All Hallows' Eve (2013 film)

All Hallows' Eve
DVD cover
Directed by	Damien Leone
Produced by	Jesse Baget Gary LoSavio Lisandro Novillo
Written by	Damien Leone
Starring	Katie Maguire Mike Giannelli Catherine A. Callahan
Music by	Noir Deco
Cinematography	Christopher Cafaro C.J. Eadicicco George Steuber Marvin Suarez
Edited by	Damien Leone
Production company	Ruthless Pictures
Distributed by	Image Entertainment
Release date	October 29, 2013 (2013-10-29) (DVD)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

All Hallows' Eve is a 2013 American horror anthology film directed by Damien Leone, marking his feature film directorial debut. The film was released direct-to-video on October 29, 2013 and stars Mike Giannelli as a homicidal clown that terrorizes his victims. The film incorporates scenes from two of Leone's earlier shorts, The 9th Circle, and Terrifier, which also featured the character of Art the Clown.^[1]

Plot

After a night of trick or treating, Sarah (Katie Maguire) is surprised to see that Tia (Sydney Freihofer) and Timmy (Cole Mathewson) have received an unmarked VHS tape in one of their bags. They decide to watch the video which contains three stories featuring a creepy clown named Art (Mike Giannelli). The first features a young woman who is drugged and kidnapped by Art the Clown while waiting for a bus. She awakens chained in a room with two other women. Demonic creatures enter, killing two of the women and taking the third to a room where a devil-like creature rapes her. A humanoid fetus is then removed via c section by the creatures. The second features a woman living in a new countryside home who begins to experience strange occurrences. It is revealed that she is being stalked by aliens, and as she's dragged off by the aliens, she grabs a sheet which pulls away to reveal a painting of Art the Clown. The final segment features a college student driving down an isolated road. Stopping at a gas station, she finds the attendant furiously kicking out Art who had apparently smeared feces all over the bathroom. The attendant fills her tank and goes inside to fetch her directions. When he doesn't return, the girl inspects to find Art chopping up the attendants body with a hacksaw. She flees and a chase ensues. Eventually Art catches her and she comes to on a crude operating table with her limbs cut off by Art. It ends with Art laughing silently but maniacally. Disturbed, Sarah attempts to shut off the tape but to no avail. Art then steps into frame in a dingy looking basement. He approaches Sarah from within the screen and begins to pound the television glass, ending when she destroys the tape. Sarah goes to check on the children only to find out that Art has murdered them.

Cast

• Katie Maguire as Sarah
• Mike Giannelli as Art the Clown
• Catherine A. Callahan as Caroline
• Marie Mase as Woman
• Kayla Lian as Casey
• Cole Mathewson as Timmy
• Sydney Freihofer as Tia

Production

Leone created the character of Art the Clown and featured him in a 2008 short, titled The 9th Circle, and revisited the character in the 2011 short,Terrifier.^[1] The character of Art began with the idea of an unfilmed scene where a woman boards an empty bus on Halloween night, only for a clown to begin harassing her.^[2] Producer Jesse Baget viewed Terrifier via YouTube, which influenced his decision to back All Hallows' Eve.^[1] Badget wanted Terrifier to be part of a different film anthology, with shorts by other directors and Leone shooting scenes centering on Art, which would be placed into other people's films.^[2] Leone did not want to do this so they decided to use footage from both shorts for two of the segments in All Hallows' Eve, and create an all new segment, and wraparound story for the film.^[2]

Release

All Hallow's Eve was released on DVD by Image Entertainment on October 29, 2013. Image would later re-release the film on September 13, 2016 as a part of its Halloween Double Feature Pack alongside the film's sequel All Hallow's Eve 2.^[3]

Reception

Rod Lott of the Oklahoma Gazette wrote, "what All Hallows' Eve lacks in production value, writer/director/editor/makeup artist Damien Leone makes up for in pure passion. One can tell this guy loves the spirit of the season, and it shows in his terror trilogy, which has all the makings of becoming a minor cult hit."^[4] Ain't It Cool News called the film's antagonist "iconic" and "terrifying". However, the reviewer criticized the film's "paper-thin" story, concluding, "As it is, ALL HALLOWS’ EVE has one damn scary clown that’s sure to cause you to sleep with the lights on. I can only imagine the fear would have been multiplied exponentially had the filmmakers spent as much time on the story as they did with coming up with the creepy as all get-out monster."^[5] Madeleine Koestner from Fangoria noted that, while the film had its lackluster moments, it was "legitimately creepy" and commended the special effects, the lack of rules set forth, and strange characters/creatures, particularly Art the Clown.^[6]

Brad McHargue from Dread Central gave the film a score of 3.5 out of 5. McHargue stated while noting the film's flaws, that Leone's direction and special effects "shows tremendous talent", and stated that Art the Clown was "destined to become a horror icon".^[7] HorrorNews.net called it one of the scariest films of the year, writing, "All Hallows Eve, an instant scare classic in itself, tends to transcend its own setting by playing on viewers fears and sense of nightmarish realism. This in itself carries its theme right up to the end to make for a truly edgy creep show."^[8] The film was not without its detractors. DVD Verdict was more mixed in their review, stating that while it wasn't "a bad film", it also wasn't "a particularly good or memorable one" and that it would be "Worth a look if your cable is out and you've exhausted Netflix and Redbox."^[9] Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed criticized the film for being overly forgettable, also criticizing the character of Art as being overly generic.^[10]

Sequel and spin-off

All Hallows’ Eve 2 is a standalone anthology film from Ruthless Pictures and producer/director Jesse Baget containing nine story segments, each with a different director.^[11]. The film was released on VOD and digital on October 6th, 2015, and had a dvd release on February 2, 2016.^[12]

A spin-off, full-length film featuring "Art the Clown", titled Terrifier, was released in 2018.^[13]

References

External links

• All Hallow's Eve (2013) at AllMovie
• All Hallow's Eve (2013) on IMDb
• All Hallow's Eve (2013) at Rotten Tomatoes