ADN

I love a good ghost story, especially when it's not really a ghost story.

I love a good mystery, epecially when it's not really a mystery.

I love hoodou who-done-its? This was a great flick.

Kate Hudson plays a girl from Jersey who is in The Big Easy (New Orleans) who is studying to be a nurse ansd vol8unteers as a hospice care assitant, someone who eases the pain of dying with the aged who have no relatives who want them. She has a reason for doing this; She abandoned her own father to be with a band when she was young, and he died before she even knew he was sick. This is her self-imposed penance.

She is hired by an estate lawyer to care for a man who recently had a stroke, who live with his estranged wife, in a not-quite-plantation-size southern home of comfort, that is in some disrepair.

I am not sure how much you know about hoodou, the form of magick that permeates the swamps of Louisiana and overeflows every once in a while, but I have quite a bit of occult knowledge, and I spent the first 17 years of my life in Louisiana... It is from that bias I write this review.

Kate Hudson is a dream, and I think she is sexy, perky, and completely obnoxious - exactly like most of the girls in Jersey, where I now reside. You could have taken her out of the movie, and put my own girl-friend in and seen how great a job Kate was doing. I like Kate hudson alot, and always feel a little lighter when I am watching her on the screen. I think its because of her elfin features. Lithe, cat-like, and full of pout. miao.

anyways,..

The cast was great all around - and looked like they really got in the swing of things making the movie. The lighting was awesome, and they had me hooked after one scene. a small transition, where when she first gets there, and she opens the door on her vw red beetle (a sign of transformation in hoodou, so I knew something was up) and the camera pans with the drivers side mirror, and stays reflected until she gets out, and focuses on her. Such a remarkable way to state "Welcome to the other side of the looking glass." I knew within fifteen minutes what they whole movie was about... and still loved every minute of it.

You will not learn alot about hoodou watching this movie,..but there are some genuine elements in it. The reason I say you will not learn about it, is that she is lied to by characters who seek to disadvantage her about certain crucial elements of the magical philosophy utilized. Still, it perfectly captures the mixture of evangalism, french victorian grimoires, and the spicy pot that they are boiled into all that is the hoodou from the land of my birth.

"Flash back" images of racism, subsequent lynching and children taking part in hoodou ritual are the most controversial elements of the movie. The violence is minimal and pivotal to the stage being set. There is a scene with a character making a directly racist comment, but it is completely in character, and not at all derogatory. There is partial nudity, a back and a boob - Kate's, and scenes of her writhing in her t-shirt and panties as she has the bad dreams that let us know something good is going to happen. yum.

This is not a horror movie, it is a "hoodou magic" movie. If you are planning to go see this, realize it is not The Ring. It will prolly not scare you, but if you allow yourself to be led, it will take you on a interesting journey that may -provide some thrills and a sudden jolt at the end, if you know nothing about hoodou.

This has been another vertical movie review, thank you.

raum

Not gonna read it, I was intending to see this movie...I just wanted to let you know that you can hide any part of your review that is a spoiler, and just drop your opinion/rating on it by using the hide command...

[/ hide] without the space on the forward slash of course, will do this:

This is a really short sentence to you, but in reality, it is a spoiler ridden review of the movie...

Cheers..!

I just rented this movie (don't know why I slept on it, I did read this review) and loved it...I didn't figure out what the hell had happened until Kate walked over and lit the cigarette at the end...Great, great flick man...When the end of a movie puts all the subtle things together for you, it is indeed a good movie..

So anyway, since you picked up on certain things that most that view it couldn't maybe you can shed some light on a few things...Spoiler questions..!

[spoil:4e1d0317c2]Why didn't Violet want any mirrors in the house..? When Kate showed the husband the mirror, which was actually the "soul" of the young lawyer, he bout had a fit...When Violet walked into the room and saw a mirror on the wall, she had a fit as well...I remembered from Constantine that mirrors aid in trapping or containing spirits, and also, the other tales and folklore that have mirrors in them...Bloody Mary, etc...As it relates to this movie, what was up w/the mirrors..?[/spoil:4e1d0317c2]

And also

[spoil:4e1d0317c2]When they caught the servants in the ritual...They had already performed it on the children, as I think that the ending suggested...The young girl was Violet, right..?[/spoil:4e1d0317c2]

Question 1

[spoil:f0dfca5322]The Mirror is a spirit gate as well as a spirit cage,... He can escape into it, if the body dies...

If his spirit escapes he could get his body back, by haunting himself.

and Yes, the cross-over was completed, and the couple executed were actually the kids.[/spoil:f0dfca5322]

So then:

[spoil:9acabcfe69]Why did they both freak when they saw mirrors..? Obviously the old man that became Papa was scared of the mirror, but why was Violet as well..?[/spoil:9acabcfe69]

I've already seen a review of this movie on the Movie Show, so it didn't have any spoilers.

Good read though Charlie, thanks.


Is it "hoodoo" or "hoodou"?

QUOTE(raum)Question 1

[spoil:2adee42ce5]The Mirror is a spirit gate as well as a spirit cage,...  He can escape into it, if the body dies...  

If his spirit escapes he could get his body back, by haunting himself.

and Yes, the cross-over was completed, and the couple executed were actually the kids.[/spoil:2adee42ce5]


This sounds like something out of a Doctor Who episode (mirrors).

[spoil:843372e7f9]1. This isn't hoodoo, voodoo, or hoodou. This is straight spiritualism called by some Se'vis Gine (The Dark Service), and based on the French Grimioire Tradition. This is what Voudon wants to be when it grows up. The Magick Seals they use in the movie are in the Sworn Book of Honorius, also called "Liber Juratus", and often referred to (along with the Grimiori Verrum et Arbatel et Liber Ars Notoria) as the "Grand Grimoire." - The Greatest of Compendium for the subjugation and domination of all beings (good and evil) inferior to The High God (that they call) "Bondy'e" Himself (He's basically an African version of the Roman Catholic God with a French name) - be they Demon, Man, Nature Spirit, or Angel. The conjurative liturgies are (for the most part) real, and not unknown to me. In fact, I recognized almost every element of the occult in the movie, and noticed a few mistakes. :twisted:

The word is Voudon, pronounced "vE=oo-doo(n)" the spelling is French, but the word is from the Fon-Ewe language, and essentially means "Spirit." (as the unseen essense which defines the material).

These two in this movie are not a "Houngan" and his "Manbo" ( Priest and priestess). They are far older than that. They are the Ghede and his iwa Ezili that the priest and the priestess ultimately symbolize. This is Od and Ida, the first and second serpents - The Adam and Eve of mankind who live on in their children and live through their children.[/spoil:843372e7f9]

the story is much older than this movie, and is also the basis of a classic chinese Ghost Story, which was developed by the same age of stories that gave us Cinderella.

^^ were you born on a Saturday?

[spoil:008685c8f3]yup[/spoil:008685c8f3]