Shudder Day: Vacation of Terror (1989)

 Let me end my Birthday Weekend with a bit of silly, imported Horror.

This comes to us from Rene Cardona III, the last (AFAIK) man in the line of Directors that gave us Films of various (but usually dubious) quality between 1930 and 2018.

That's a legacy!

A young guy uncovers an artifact at an old site and trades his portable tape player (this Film isn't dated at all!) for it.

What he doesn't know is that it came from a Woman who was burned at the stake as a Witch.

Around the same time, his Girlfriend's Uncle inherits an old home from his late Aunt.

He takes the whole family- himself, the Wife, 2 Sons, a Daughter and his Niece- to it to enjoy the Weekend.

The kids play around outside and the Daughter falls into what looks like a well.
She's not hurt- why do you ask?

She finds a doll.

This will shock you, so make sure that you're sitting down when you read this.

The doll turns the girl evil and begins to wreak havoc.

I mean, though, it's just an evil doll.

It's not like it could make the walls bleed, inflict internal trauma, throw knives around the room and, I don't know, control cars from a distance like some sort of vehicular voodoo doll.

There's no need to SPOIL this one- you know what is going to happen.

If you want to see it for yourself though, I encourage it.

It is silly.
It is melodramatic.
It is a pretty stock Plot and execution.

If you're new to Horror, everything will come as a nice surprise to you.
For everyone else, you can see all of the beats coming.

That said, I did enjoy this Film.  It treats everything straight- that's the best way to do something so silly.

This same Plot could be done- for instance- by a Comedy Group like Broken Lizard and people would eat it up as Satire.

For me, something this silly- a Witch's spirit inhabits a doll to kill people for no clear reason- is best when treated as sacred.

Also, worth nothing- Julio- the young Lead- is basically just Ash Williams here, just without the roguish charm and charisma.

The only downside for me here is the Actress playing Paulina is just screaming and cowering for 90% of the Third Act.  When she finally does something else, it feels a bit phony.
She doesn't 'gain courage' or 'suck it up'- she's just reached the point when she's supposed to do something.

However, I still enjoyed this one, so don't get burned up at my mild critique.

A silly Film that works for people who enjoy the accidentally funny Films.  It sure was nice of Cardona III to make this one a tribute to Cardona I.