Dance Macabre (1992) Reviews

• Slightly Above Average Slasher

  liberalblossom152007-12-18

  When young Jessica Anderson is abandoned by her father at a Russian ballet school, she is understandably annoyed. It seems as if her father will do anything to get her off of his hands, including bribe the man in charge of the school's management, Anthony (Robert Englund). In fact, the only reason she's accepted into the academy is because she bares a strong resemblance to his once young and beautiful Svetlana - who is now wheelchair bound and running the school for young women. Nevertheless, Jessica begins to make new friends, who all happen to be better dancers than she. One by one these friends are picked off, and until the third girl dies, no one but the audience knows what is going on. (Jessica only has speculations) Who is behind all of the killings, and why? It seems obvious that whoever it is wants Jessica to dance for the St. Petersburg Ballet Russe, but why her? This flick may not be the most original, but I still find it entertaining. I'd call it a cross between the slasher version of Phantom of the Opera and Susperia, both films I enjoy greatly as well. I found the acting decent, no worse than many other slasher films - Englund is great as usual. The deaths were nice too, I found them inventive and different. There isn't any gore,and only some T&A (but probably enough to satisfy a male viewer in that respect). It's cheesy and it's fun, and there is even a twist ending(which you probably can guess not too far into the movie if you are paying attention...). Overall, a cheesy but fun little slasher flick that I enjoy. It's hard to get your hands on a copy though - so check used copies on Ebay or Amazon.com. Worth a watch for any Englund completest.

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• Second-Rate Production Brings Far Less Than Satisfactory Results.

  rsoonsa2006-03-26

  A doleful fable that one must hope will be the sole example of a Ballet Slasher genre, this socio-cultural hybrid is additionally not unique in any other fashion, with a result that ennui will be the fate of those viewers who may see it, although taking into account the somewhat tarnished reputation of director Greydon Clark, their numbers should probably be few. Although featured player Robert Englund has stated that this affair is not a sequel or otherwise related to the version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1989) in which he stars, its producers, 21st Century, have hired Clark to utilize elements from such a hypothetical undertaking, with St. Petersburg, Russia, as setting and with a familiar theme of serial homicide included in the blend. Englund is Anthony Wagner, a renowned American choreographer who, along with his former lover, Svetlana, manages a ballet academy in St. Petersburg, his partner now referred to as "Madame", and confined to a wheelchair following a long past motorcycle collision upon which she and the now deeply facially scarred Anthony were riding. When a young American dancer, Jessica (Michelle Zeitlin) is enrolled by her father (Clark) at the facility, Wagner immediately expresses his amazement at her resemblance to the young Svetlana, a likeness not apparent to a rational viewer. From among the academy attendees, one fortunate woman will be selected to perform with the "St. Petersburg Ballet Russe" and as the most skilled aspirants are being slaughtered by various means and in rapid succession, it becomes apparent that Jessica will make the cut, this not being the only predictable element within a flabbily constructed screenplay. There are problems here with continuity, substandard makeup effects for this essay in Grand Guignol are risible, dubbing, synching and other post-production processing are shabbily accomplished, the photography is hyperfiltered, red plainly being the colour of choice, and the direction, script and scoring are dullish throughout. The much maligned Clark also directs another low budget film with its setting in picturesque St. Petersburg, and in which there is much to like, Russian HOLIDAY (a.k.a. Russian Roulette), but in that movie he benefits from an abler cast, paced by Susan Blakely.

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• What The Heck Did I Just Watch?!

  allyball-631242017-09-30

  Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. If you asked me to describe this film I would say that it's a crappy fan film of the Robert Englund version of Phantom of the Opera done by a middle school student with no idea how to use editing software, or their brain, and even that would be too generous. This film was originally intended to be a sequel to that version of Phantom of the Opera, and even has Robert Englund in it, until it was rewritten into whatever this mess is. First off, the story is a mess. I had no idea what was going on throughout the movie because most of it is just bizarre imagery and plot points strung together. Plus, what I could follow, was just point for point the Robert Englund film except crappier. That's another thing. This movie had to have been done on a lot budget. Everything is just so unprofessional. The sets, the acting, the editing, GOOD LORD THE EDITING! Some scenes are shot so confusingly or so terribly that you can't tell what's going on. Like in one scene where a character is getting MURDERED, it keeps cutting back to the main character doing some weird dance. This kills all the tension because the character's death is being shot poorly and it keeps cutting to something that kills the tension. The 2004 version of Phantom of the Opera did something similar but the cuts were quicker, cleaner, you could tell what was going on, and it had more emphasis on the guy getting murdered! There are a lot of scenes like that too and it's too the point where you can't possibly know what's going on. Moving on to the characters, I hate them. Almost every single one. The main character, Jessica, was honestly really obnoxious but oh my lord is her "boyfriend" so much worse! Honestly, I forgot the guy's name so sorry for that but I still have to rant about him. He is a creep! One of the first things he says to Jessica, who he has just met by the way, is "Wanna get wet with me?" What the hell?! Yet Jessica still kisses him and later has sex with him! I was honestly quite happy when he died. As for the other characters, I liked Alexander but that's because it's Robert Englund and he plays this character pretty much identically to how he played the Phantom. However, outside of some of the only good acting in this film, he doesn't appear enough to save this film. There was another character I liked and her name was Claudine. She was really nice and friendly and she had a cute french accent. She kind of reminded me of Christine because of that and her curly brown hair. However, she only lasts for maybe twenty minutes. I was pretty upset when she died though so at least that counts for something. As for the other characters, I don't know their names, don't remember anything about them except that most of them died and I didn't care. The same can be said for the romance actually. Okay, Jessica and Alexander interact a bit but most of it is him threatening her and I already mentioned Jessica and creeper. Honestly, the only thing about this movie I enjoyed aside from Claudina and Alexander were that sometimes, it was so bad it was funny but that was very rare. This movie is just overall awful.

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