Ring of Darkness (2004)

**_Hampered by noticeably bad ‘B’ acting, but dynamic, comic booky SoCal youth-cult horror_** When a popular boy band from Los Angeles loses its frontman, the manager (Adrienne Barbeau) conducts an American Idol-like contest to enlist a new singer. The top 3 contenders then compete for the gig at the band’s coastal hacienda, but something sinister is going on. Shot in 2003, "Ring of Darkness” is similar to “The Lost Boys” (with a little “Dangerously Close”), but on a $750,000 budget helmed by a quickie director. If you can roll with the ‘boy band’ angle, the first half has pizazz and is entertaining. Unfortunately, laughably wooden acting takes over in the second half (not that it was exactly great in the first half). It’s like the production was running out of money as they were filming and the cast members started receiving their lines 5 minutes before shooting. Blonde Irina Voronina stands out on the feminine front as Amethyst while Ryan Starr is notable as Stacy. On the other side of the spectrum, Stephen Martines works well as protagonist Shawn. While I’m giving this a relatively low rating due to the bad acting, it’s amusing and has its highlights, as long as you can handle TV-budget non-horror from the early 2000s, such as the remakes of “Satan’s School for Girls” (2000) and “The Initiation of Sarah” (2006). The movie runs 1 hour, 25 minutes, and was shot in Hollywood & Bronson Caves in Los Angeles and El Matador State Beach in Malibu. GRADE: C-