Director: Beau Yotty
Writer: Beau Yotty (Screenplay)
Starring: Beau Yotty, Cat Roberts, Tessa Gardenier, Amanda Michalek, Wayne Lundy, Dan Weisgerber
Plot: Don Slayer is tested to the extreme when he’s forced into battle with a powerful supernatural force, an ancient Goddess of Egypt.
Runtime: 1 Hour 16 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Disappointing
Story: Unearthed: The Curse of Nephthys starts when archeology student Jennifer Hicks (Michalek) is called to a ranch after the owner discovers a mysterious statue on his land, it does possess a power. Don Slayer (Yotty) on the other hand seems to have the ability to sense death before it happens, as he fights of evil beings.
When the statue is stolen, Jennifer tries to make out what she can from the photos, while the Goddess Nephthys (Roberts) watching and waiting to use the power to escape the statue, with only Don and Jennifer being able to stop it.
Thoughts on Unearthed: The Curse of Nephthys
Characters – Don Slayer can see evil before it acts, he saves lives with this ability, his latest vision brings him to Jennifer, as his gift is connected to the curse that is wanted to be lifted by the evil Goddess Nephthys. Jennifer is the granddaughter of a famous archaeologist who discovered an unusual burial that included the statue, she is studying to follow in his footsteps with this being one of her first solo investigations, as she might be the only way the Goddess can be released. Nephthys is the evil Goddess trying to get out of her prison to re-enter the world to continue her reign of terror, even trapped she has the ability to push people int her instructions.
Performances – This is a low budget movie and you can this in the performances, Beau Yotty writes, directs and stars in the movie, he doesn’t give his character enough of an edge which could have made him standout more in the film. Amanda Michalek suffers in her role because she is involved in the video calls which felt like the most uncomfortable conversation the two had ever had. The actors struggle to be given the time to make the impact in any of their scenes.
Story – The story here follows a new discovery of a statue which contains an evil Goddess that wants to become free which sees her using her ability to control humans to locate the person who can get her out. When it comes to anything to do with Egyptian history, I have a soft spot because it does fascinate me, this story tries to build on the mystery behind certain unanswered questions only to not follow through with any threat because we are focusing more on stopping the threat even happening over trying to stop something big that has happened.
Action/Horror – The action does bring us into the idea that we are in a race against time and evil, without being overly committed to show any full-blown action. The horror tries to focus on just what could happen with nothing ending up coming off scary.
Settings – The film is set in Arizona which is nowhere near where you would imagine seeing an Egyptian artifact, but it does work for the film.
Special Effects – The film knows is doesn’t have the budget to cope with big special effects and instead pulls away from doing which is good because we don’t need them for the most part either.
Scene of the Movie – The history of the statue.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The video calls are painful to watch, the people don’t see to have any conversation skills.
Final Thoughts – This is a low budget film that does show the ambition to do something different, the budget however does hold everything back too much and it feels like we are missing a big chapter of this movie.
Overall: Ambitious and Potential, only misses the marks.
Rating
