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Cast: Steve Hanks, Randy Wayne, Joshua Michael Allen, Katrina Bowden
A group of friends on a weekend camping trip find themselves being picked off one by one when one member of the group refuses to abide by the urban myth that you can breathe in evil spirits when passing cemeteries.
For starters let me say congrats to everyone over at The Asylum Entertainment for having their first theatrical release. The film opens in sanitarium in 1956, for some strange reason the place also performs executions. Today's chosen one to be executed is one time preacher and mass murderer, Dietrich Von Klaus. The execution itself is a bit lengthy as they start by reading off his crimes which in the end was a bad mistake because before getting him into the chair he kills the warden and pokes out one of his own eyes. The scene switches to present day, a group of friends are on a camping trip. As they drive by a cemetery Jerry one of the females on the trip tells everyone to hold their breath. She goes on to tell her friends that if someone dies and they're so evil that hell doesn't even want them they end up roaming the cemetery in search of a body to possess and if you don't hold your breath you can become the evils one's host.
I suppose by now you already guessed that one of the friends forgot to hold theirs and now Von Klaus has entered his body. This is the first of several body jumps tricks Klaus will perform during the film. "Hold Your Breath" is a mixed bag of good and bad, the story makes no sense at times, things just happen out of the blue for no apparent reason but the film is ultimately saved by a few clever and gory kills as well as a few decent twists as the film moves along.
I have been reviewing films for The Asylum since the beginning, back when horror films were what they were all about so when they release a new one I get pretty excited but I wouldn't say this is the of their better ones. The film is flawed for sure but it has a things going for it that makes it entertaining as long as you're willing to leave your brain at the door.
The cast does a pretty good job over-all considering the material at hand, Katrina Bowden is the most "famous" character in the film but her cast members all give good performances so no one really stands out here. Around an hour into the film a new character is introduced and he brings a twist with him, I am not going to give away details here but Steve Hanks plays the older man and he does a terrific job.
Production wise the film is what you might expect from an Asylum production, some of the effects are well done and some are a bit cheesy but they never take anything away from the over-all fun. So in the end I felt that the film could of been a lot better had the script been cleaned up some but if you like horror I recommend checking it out just don't go into it expecting something amazing here.
The film is playing now on Video On Demand so I recommend checking it especially if you're a fan of The Asylum and their films. The DVD and Blu-ray will both be out on January 22, 2013. You can order the DVD HERE and the Blu-ray HERE.
Released by The Asylum Entertainment
** 1/2 Out Of *****