Michael_Elliott The Oracle (1985) * (out of 4)Jennifer (Caroline Capers Powers) and her husband move into a new building where one night they mess around with a Ouija board. Pretty soon Jennifer feels that someone is trying to contact her but everyone else believes she is simply going crazy.Roberta Findlay has said quite a few things about THE ORACLE and none of them were good. The director has pretty much called this film horrid and it's really hard to disagree with her. I thought Findlay did a good job at at least delivering a professional looking movie but at the same time it's obvious that her heart wasn't into the project as there's simply no life or energy to the picture.The film wants to be something like ROSEMARY'S BABY but obviously it falls well short. There were a number of horror movies dealing with possession inside of an apartment complex and this here really doesn't offer up anything new. There are a couple nice shots via the cinematography but that's about it. The performances are pretty much weak and the screenplay lacks any real imagination. Even the death scenes aren't all that memorable, although I will say that the opening sequence with the hooker appears to have been influenced by MANIAC.With that said, THE ORACLE is a pretty boring film and its 93-minute really drag at a very slow pace.

Scott LeBrun Jennifer (Caroline Capers Powers) is a young woman who moves with husband Ray (Roger Neil) into an apartment formerly occupied by a medium. She finds the womans' planchet and is able to make contact with a restless spirit. Naturally, this spirit wants to use her for vengeance' sake. Jennifer is able to see images of the people that killed the man, including a corpulent, demented, transvestite, lesbian killer for hire named Farkas (Pam La Testa). Jennifer then sets about trying to solve the man's murder.This is about on a par with the other crude, cheese ball horror pictures that legendary exploitation director Roberta Findlay ("Tenement") made in the 1980s. It's kind of slow to get started, but around the 34 minute mark things start to pick up, as Pappas (Chris Maria De Koron), the building super, fools around with the planchet, and begins to see weird little creepy-crawlies all over him. Ultimately, the movie is garbage, but Findlay herself would be the first to admit it. Therefore, it does have a certain undeniable bad movie charm, at least if you totally dig this kind of thing to begin with.Capers Powers is remarkably sincere in the lead, although she'll probably put off some viewers with the amount of screaming that she does. Neil plays the husband as such a jerk that one has to wonder why Jennifer ever married the guy. La Testa is great fun in her antagonistic role, especially in a scene that's probably just designed to show what kind of person Farkas is, as she slaughters a hooker in cold blood. The corpse effects and the gore are all wonderfully tacky. One of the best scenes occurs when Farkas tries to run Jennifer down with a car. Co-producer Walter E. Sear composed the decent music score.An entertaining viewing for the undemanding.Six out of 10.

Coventry "The Oracle" isn't exactly what you'd call a masterpiece of horror, but it definitely surpassed my expectations and I can't deny having enjoyed it immensely. This movie is like a prototype of super-cheesy 80's horror, with silly plot lines and gooey special effects throughout the entire playtime. As long as you're an undemanding fan of the genre, it'll be pretty difficult NOT to enjoy it, actually. Quite a couple of low-budget 80's horror movies revolved on possession and spiritual media, and even though none of them are able to scare the crap out of you, they always deliver at least some bloody murders and/or atmospheric scenery. The ghostly medium in "The Oracle" is an ancient stone hand carrying the restless soul of a murdered businessman and possessing the life of a newlywed girl that moved in to the apartment where the eerie device was kept. The ghost forces Jennifer to seek contact with his widow as well as his murderers, but also eliminates everyone that tries to help the young woman getting rid of …The Hand. It's very good and original idea of the script to not only follow Jennifer but also the killers right from the beginning. Early in the film, we witness how a genuinely uncanny battleaxe (Pam La Testa) sadistically hacks up a prostitute. We have no idea who she (he?) is at that point, and it's only much later before Jennifer identifies her as one of the killers during a vision. I wouldn't go so far to call this idea intelligent, but it's certainly more creative than I'm used seeing of independent 80's splatter. The massacre of the prostitute is pretty graphic and disturbing, yet the other kills are delightfully cheesy. One guy stabs himself to death because he imagines monsters crawling over his skin, another victim is assaulted by a floating skull and another bloke even has his head clean torn off by a pair of green-clawed hands! It's rather peculiar to notice that Roberta Findlay directed this flick and even in the same year she also made "Tenement: Game of Survival". That movie is completely opposite in tone to "The Oracle", as it's raw and sickening exploitation centering on gang wars, rape & revenge, drug issues and urban decay. I guess Roberta just was a versatile filmmaker...

brandonsites1981 A woman is forced into investigating the death of a murdered man after messing with the former tentant's writing device that is used to contact the dead. Sometimes exciting and scary horror pic with some well done scenes, is ultimately too slow moving and dull to maintain interest throughout despite good premise. Rated R; Violence, Profanity, and Adult Themes.