Now on home video from Image Entertainment, new Bloody reviewer Sean Howley writes in with his thoughts on Voodoo Possession, which stars Danny Trejo.

Voodoo Possession starring (but not really) Danny Trejo of Machete fame. Despite being on the box cover, his part is rather small and poorly acted, but he’s a known talent so thats what you get. I’d recommend watching the bonus footage first as it contains all the behind the scenes info on why was this film made, what got Trejo involved, etc. Like most of Hollywood today it’s not what you know but who you know. A chance encounter with a producer led director Walter Boholst into meetings and the marketing friendly concept of a low budget Voodoo horror film was born. Why Voodoo? Because it had not been done for about 30 years. In the world of low budget film, standing out is the trick.

How do you do the voodoo that you do? The film opens with a woman sorting through boxes, hearing voices, and ultimately jamming a knife through her head in a rather creative way. Mom leaves behind her two sons Cody and Aiden, who undergo hypnosis to block out the pain of losing their mom to suicide. Cody, as played by David Thomas Jenkins, (who got his start as “Jock Kid” on Dawson’s Creek) later becomes a philanthropic doctor working a medical clinic in Haiti who becomes mixed up in voodoo and randomly disappears. His brother Aiden, portrayed by Ryan Caltagirone, who looks very little like him is a broke, burned out documentary film maker out on his butt who gets propositioned into trekking to Haiti to film and find his long lost brother. They had had a falling out and were not on speaking terms. But you know, family, the ties that bind, blood thicker than water and all that.

So they get a mysterious package with footage on a jump drive, learn about the voodoo goings on where you get to see Danny Trejo’s rather small part in the film. He’s working as an assistant to Cody in the voodoo investigation. Aiden tracks down a Voodoo priest, they perform the ritual, all hell breaks loose and the documentary crew in Haiti, along with the priest and a doctor find themselves in the spirit world, which was apparently decorated by the same crew as Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones as there are plastic sheets hanging everywhere. The film devolves into standard scares, traditional plot twists (you can die in a dream and die in the real world too), oh and a really creepy unexpected plot twist that makes you wonder what they were thinking when they wrote it.

For a low budget horror film though its not bad. The sort of thing you’d expect to see late at night on Showtime. Some pretty good effects for a low grade film including a body being chopped into pieces, requisite stabbing and blood gushing from still living bodies, and a relatively novel ending that I didn’t see coming.

If it’s a dark and stormy night and you’ve little else to do, turn out the lights, fire up some candles, and enjoy… Otherwise this is totally able to be missed and your life will go on just fine.-Sean Howley

2 out of 5 Voodoo Dolls.