Curse of the Talisman (2001) Reviews

• A nice time-waster.

  Individ_Paddel2002-11-24

  Hmm... This movie was nice, but not very intelligent. The guy who wrote it doesn't seem to have understand the difference between alchemy and black magic. The only really cool thing about this movie, is that the main character drives a VOLVO, without even having a drivers licence! As a Swede, this makes me very warm at heart...

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• Come On Chaps It`s Not That Bad

  Theo Robertson2003-08-12

  I couldn`t fail to notice the very harsh comments CURSE OF THE TALISMAN is getting on this page . Okay I admit a film featuring stone gargoyles from ye olde England turning up in Australia with murder on their mind isn`t going to be a classic movie but there were two things I should point out to everyone 1 ) The lack of gore . So it`s a TVM therefore there`s restrictions , but regardless of why it`s a nice change to see a horror movie without arms and legs getting bitten off every five minutes 2 ) Praise the lord there`s no CGI . As far as I could see the gargoyle effects were achieved by stop frame animation . I hope to see this special effect reintroduced into all films that require it because I got fed up with CGI in nineteen ninety something Oh and weren`t those gargoyles cute ?

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• Middle-of-the-road Sci-Fi Channel feature

  slayrrr6662007-08-04

  "Curse of the Talisman" is a decent enough creature feature. **SPOILERS** Attempting to do a favor, teenager Jeremy Campbell, (Jesse Spencer) is given a strange statue from his work and keeps it in his basement. Given a box of strange charms as well, he becomes fascinated with a strange talisman found inside. Using it as leverage to meet Fiona, (Sara Gleeson) and Miranda, (Tempany Deckert) from school and get invited to a Halloween Party, he becomes convinced that the statue has come alive and produced a hibernating bat. Tracking down the collection, priest Eccleston, (Rob Mullinar) arrives in town to see that the statues are safe, which really contain a race of gargoyles from the Middle Ages that were to destroy the world before being turned to stone. It manages to get loose from his basement, it launches a reign of terror through the community that doesn't seem to end. Realizing the true intentions of the gargoyles, they race to stop them before they complete their mission. The Good News: Though there wasn't much, this here does a few points to it. Once the creatures get on screen, they're not all that bad looking. With the dragon-like face, horned beak, demonic eyes and a scaly, feather-covered skin that makes them look quite nice. While their ugliness may be called into question with how they look, they're at least acceptable-looking in their design. Realization is different, but the look itself is enough to get over. The initial resurrection of the horde inside the museum is quite good, as the low-light from the flashlights illuminating the statues and makes for an eerie scene. The sight of the crackling and breaking statues within such a spooky-looking setting already adds more to the scene that's there. The first trap to take them out is a nicely action-packed with a pretty ingenious plot to take them out. The film's at it's best point, though, when it's at the conclusion in the museum. This includes the resurrection scene as well as several others that are included which are quite fun and features some great scenes fighting off against the creatures. Even the method to take them out completely is fun, is quite unexpected and really comes out logically in the situation and really throws up a lot of positive points for it. These are fun encounters which really help the movie immensely and really deliver it on most of it's potential. Overall, this was a pretty fun little film. The Bad News: This one here doesn't have a whole lot of flaws, but what's there is important. The main one is that the film, as a whole, gives off a really cheap feeling. The fact that there's not a whole of scenes with the creatures speaks a whole lot, as there's something about the lack of time with them that simply speaks that it's cheap. That there's so few and are so short makes them seem all the more that they're not at all the focus of the story. The fact that they're all spread out at the end of the film makes it even more obvious, since the beginning is quite boring. That most of it is taken up with a really lame and quite clichéd love story really kills the majority of the film is spent on that kind situation. Though here it's not as painful as others, the sheer fact that it still makes an appearance will warrant a strike against it. The shortness of the film's action scenes is one of the other really big factors as well, which makes the film really feel all the more cheesy. Things begin to get interesting and a short-cut is found to end the scene before it gets too loaded down for it's own good, further lessening the film and it's attempts at providing an exciting shot. These here are the film's biggest flaws. The Final Verdict: A simply cheesy creature feature that offers up nothing new, it does have a few moments within which are at least watchable. See this one only for the cheesy creature feature lovers, while all others should avoid this one or proceed with the most extreme caution. Rated R: Violence and Language

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• Don't play with gargoyles unless you're bored.

  HUMAN1TY2005-10-12

  Jeremy (Jesse Spencer) has an awesome job at an odds and ends occult/Halloween party surplus store. His best friend Darryl (Max Garner Gore) is a nerd, and his love interest, Fiona (Sara Gleeson), is a babe. Jeremy is late for work, and his boss is angry. Is Jeremy's pay going to get docked? No! He just has to babysit a stolen Medieval gargoyle statue and accompanying talisman kit. Jeremy's not sure at first but finally gives in, taking the 'gnarly little dude' home with him. Stashing the gargoyle in his basement, Jeremy retires to his room to play with the talisman. Oh no, look at that, he pricks his finger on it and now all hell breaks loose. What follows is series of less than spectacular scenes with the gargoyle flying around and killing dogs, people, and staring lovingly through a window at his kin on display in the local museum. By the end of this movie I didn't know whether to cry or applaud it for its effort- because the results are a mixed bag. On one hand, it's not such a bad way to waste ninety-two minutes. On the other, you could've spent that ninety-two minutes writing a script for your own horror movie that would more than likely be better than this one. I say if you find yourself in the same predicament I did and this movie is on Sci-fi at five o'clock in the morning, you might as well watch it because even with its horrible script, it's more entertaining than watching Tony Little and John Basedow talk about themselves.

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• Abject nonsense

  lorenellroy2002-08-30

  Poor on every level-effects,script and acting-this turgid flick sees a number of Australian actors,familiar to Uk audiences through daytime soaps,impersonating Americans (badly)and a Brit(slightly less badly)as they attempt to thwart demons released from imprisonment inside stone gargoyles shipped from Yorkshire to America as part of a museum exhibition It simply will not do.

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