The spooky movie season is in full bloody bloom with fans being treated to an assortment of horror films of all shapes, sizes, budgets, and sub-genres. One such chiller is “The Bell Keeper” from executive producer and star Randy Couture. This low budget feature has a few interesting ideas and it does what it can with the resources it has. But it’s a clear victim of its limitations and its almost endearing schlockiness quickly erodes into something tougher to bear.

Directed by Colton Tran and written by Joe Davison, “The Bell Keeper” attempts to add its own twist to some well-known horror conventions. Unfortunately those few flashes of originality get lost in the movie’s numerous mind-melting issues. It’s the kind of film you want to stay onboard with out of sheer appreciation for the passion and effort. But that gets increasingly hard to do and any good will we had is quickly lost.

The film’s problems don’t lie in its production quality. The filmmakers actually do a good job with what clearly was a minuscule budget. Instead it’s nearly everything else that brings the movie down – cringy dialogue, bad performances, obnoxious characters, a haphazard script and shoddy storytelling. And that’s not counting the hilariously bad finish where we’re inundated with hokey exposition, even worse dialogue, laughably bad ‘action’, and an awful final swing at an emotional ending that doesn’t connect at all.

Storywise the movie follows a group of insufferable friends shooting a documentary aimed at debunking popular urban legends across the country. The group consists of the director, Holly (Cathy Marks), her cameraman and boyfriend, Matthew (Mike Manning), the doc’s prima-donna host, Megan (Alexis B. Santiago), and the meat-headed goof, Gabriel (Capri-Antoine Vaillancourt) whose role I still haven’t figured out.

After recruiting Matthew’s pot-growing little brother Liam (Reid Miller) to shuttle them around in his Winnebago, the group heads off to Bell Lake. Once there, they pay a visit to a secluded campsite where many have allegedly vanished by the hand of an axe-wielding killer named Hank (Couture). Legend says if you ring an old church bell near the site it will summon Hank who…you know…gets to hacking.

Of course our dimwitted group rings the bell and Hank does indeed appear. I won’t spoil where things go but there is a neat little twist. Sadly it never goes anywhere interesting. Instead there is a bunch of silliness about a satanic priest, three sacrificed virgins, an evil curse, and a portal to Hell. It’s all just as silly as it sounds and not the slightest bit compelling.

A few other characters pop up including a great cameo from Bonnie Aarons (“The Nun”). We meet a young woman named Brittany (Kathleen Kenny) who is searching for her missing brother. She’s easily the most likable of the bunch and the lone bright spot. On the opposite side is Chaz Bono who gives a grimace-worthy performance playing one of the most unconvincing sheriffs you’ll ever see on screen. “Grimace-worthy” fits the movie as a whole which, despite its efforts, is never as good as its concept. Not even close. “The Bell Keeper” is available now on VOD.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS