to be honest, and he has a strange way about him that sets of all the alarm bells, and Apollo feels it, too, but when Weems pays him 3x his asking price to keep shooting he stays, bad idea... real bad idea. This segment sets up the idea of a cellar dwelling witch and her influence on the inhabitants of the house, and I love that this segment does not end the way I thought it would. There's also a decent burst of gore with a head torn apart, and plenty of blood.
The next segment picks up some years later, now Delores is living alone and elderly, seemingly an invalid in need of care by a home nurse. Her new nurse is Naomi (Caroline Quigley), and it seems her previous nurse quit suddenly and disappeared. As Naomi settle into the house and the routine of spoon feeding and looking after Delores she notices strange things around the house. She hears noises in the basement, and finds a cassette recorder under her charges bed, listening to it she hear the previous nurse talking about how Delores speaks in a strange voice while sleeping, and has recorded it. This one gave me strong House of the Devil vibes. There are so many warning signs Naomi straight-up ignores, venturing into that creepy basement and a subfloor crawlspace, had me screaming "nope!" at my TV. It doesn't end well for her, as it did not end well for the two previous nurses who "quit". This segment's highlights are a couple of unnerving shots of Delores that smacked of Evil Dead, and a strong turn from Quigley in full-on terrified mode but still pushing on to try to help her seemingly helpless charge, despite all signs telling her to flee.
The third segment moves ahead a few years, Delores son has inherited the home Lucas (Nicolas Robin), after finding the now notorious haunted murder home a difficult sell he reluctantly moves in with is wife Nova (Victoria Fradkin) until they can find a seller. This couple seems off from the get-go, we get the idea that Lucas is having some weird feelings about being in the home his mother lived in, we learn that she was accused of some horrific crimes, and had abandoned him at a young age. Nova is sort of annoying, always filming stuff around the house, a bit of a horndog, but Lucas is unreceptive given he emotional state. Like those before her Nova begins to succumb to possession by the cellar witch.
I was so on onboard with Beezel for most of it's duration, I thought the segments were rather interesting, teh characters are not well developed but in interesting situations, and there's some truly dread-filled moments and gnarly witchy awesomeness that really hit well for me. The sound design and score were also quite creepy, it's well shot, but it just does not stick the landing, and it goes out with a fizzle. It's still worth a watch, but if they had been able to build to a finale that delivered on the promise this would have been a high recommend, but even still there's enough solid about this to recommend a watch if you're down for some witchy wickedness. I also liked that it has a bit of a retro-vibe, calling back to stuff like Superstition (1982) and Evil Dead, which was quite appealing, but again, that finale fell flat for me, but still an interesting witch flick, just imperfect.
Audio/Video: Beezel (2024) arrives in Blu-ray from Epic Pictures in 1080p HD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen. The digital shot film looks excellent with strong colors, deep black and good depth and clarity. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround, both tracks excel with the surround offering some dread filled score and atmospherics creeping into the rear channels. It's a solid looking and well-made indie flick and it looks great on Blu-ray.
Extras include a cool 8-min Making of Beezel featurette, a pair of short films by way of the 9-min Doctor Death and 8-min The Sleep Watcher, both featuring Victoria Fratz, plus a 2-min Beezel Trailer, and a selection of Dread Trailers. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- Making of Bezel (8:22)
- Short Film: Doctor Death (8:44)
- Short Film: The Sleep Watcher (8:03)
- Beezel Trailer (1:52)
- Exclusive Dread Trailers
