Bloodtype Online

     "The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine" is an independent film from German director Olaf Ittenbach. I don't know a whole lot about Ittenbach but I do know he has been involved in a number of lower budget horror films. Ittenbach has written, directed and done effects on a number of movies including "Bloodrayne" (for effects), "Legion of the Dead" (director/writer), and "Evil Rising" (director). The bottom line is that he has a solid presence within the horror community and I was interested to see what his films were about. I had only read about the aforementioned projects he had worked on and I had never viewed an Olaf Ittenbach film.

     The film stars a cast of unknowns including Natacza Boon, James Matthews and Daryl Jackson. The film begins with a bang before the opening credits are even far from finished. A murderer who the viewer never gets a solid glimpse at is strolling around a farmhouse filled with people and completely slaughtering them. This rampage includes throat slashings, head bashing and multiple stabbings. I must admit that this truly caught my immediate attention. An extremely gory murder followed by a black screen with the text "costume design by so and so" was a very unique way to open the film. The story then begins right after the previously shown massacre. The only survivor of the heinous crime was a young girl named Rebecca Verlain. It turns out that the other victims were her family. A doctor is explaining her condition to her surviving family members, a two uncles and an aunt. It turns out that Rebecca's brain blocked out the events from the night of horror and that she has know memory from before she arrived at the hospital. The aunt and uncle decide to adopt Rebecca and raise her as a healthy and normal child.

     The film then skips fifteen years or so to where Rebecca is a college student in love with her boyfriend. Soon, she begins seeing things and begins to psychologically freak out as horrible images filter her mind. It all begins in a scene I found entertaining mainly since I was laughing when I don't believe the film was trying to be funny. As Rebecca is waiting for her boyfriend at a cafe, a bloody faced corpse figure appears over the local news. This is the apparition of Rebecca's deceased father and he attempts to deliver her a message of sorts...I guess. This scene just came off as humorous to me probably because of the way the father's ghost acted. Of course, Rebecca was completely freaked out and this was the beginning of a whole bunch of sightings that made Rebecca think she was going bonkers. The remainder of the story follows Rebecca's trip to her family's farmhouse, the origin of the opening scene. It is here where she has a reunion of sorts and the blood begins to spill.

     From a technical perspective filmmaker Olaf Ittenbach does a solid job with what I'm sure was limited resources. Although there were some awkward scenes like I previously mentioned, most of the time I found myself forgetting I was watching a film towards the lower budget side of things. Also, considering Ittenbach's an effects wizard of sorts, the gore and blood throughout this film is incredible. When Rebecca returns to the Verlaine farmhouse the blood really hits the fan if you will. This includes the inventive use of a power drill, heads are shot off, skulls are bashed in and even torsos are ripped in half!

     In conclusion, "The Haunting of Rebecca Verlaine" is a fun little independent film. The plot is thin but it really doesn't matter as most scenes were entertaining even if they came off as humorous when they weren't intended to be. The acting performances were the usual low budget fare as some actors performed better than others. I would definately recommend a viewing for all fans of our site and the horror genre in general. Gore hounds, especially should get a kick out of this one.

**1/2

Jared Bajoras