Curse of the Forty-Niner (2002)

Absolutely brilliant

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

And believe me that's a pretty stunning accomplishment. Take "Jolly Roger: Massacre at Cutter's Cove," change the killer from a pirate to a prospector, change his obsession from buried treasure to old gold, and his color from puke green to deep blue. You now have "Miner's Massacre." The problem is, at least "Jolly Roger" was entertaining enough -- albeit in a so-bad-it's-good way -- to keep you watching it for the whole two hours. There's no strip-joint-murder scene or any bizarre killings. I can't tell you how many times I lost interest in "Miner's Massacre" and started doing dishes or cleaning around the condo. And, the ending is absolutely silly. The 49er dude just randomly re-appears out of nowhere to kill the local sheriff, while the lead actor and actress are sitting in the sheriff's cruiser, screaming. A truly horrible movie.

Director and FX man John Carl Buechler doesn't have to do much in order to terrify me; the sight of his name in the credits alone is enough to strike fear into my heart.His lamentable straight-to-video output in the 80s sat on the bottom shelf of the horror section at my local rental shop; twenty years later, and his DVDs occupy the same space. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. You can rely on old JCB to serve up dreck, whatever the format and regardless of advances in movie-making technology.In this contemptible offering, a bunch of friends travel to a remote town where they discover the secret treasure hoard of Jeremiah Stone, AKA the forty-niner—an evil, claim-jumping, cannibalistic miner who caused havoc in the mid-1800s. Before his death, Jeremiah cursed anyone who should find his gold, and it's not long before the pick-axe wielding killer is back, bumping off the hapless treasure seekers.With its dreadful script, unimpressive make-up effects and Scooby-Doo style villain, 'The Curse of the Forty-Niner' is par for the course for Buechler. Only genre stalwarts Keren Black, Richard Lynch and John Phillip Law lend this movie any credibility whatsoever, with the rest of the cast giving performances ranging from bad to awful (although I'll forgive Alexandra Ford, who is a complete hottie).Even fans of bad schlock horror will be disappointed since most of the women keep their clothes on, and a lot of the deaths occur off-screen (which is probably not such a bad thing since the on-screen deaths are pathetic).'The Curse of the Forty-Niner' is another in a long list of duds for John Carl.

I saw this movie a long time ago, around the time it first came out. Then almost a year after that, I bought it, just for the sake of a song they had on the menu.I read a lot of people's reviews, and the movie was bashed. One of the reasons why I feel that it was bashed was because it's a B-horror film. I Despise B-movies, but, I have to admit, for a B-movie, this one was actually not TOO bad.Sure, It was HORRIBLY acted, directed, scripted, and overall, just cheesy, but do realize, those elements can be total assets to a movie like this. That is why I enjoyed it. The death scenes were really cool yet cheesy. Also not to mention, The "fourty-niner" killer was not too bad. Unfortanetly, he wasn't original; He looked almost tied with The Creeper From Jeepers Creepers, and Rob Zombie.The camera angles ticked me off, but it is a B-flick, and it is expected. I enjoyed what was made of it, even though it was POORLY made, even for a B-flick, because there are good B-flicks.I'll still appreciate what it is. You cant just watch it expecting it to be amazing. It's one of those movies that you have to appreciate with what was made of it.

As slasher movies go, Curse of the Forty Niner is pretty damn good. It feels like an 80s film, kinda similar to the tail end of the Friday the 13th series. Instead of resorting to splatter to scare, Forty Niner uses a lot of suspense to bring in the scares.This works to its advantage. Many low budget films are hamstrung by bad effects or scares that would only shock newbies and wimps. I've lost count of the amount of horror movies, high and low budget alike, that I've sat through without even flinching. Forty Niner made me jump out of my skin at least twice during its short 80 minutes.Scene veteran John Carl Buechler has always known his stuff, and his 80s heritage (Buechler was involved as a director/special effects head with the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street series') shows right through this taut movie. His trademark splatter effects take a back seat to jarring suspense and uncomfortable moments, making the movie a pared down exercise in shocks and creepiness, unlike his earlier effort Deep Freeze, which kind of lacked anything aside from a few gross effects. It's basically a return to form for Buechler.It isn't perfect by a long shot though. Certain effects shots are unfortunately badly goofed, like a woman who gets set on fire where you can see the protective fire-retardant face gear in plain view of the camera. This jars you temporarily out of the film's atmosphere, which is pretty unwelcome.Also the acting is very hit and miss. It has to be said, it's of a far better calibre than many other movies of it's ilk, but some of the characters are so one dimensional that if they turned sideways they'd disappear. This rubs up against the other characters who do a good job of their lines.Personally though, this was a lot of fun for me, and probably anyone else who misses the horror of the 80s. Fans of stuff like Jeepers Creepers and the new Texas Chainsaw will probably find a lot to enjoy too. On a final note though, the movie is not for the faint of heart, as a few sequences are pretty horrific, particularly a segment involving a woman getting pickaxed in the chest, which was pretty harsh (and not in a 'rubbish splatter effect' way) and some other fairly meaty bits of violence.So, if you like horror and miss movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween, you owe it to yourself to check this out. However if you don't know those movies, check them out first then try this.