In Fear - Mini Review

 From the UK, comes "In Fear".  It is about a couple on a somewhat "date" to a hotel in the remote countryside.  Things start going wrong on the way, and soon they feel they are in mortal danger!

The film is good at building the tension.  There are some very creepy moments in the film.  The ending was a little bit of a let down.

There is a behind the scenes feature on the Blu-ray, that explains the interesting way the film was made.  Basically, the actors didn't know what was going to happen to them.

I like the film.  I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Scarecrow 2013 - Mini Review

 This is a mini review for the Syfy channel original movie, Scarecrow.  First off, you might be enraged to learn that this movie does not contain a single crow, whatsoever! 

  The story involves a teacher taking a bunch of trouble teens to a farmhouse, where there is a legend about a killer scarecrow.  The film suffers from lazy writing, the kind many a horror flick falls victim to.  An old legend that no one believes- check, cell phones don't work- check, troubled, sex-crazed teens- check, truck won't start- check, etc.  My favorite part was when five of the characters were knocked unconscious at the same time, and awoke a few hours later, all at the same time.  The characters don't act realistically at all.  They behave irrationally and many times when they are being chased, they take their time and frequently pause to assess the situation.  The movie also doesn't explain many things about its plot.

  There is a lot of overacting in the cast, although, Lacey Chabert and a couple of the others in the cast do a fairly good job.  The creature is not a typical scarecrow.  It is created using Syfy's typical "discount" CGI.

  I did like some of the locations, particularly, the boat graveyard.  In summary, it was an adequate movie, just a typical straight forward kill the teens movie.  I would give it 2 out of 5 stars.

 

Ticks - Mini Review

  From the pre-CGI early nineties, comes Ticks!

  This campy horror film is infested with a  good cast, with many familiar names, including a young Seth Green.

  The story is about a group of troubled teens who are sent to a wilderness camp (filmed in Big Bear, California), to confront their inner demons.  Little do they know, they are about to encounter real monsters, like mutated ticks and worse... crazy locals! 

  The movie is fairly good.  The practical effects are mostly well done.  There were some issues near the end, where there were jumps in the editing.  It was like they rushed through some of the ending shots. 

  I enjoyed the film.  I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Random Acts of Violence - Mini Review

This is a documentary style film about a British man who casually kills people in New York. His main motive for this murder spree is to drive out all the pretentious rich people, so the artsy, real people can return to New York City.

The film has a dry sense of humor.  I think it is inferior to similar films, like "Behind the Mask".  It has a few twists, but I found it hard to stay interested in the film.  Despite being listed on the cover, Kirsten Dunst only makes a very brief cameo, as herself.  I thought she was going to be one of his victims, but no.  A loss of a cool opportunity.

The DVD has no extras.  I would give the film 2.5 out of 5 stars.