Haunted Traxx (2009) User Reviews

Really bad horror thriller.

[poolandrews · 2/10 · 9 November 2010]

Lonely Joe starts in New York where Michele Conelly (Erica Leershen) works for the New York Journal newspaper as a, well, journalist. Ten years earlier in her home town of Solvay in Albany her brother James Connelly (Mike Cauchon) was brutally murdered by an old farmer in his 60's who later turned out to be a serial killer responsible for several murders, nicknamed Lonely Joe (David Fine) he was a loner & no-one really knew anything about him or why he killed so many people. Recently Michele has been suffering from intense nightmares & after doing a little research discovers that there has been numerous more mysterious disappearances near Joe's old farm & where her brother James was killed. Driving back to Solvay to write a story about a possible unknown serial killer at large Michele starts asking questions & local Sheriff Scoggins (Peter Speech) tries to warn her away but Michele is insistent & finds out that the town still has dark secrets to hide...

Written, produced & directed by Michael Coonce who also has an acting role in the film as Bobby Butler the opening credits of Lonely Joe claim it's based on 'True Events' (apparently a case in South Texas from the 1980's) although one has to take that with a pinch of salt & one should assume that the majority of Lonely Joe is pure fiction. Lonely Joe seems to have been thrown together rather awkwardly, there's some supernatural nonsense at the end which is supposed to pass for a twist but comes across as desperate & exactly what you were think would happen anyway, The Sixth Sense (1999) has a lot to answer for with it's countless rip-offs that try to steal it's twist. Lonely Joe is a rather uneventful film too, the main focus is Michele & we follow her around as she ask's a few questions & starts to discover the sinister goings on. There are some dumb moments, like when Michele meets her friend Ben again after he has been missing for an entire day & doesn't even bother to ask him where he's been & the flashback scenes which are never really tied into anything other than they happened at the same place. The story is just dull, Michele seems to go round in circles in order to pad the running time out before a supernatural ending which is at odds with the (very) slow steady thriller that Lonely Joe has been up to that point. Lonely Joe is just a boring mess all round really, a plot that takes ages to get to a rubbish twist, only one main character, bad dialogue & an entire town who are seemingly happy to tell complete strangers everything they know except the Sheriff who wants to sweep it all under the carpet despite three missing Deputies which no-one else was obviously bothered about.

Lonely Joe flirts between being a drama, a horror & thriller & succeeds at being none, the whole film is flat & ponderous with a really bland search for the truth no matter how awful it is plot. Forget about any gore, there are a few dead bodies seen but nothing else, forget about any scares or atmosphere either. Look, just watch Se7en (1995) or The Silence of the Lambs (1991) again if you want a proper serial killer murder mystery thriller & watch a proper horror film if you want some decent blood & scares. Lonely Joe looks cheap even by low budget indie horror standards, the entire thing looks really ugly actually.

With a supposed budget of about $1,000,000 this is an unremarkable looking film, it has a cheap low budget look about it with static & boring camera-work along with forgettable music & production values. Filmed in Syracuse in New York & the real town of Solvay. The acting is below average, I thought there were some really bad performances here although leading lady Erica Leershen is actually quite cute.

Lonely Joe is a waste of time, it's a boring thriller with a slight supernatural edge that feels more like an afterthought than anything else. The story just didn't grab me, it just didn't entertain me & it's so bland I will have forgotten all about it by the end of the week (thankfully).

"Why!? I only wanted to know the truth!" An effectively creepy farm country mystery horror that is undeservedly forgotten.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 13 May 2015]

I've been watching these independently made horror films for years now, and I very much prefer and find them a much more reliably enjoyable alternative to the 'official' trash that Hollywood shoves down the collective throat every year, like those stupid Paranormal Activity movies that just go for the jump scare and have virtually nothing else about them. Anyway while this is an independent horror flick that I wouldn't go so far as to call 'deep', there's certainly a bit more to it than meets the eye. To be sure it is very rough around the edges, and while it tries hard to tell a good story, it all soon just comes across as a little muddled and on the dumb side. It has good potential but is filled with unanswered questions, but regardless I personally still really enjoy the concept of it a lot, and how it somewhat delves into the charming oddness of small country towns and plays upon eerie themes of local legends. It is engaging and it held my interest, and in terms of atmosphere it positively excels. In fact its atmosphere strongly reminded me of a good Stephen King story, in that it's set in a close- knit rural town and there are several minor characters that come and go who together add a lot to the overall richness of the narrative. I love all the scenes where the main character learns bits and pieces of the town's dark and haunting history, and of why Joe the old hermit farmer turned homicidal from folks around the town. I especially liked the beyond-eccentric town historian and the crazy redneck sheriff from Mars who liked to threaten people with his pistol for information, as well as seemingly being completely unable to utter a single sentence that did not contain the F-word! It's plot is so irritatingly vague and tantalising, and it feels like they're deliberately stringing out the mystery for as long as they possibly can because they're well aware that they have no real answers to give at the end, and it only gets weirder the longer it drags on and it does get a little repetitive in its idea. I think it could have done with trimming some of the fat from the scenes that wear on a mite too long so it wouldn't have felt so damn long in the tooth while you're watching it. Erica Leerhson carries the film valiantly and you feel her character's paranoia and fear as she spirals deeper into the foreboding mystery of why her brother was murdered as well as the disused railway tracks where people disappear without a trace. The cinematography was very well done, with many cold and stark shots of beautiful open country lanes and woodland. It has a high quality crisp picture for a film of this budget. I admit the ending leaves a lot to be desired. After everything "Michelle" goes through in her search for answers she just turns around and walks right into Lonely Joe's scythe and becomes another one of his victims. She just winds up a part of the cursed haunted landscape, trapped with all the other spirits, unable to escape, ever... And the way it's done just leaves you wondering what the hell's going on as it flashes from her being impaled to her being interrogated by the police, back to her as a ghost looking down on her own dead body and then inexplicably shooting in the back the officer that discovers her corpse, and then it ends. The film seems to get so confused and plain tired with itself by that point, as if they didn't know how to end their own movie except that they wanted it over fast! It is not even close to a satisfying conclusion to what I thought was a highly intriguing ghost story, but sometimes the destination is not as important as the journey, and this still to me is a quaintly good and effective picture. There ain't much genuine meat on the bone, but there's plenty of tasty nibbles! I'm sure most will have found it poor and it probably does take an acquired taste and a lot of patience to really like a film like this, but I do and I suggest that you give it a chance should you ever come across it. It does have its good qualities, it is haunting and chilling and is worth a shot. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Great movie!

[lo821 · 8/10 · 2 November 2008]

I got to see this movie last summer when it was screened in Syracuse, NY. My friend invited me to go as it was filmed in the area so I thought it would be fun as not much gets shot around here. I didn't know anything about the movie only that it starred the blonde chick from Wrong Turn 2.

The movie wasn't 100% completed but that didn't bother me much. The film follows a woman (Erica Leersen) when she travels back to her hometown to try and find out what happened to her brother and other people that have disappeared in the area.

The film opens with a great scene. Very exciting and really grabs you from the start! The acting is especially good! Kudos to Miss Leersen who was fantastic in her role of Michelle. There are some great stand out scenes in the film with her. I really liked the drama aspect to the film. There is some emotional scenes in the film such as the ones with Michelle and her Mom who is in a nursing home suffering from Alzeimers. Also very good in the film was Ben who plays Michelle's friend and the actor that played Joe was very creepy.

I really liked the cinematography which is really impressive towards the end of the movie. Speaking of the end of the movie - Wow! I really would like to talk about the ending but seeing as the films not been released yet I'm going to keep quiet. All I'm going to say is that the ending was AWESOME! I kinda got a bit bored 3/4 way into the movie but things quickly changed! So I highly recommend this film to everyone! Horror fans will really dig this but it will appeal to a lot of other people too. It has a great story and amazing ending! Erica fans will not want to miss this!