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The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle
Die drei ??? - Das verfluchte Schloss / Die drei Fragezeichen - Das verfluchte Schloss
Germany / South Africa 2009
produced by Malte Grunert, Sytze Van Der Laan, Ronald Kruschak (creative), Stuart Pollok (executive) for Studio Hamburg, Two Oceans
directed by Florian Baxmeyer
starring Chancellor Miller, Nick Price, Cameron Monaghan, James Faulkner, Anette Kemp, Jonathan Pienaar, Ron Smerczak, Martin LeMaitre, Catherine Cooke, Julia Bremermann, Axel Milberg
screenplay by Philip LaZebnik, Aaron Mendelsohn, based on the novel by Robert Arthur, music by Annette Focks, visual effects by Optical Art, RISE Visual Effects
Three Investigators
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Boy detective Jupiter Jones (Chancellor Miller) of the Three
Investigators wants to find out who has killed his parents, who have been
investigators themselves and who have left him a clue that leads to a
certain Terror Castle that once belonged to Steven Terrill, a brilliant
inventor from the 19th century. So Jupiter drags his two friends Pete
(Nick Price) and Bob (Cameron Monaghan) along to Terror Castle, a place
deep in the woods of hillbilly country, where they at first come to the
conclusion the house is haunted - until they find out that what scared
them at first were only steam-driven gadgets designed to make life easier.
The baddie of the piece soon appears to be a redneck sheriff
(Jonathan Pienaar), who is after the diamonds said to be hidden in the
house, but fortunately, his borderline crazy daughter Caroline (Anette
Kemp) is always there to help the Investigators. Eventually, though, the
Investigators stumble upon the Castle's secret, a diamond-producing
machine, and the villain (and killer of Jupiter's parents) is no other
than Steven Terrill's ghost (James Faulkner) himself - who eventually
turns out to be Jupiter's arch nemesis, the diamond thief Victor Hugenay.
Jupiter manages to capture him, too, but Hugenay makes Jupiter let him go
as he holds Bob and Pete hostage. Ultimately, the whole place blows up, too, and the Three Investigators
make it out alive only just - and empty-handed, even, much to Jupiter's
disappointment. Based on a popular series of boy detective
novels, this film is not as bad as you expect it to be: There are some
moderately original ideas in here, some of the dialogue is fun in a
pretty adult sort of way, and the old-dark-house plot is refreshingly
old-fashioned (think circa 1940's). That all said, being not as bad as
you expect it to be does not equal being good, the film seriously
lacks in the directorial department where actual imagination is replaced
by pure craftsmanship, and the highlights of the story, the steam-driven
inventions of a brilliant inventor, are downplayed as if it were carnival
attractions. Furthermore, the actual horror elements are lost in a lack of
atmosphere, and a few too many clichés drag the story along where a bit of originality wouldn't
have hurt. And apart from all that, the three boy detectives are not
really good, neither the actors nor the characters they play. That all
said, there are many boy detective movies out there that are worse, a lot worse.
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