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andrewsamuels
Reviews
A Chronicle of Corpses (2000)
Artsy and Aesthetic but not a typical Horror Slasher
The aesthetic is great; Between the costumes, makeup, set, and the shots, the fog ;; the Antebellum/Gothic/Victorian style is nearly fully realized from scene to scene to scene. Sound is used to good effect, by way of ambient noise like beds creaking, insects chirping, shoes dragging along, etc. It feels authentic and soulful.
The sound work doesn't always work however. Sometimes the house feels echoey and unlived in, and birds chirping during a tense morning meeting of the family dampens the anxiety. Audio cues are either rare or too loud, music trumpets in and ends as abruptly as it begins. And at another point an actually bloodcurdling scream is softer than the big bassy tom tom drums in the background.
As for the plot, the tension and anxiety of the characters mounts too little and too late. Any urgency on the part of the family to solve the murder mystery is swallowed up by monologues that often read like journal entries (Grandma's is good), and momentum is often lost this way from one scene to the next. The characters who are most fully realized all do so without needing much (or any) dialogue at all (Swales, Thomas, Grady, The Killer, Grandma).
In any case, that's when Chronicle of Corpses is its strongest ; watching Thomas stumble drunkenly in his mourning, Grady swaggering around with his gun - Swales carrying Anna into the church --- The characters feel like they live in the world shown on the screen. So watching them get picked off should be more fun. It's just a shame that we rarely get to actually *see* it.