Great Film overall

A different way of telling a story

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Charles Band, of course.I found this cheesy direct to video effort under the "Totem Asesino" (translated to English is "Killer Totme"). As the title suggested, I expected a B-cheesy flick with some involuntary humor and unintentionally funny situations.Well, I got exactly what I expected. The plot is non sense and deals with six teens (only one attractive blonde girl), who find themselves trapped in a cabin a la "Evil Dead" just to be killed (?) by an evil force commanded by a Totem.Well, the Totem eventually makes an appearance as a cheesy horrible monster but that's another story.This movie provides the usual Full Moon cheese plus some minimal but decent gore and horrible acting so, if you are into Full Moon you could enjoy it.If you are not in the mood for typical Full Moon entertainment you will likely hate this movie. I'm like to suffer and that's why I rented this one a few years ago. I guess I should rent in other places other than Blockbuster...

I must agree with everyone else. I too was at a local Blockbuster inAllston/Brighton (for those of you from the Boston area; it's the onethat's now falling apart on Western Ave not the nice one in ClevelandCircle) and I came across one of the many straight-to-video movies theyhad. This one caught my eye because of the intruiging title. Totem. Mustbe about Native Americans getting back what's theirs! Plus the cutechick on the cover is a nice touch. I watched it and it almost made mepuke. How very, very sad that this was made! "Those poor actors willnever make a decent movie ever in their young careers," I thought. Howdid those teens even get to that cabin? The last girl that got theresaid she was in class about to take a test or something. Why didn'tanyone stop her as she left class... or ran down the street... andacross the highway??? You'd think somebody would have grabbed them andsaid, "I'm not letting you go until you tell me why you are running tosome cabin in the woods in your underwear, Mister!" Why THESE teens?ALAS, that will never get answered. Go see a nice non-straight-to-

Group of people finds themselves unexplicitly drawn to a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Once they get there, they discover that they can't leave the cabin as it is now surrounded by an invisible force field and a weird totem seems to be killing them off. Cheap, slow paced (even at 80 mins.) flick from Full Moon Productions is one of their worst efforts to date. Bad effects, wide eyed acting, not to mention an awful premise sink it.Rated R; Violence & Profanity.

In the tradition of Full Moon's excellent b-horror movies comes Totem. The story of six people who find themselves mysteriously drawn to a cabin in the woods. They decide to leave and wander into a nearby graveyard that contains a totem pole, the crux of the film. The gothic style pole has three monsters carved into it. These creature are looking to raise the dead or complete some sort of ritual and they need three victims and three killers.This movie is undoubtedly a product of Full Moon in its style, acting, and plot. The special effects are hysterical. One of the monsters who can supposedly fly sports a pair of wires that are all too visible. Also towards the end, when dead people are rising the make-up warrants an oscar award for a job well done. The corps wear rubber masks that yield no facial expressions whatsoever and when they grab for the people you can notice that nothing has been done to their arms so there is a complete contrast between the decayed face and the skin on the hands and arms.Perhaps not an instant classic, but definitely a movie to sit down to. Ifyou are a fan of Full Moon's other productions you're sure to like this one. Its filled with awkward lines and, as expected, at some parts less than good acting. Even though its a bit short ( about 73mins ), head out and rent this puppy!