This movie is so bad, where do I even begin?
OK, so the beginning grabs the audience. Good lead in scene setting up the main character's tragic past. But it all goes downhill as soon as her father shoots himself and his body *flies forward.* That doesn't happen when someone shoots themselves. If they were reaching for realism, they missed it by miles.
The movie fast forwards to the future where *coincidentally!* her brother shoots himself too. Wow! What are the odds that both her father and her brother commit suicide and were also crazy? Once again we have a plausibility fail. But it doesn't end there.
Like other reviewers have noted; this movie is a lot like the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Except, Nightmare on Elm Street was at least original for it's time. Now the formula is just sad. The mid-90s to early 2000s brought us the promise of evolved horror movies (Scream, Idle Hands, Final Destination, Blair Witch, etc), a chance for Americans to get away from the rinse-lather-repeat scripts of the eighties. So what happened here?
It's almost cliché to call this movie cliché; but what else do we call it? It fits. I suppose "unoriginal" comes to mind, along with a handful of other unpleasant words but I'm trying to keep this review concise. This movie is what Lady Gaga is to Madonna; recycled ideas adding nothing new, and just more shock value in an attempt to amp up what amounts to a very poorly written and executed script. Yes, the lighting is OK. The set was fine. The special affects were bearable. But it doesn't matter, does it, when the entire thing is too painfully stupid to sit through.
None of the characters were even remotely likable, despite the fact that the writers tried to make the audience feel empathy by giving each of them a sob story. Madison was sort of likable for a while, but even her whiny self-loathing martyrdom drained dry any chance the audience would give a crap that she wins in the end. Oh great, she lives. There could be a sequel where we can see her once again sulking around in self pity. Hooray?
The guys all act like overbearing, unjustifiably aggressive dolts; and the only one interesting enough to watch was killed off early. I liked String. He was the only one who seemed to have a reason for being in the movie. Ironically he was the first one to go. The writer must be masochistic.
The female characters were two dimensional stereotypes. We see Ivy, the blonde who for some reason must be promiscuous; ready to ride anything that acknowledges her existence. Then we have the saucy Latina who is standoffish and tough; I suppose the writers were paying tribute to Degrassi High - in a bad way. It doesn't help that the movie uses rape and sexual abuse as a cheap plot device to titillate the psychopaths in the audience. This is called sexism.
I really wish writers would get a clue - intimidating and terrorizing half the audience with oppressive ideology does not a horror movie make. If you can't be original or imaginative, then don't even bother. There's a reason why movies like this get bad reviews, and it's not because people are "sheeple" either. It's because movies like this insult people with reasonable intelligence, a modicum of self-respect and basic human decency. Movie companies who produce crap like this for $$$ deserve every bad review they get.
So, in closing, this movie is yet another addition to the mountainous pile of crap already out there. If you're looking for mind numbing, implausible, eighties rewind trash - by all means knock yourself out. Otherwise, best to give this a pass.
OK, so the beginning grabs the audience. Good lead in scene setting up the main character's tragic past. But it all goes downhill as soon as her father shoots himself and his body *flies forward.* That doesn't happen when someone shoots themselves. If they were reaching for realism, they missed it by miles.
The movie fast forwards to the future where *coincidentally!* her brother shoots himself too. Wow! What are the odds that both her father and her brother commit suicide and were also crazy? Once again we have a plausibility fail. But it doesn't end there.
Like other reviewers have noted; this movie is a lot like the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Except, Nightmare on Elm Street was at least original for it's time. Now the formula is just sad. The mid-90s to early 2000s brought us the promise of evolved horror movies (Scream, Idle Hands, Final Destination, Blair Witch, etc), a chance for Americans to get away from the rinse-lather-repeat scripts of the eighties. So what happened here?
It's almost cliché to call this movie cliché; but what else do we call it? It fits. I suppose "unoriginal" comes to mind, along with a handful of other unpleasant words but I'm trying to keep this review concise. This movie is what Lady Gaga is to Madonna; recycled ideas adding nothing new, and just more shock value in an attempt to amp up what amounts to a very poorly written and executed script. Yes, the lighting is OK. The set was fine. The special affects were bearable. But it doesn't matter, does it, when the entire thing is too painfully stupid to sit through.
None of the characters were even remotely likable, despite the fact that the writers tried to make the audience feel empathy by giving each of them a sob story. Madison was sort of likable for a while, but even her whiny self-loathing martyrdom drained dry any chance the audience would give a crap that she wins in the end. Oh great, she lives. There could be a sequel where we can see her once again sulking around in self pity. Hooray?
The guys all act like overbearing, unjustifiably aggressive dolts; and the only one interesting enough to watch was killed off early. I liked String. He was the only one who seemed to have a reason for being in the movie. Ironically he was the first one to go. The writer must be masochistic.
The female characters were two dimensional stereotypes. We see Ivy, the blonde who for some reason must be promiscuous; ready to ride anything that acknowledges her existence. Then we have the saucy Latina who is standoffish and tough; I suppose the writers were paying tribute to Degrassi High - in a bad way. It doesn't help that the movie uses rape and sexual abuse as a cheap plot device to titillate the psychopaths in the audience. This is called sexism.
I really wish writers would get a clue - intimidating and terrorizing half the audience with oppressive ideology does not a horror movie make. If you can't be original or imaginative, then don't even bother. There's a reason why movies like this get bad reviews, and it's not because people are "sheeple" either. It's because movies like this insult people with reasonable intelligence, a modicum of self-respect and basic human decency. Movie companies who produce crap like this for $$$ deserve every bad review they get.
So, in closing, this movie is yet another addition to the mountainous pile of crap already out there. If you're looking for mind numbing, implausible, eighties rewind trash - by all means knock yourself out. Otherwise, best to give this a pass.