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Movie Review by The Mortician
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06.04.03
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David DeCoteau is back with a low-level SCREAM rip-off that I picked up at Target for $5 bucks. It's off to a pretty slow, cheesy start and the nonexistent budget is painfully obvious: cheap lightning gags, scenes that drag on FOREVER and suspense that's on the cusp of so-so.After the slow intro (that turns out to be a nightmare of some sort!), the plot revves up: a snotty chick wants to play an APRIL FOOL'S DAY type of gag on her rich friends, having them all fake their deaths at an isolated house during a party. Why? Evidently, this will scare her sister's 'wacky' boyfriend away from her (or into a relapse because he saw his parents get killed or something).So what we have is this: an abandoned house. Teenagers in their 30's faking their deaths at the hands of a 'hired' masked killer. The boyfriend slowly going 'bonkers.' And suddenly...a REAL KILLER entering the scene and offing the kids for REAL! Although the murders are bloodless, DeCouteau manages to generate some suspense and nervous laughs from the viewer during these scenes...As much as I wanted to absolutely HATE FINAL STAB, I actually found myself getting into the soap-operatic script as each person got their comings! This surprised me a lot, and I must say it's probably due to the seriously twisted screenplay delivered by DeCoteau and regular collaborator Matthew Jason Walsh. The weird thing was...everything started to WORK and CLICK for me and by the time we get to the double then TRIPLE twist ending, I was laughing out loud in amusement, having a good time with it all!So surprise of surprises, after a horrid start, the movie redeems itself and turns out to be a fun ride! My only recommendation would be to make the kill scenes a little bloodier and get some darn extras on the DVD---commentaries, making-of stories, etc. would be more than welcome.You can do a lot worse than this SCREAM ripoff, and I think the makers of this movie have their hearts in the right place. It's twisted, fun, and not too serious. Check it out! And the lead actor that looks like Tom Cruise didn't do a bad job at all in his part.Amazing. Truly amazing!
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Rating: 6.5 out of 10.0 - 6 votes cast total
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