Curse of the Forty-Niner (2002)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I liked this film in spite of it being a cheesy, low-budget "slasher." I adore Karen Black, no matter what she's in. I also enjoyed Jeff Conaway's cameo. Stephen Wastell is one of the best of the "unknown" actors in this film. Sean Hines also turns in a better-than-average performance for a film of this genre. The guys seemed to be taking it more seriously than the women. Alexandra Ford's laughable "southern" accent comes and goes with no warning. The plot is reasonably predictable, but offers a few surprises, so I'll leave it at that.Continuity doesn't seem to exist in this film, so it's just as much fun to watch for the inconsistencies as anything else. Rent it or catch it on cable for a laugh, buy it if you're a hardcore fan of the genre. I caught it on the Sci-Fi channel, but now I'm going to order the DVD.

I saw this movie a long time ago, around the time it first came out. Then almost a year after that, I bought it, just for the sake of a song they had on the menu.I read a lot of people's reviews, and the movie was bashed. One of the reasons why I feel that it was bashed was because it's a B-horror film. I Despise B-movies, but, I have to admit, for a B-movie, this one was actually not TOO bad.Sure, It was HORRIBLY acted, directed, scripted, and overall, just cheesy, but do realize, those elements can be total assets to a movie like this. That is why I enjoyed it. The death scenes were really cool yet cheesy. Also not to mention, The "fourty-niner" killer was not too bad. Unfortanetly, he wasn't original; He looked almost tied with The Creeper From Jeepers Creepers, and Rob Zombie.The camera angles ticked me off, but it is a B-flick, and it is expected. I enjoyed what was made of it, even though it was POORLY made, even for a B-flick, because there are good B-flicks.I'll still appreciate what it is. You cant just watch it expecting it to be amazing. It's one of those movies that you have to appreciate with what was made of it.

(There Are Spoilers) Usual slasher film with the story taking place in and around this God-forsaken mine outside the almost deserted town of Sutterille. After receiving a letter map and gold nugget from her brother Jared, Shadrach Smith, Clair and her husband Nick Breman, Carrie Bradac & Sean Hines, drive to the village together with four other friends and armature gold-prospectors Alx & Tori, Steve Wastell & Sangie, and Hayden & Rox Ann, Rick Majeske & Elina to stake their claim. It later turns out that the fact that Jared disturbed the long-forgotten gold mine caused the ghost of the notorious Jeremiah Stone, Vernon Wells, to come back to life and with that restart his reign of terror. Stone, or 49er, is about the most ridicules slasher/killer in motion picture history. Stone looks like he was buried for years under a few tons of coal runs around with this hook slicing people in two. After doing in almost the entire cast local hermit Aunt Nelly, (Karen Black), who's daughter Eve (Alexandra Ford) was also one of Stone's victims, tells those still alive that unless they return the gold back to the Stone mine the crazed miner will never rest until he kills all those who still have it.Aunt Nelly is given just enough time to tell her story before she's turned into a human torch by Stone and ends up jumping into a nearby stream.The movie goes on endlessly with the killer miner on the rampage looking like he's about as scary as burnt toast and just as dark. Even those in the film seemed to show no real fear of him. In one scene when he broke into Aunt Nelly's house everyone inside all charged, instead of running away, him causing the ghost miner to lose his right arm; Stone spent the rest of the movie with a miner's pick attached to his "stump". Besides Actress Karen Black the film "Miners Massacre" also has veteran actors John Phillip Law and Richard Lynch as the town Sheriff Murphy and Old Man Prichard. Passable stuff but nothing special the movie has a predictable ending with the entire gold mine going up in flames. The audience given a hint by the makers of "Miners Massacre" that the end to this mindless lunacy is nowhere in sight and may very well resurface in the very near future in a possible sequel, God help us all!

As slasher movies go, Curse of the Forty Niner is pretty damn good. It feels like an 80s film, kinda similar to the tail end of the Friday the 13th series. Instead of resorting to splatter to scare, Forty Niner uses a lot of suspense to bring in the scares.This works to its advantage. Many low budget films are hamstrung by bad effects or scares that would only shock newbies and wimps. I've lost count of the amount of horror movies, high and low budget alike, that I've sat through without even flinching. Forty Niner made me jump out of my skin at least twice during its short 80 minutes.Scene veteran John Carl Buechler has always known his stuff, and his 80s heritage (Buechler was involved as a director/special effects head with the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street series') shows right through this taut movie. His trademark splatter effects take a back seat to jarring suspense and uncomfortable moments, making the movie a pared down exercise in shocks and creepiness, unlike his earlier effort Deep Freeze, which kind of lacked anything aside from a few gross effects. It's basically a return to form for Buechler.It isn't perfect by a long shot though. Certain effects shots are unfortunately badly goofed, like a woman who gets set on fire where you can see the protective fire-retardant face gear in plain view of the camera. This jars you temporarily out of the film's atmosphere, which is pretty unwelcome.Also the acting is very hit and miss. It has to be said, it's of a far better calibre than many other movies of it's ilk, but some of the characters are so one dimensional that if they turned sideways they'd disappear. This rubs up against the other characters who do a good job of their lines.Personally though, this was a lot of fun for me, and probably anyone else who misses the horror of the 80s. Fans of stuff like Jeepers Creepers and the new Texas Chainsaw will probably find a lot to enjoy too. On a final note though, the movie is not for the faint of heart, as a few sequences are pretty horrific, particularly a segment involving a woman getting pickaxed in the chest, which was pretty harsh (and not in a 'rubbish splatter effect' way) and some other fairly meaty bits of violence.So, if you like horror and miss movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween, you owe it to yourself to check this out. However if you don't know those movies, check them out first then try this.