When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
View MoreThere is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
View MoreThis film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
View Morewhat a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
View MoreAlternately boring and creepy, stream-of-consciousness home movie about five obnoxious teens hangin' out around town, checking out some supposedly haunted places on the outskirts of their tiny little town in Ohio. These little nitwits play pranks, puke, and generally act like obnoxious teens for about 80 minutes of the footage, but the other 15 minutes of it, was very creepy, and really got to me. Something about this movie stuck in my mind, more so than its obvious inspiration, The Blair Witch Project, a film which I have never been a fan of. This film has the similar look and tone, but largely different story and ideas, of the people of a small town exacting a horrific revenge on these little pricks. When the teens first think they see something in the dark in the woods, I watched the scene again to see if there really was something there. I didn't do that at any time, for any scene, in the BWP. The twins standing by the windows, blankly staring out at them, as simple as that may be, was supremely creepy, as was the little girl's voice on the radio. And the ending was brutal, very cold. But, for all its suspense in those scenes, I couldn't help get the feeling that these were just unbelievably boneheaded teenagers who, basically, get just what's coming to them. Also unusual and unique to this film is that such a major plot twist actually takes places *after* the closing credits.I'll definitely check this film out again, which is more than I can say about its obvious inspiration, The Blair Witch Project.
View MoreIt's not that uncommon for me to start a movie and be so turned off by it that I *actually* turn it off. It is uncommon, however, for me to give a movie a second chance and then be totally blown away by it. I stopped watching "June 9" about 37 minutes in, weary with the juvenile antics of the largely unlikable cast, the derivativeness of many scenes (the opening is almost stolen frame by frame from the opening tracking shot of "Halloween," down to the look and lighting) and the slowness of the story. I went to my PC and brought up IMDb, and the reviews here persuaded me to stick with it. I'm glad I did."June 9" effectively chronicles the first week of Summer vacation in a sleepy suburb of Cuyahoga Falls Ohio, as cool kids Robert and Derek cart their introverted sidekick Birdie, Derek's sister, and his girlfriend around in Robert's beater van. The inevitable boredom of Summer break-down almost immediately settling in, the quintet soon tire of playing their grade-school league pranks and become curious about the legends and myths that have grown up around Boston Mills, a neighboring town. The wild pot plants on the outskirts of the local nature preserve are an added bonus.What writer/director T. Michael Conway lacks in framing ability --- the jacking off and practical jokes that embody much, much too much of the film's first half will get on your nerves --- he more than makes up for in some truly isolating and disturbing images: an abandoned shed is stocked with stone statues not out of place in a cemetery supply shop; shadowed figures stiffly stand, silently staring through windows; a white gowned, masked figure is briefly seen standing in a vacant field --- we see it, our protagonists don't. There's also a sequence where a character creeps into one of the townie's houses that is quite frankly one of the tensest five minutes I've experienced in a while.Yes, these characters are annoying but the kids playing them are frankly very natural and don't seem for a minute to be "on stage." Their naturalness makes the climax even more unsettling and I for one was pleasantly surprised by its unrepentant savagery. And perhaps the indifference and irritation we feel for them is intended, and this point really turned me around on my opinion of this film. Perhaps what is most disturbing about "June 9" is that it's not really a supernatural ghost hunt at all...it's about rural country people protecting what's theirs. I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere and that attitude is very much present in most communities. They'll leave you alone if you leave THEM alone...you screw with them, and they'll f*** you up...good.
View MoreThis is an interesting low budget movie that is shot in a Blair Witch style with the characters carrying the camera around with them. Unlike the knock-offs, this movie has a different and entertaining story line. There are three teenage guys and a couple of girls who spend a few days in June driving to a nearby community called Boston Mills. There are all sorts of stories about the town, which is nicknamed HELLTOWN. They include a haunted bus, the crazy lady who killed her kids and the creepy church. Pretty much the standard legends that most small towns have that capture the imagination of bored kids. Along with visiting all the sites, they get into trouble with some of the locals, which results in some vandalism and several really creepy encounters. All of this comes to a bloody end when they return one final time to recover a missing purse.This is a very well made and entertaining independent movie that I enjoyed way more than I thought I was going to. While I'm among those that wish the first person video camera movie phase that has been popular of late would pass, this movie still sucked me in. The story is different and combines the recent trend of kids taping themselves doing the dumbest things with a horror movie. I've never seen anyone approach one of these movies this way and found it very creative. The story is filled with the sort of local legends that anyone who grew up in a rural area will immediately relate to. Of course in my case, being from Ohio and knowing something about where they were shooting, only made that more fun. Now the movie does slow down a bit and get repetitive towards the end as they keep going back when most people would have bailed, but the ending is so killer that it more than makes up for that. I also need to say that I have no idea where director T. Michael Conway found his cast, but well done. They are all young actors that in most cases seem to have nothing on their resume other than this movie. They are all very good and natural. Not once while watching the movie did I ever even notice that they were acting. This is so rare to say about an independent movie that I just had to point it out.This movie is supposed to be shot by one of the kids with a consumer video camera and looks like it was. If you are looking for well-lit, superbly polished camera work this is the wrong movie for you. Also if you are susceptible to motion sickness (like I am) you might just get a little sick to your stomach watching this movie (I was by the end). But for me, that just made the movie more effective and was part of the experience. In addition to the previous, there are also a couple of really effective creepy moments that are captured on the camera nicely. There is a bit with some night vision and a mysterious figure in the woods that was scary and another with a couple of people standing in a house staring out the windows that also worked nicely. Speaking of scary, the voice on the CB radio freaked me out just a bit.This is one of the creepier independent movies that I've seen in a long time. My big rule with movies, regardless of funding, is whether they entertained me. While June 9 had a micro budget and looks like it, I still had fun with it. I've always thought that a talented filmmaker could make a decent movie on any budget and I believe June 9 proves my point. I recommend that horror fans give the movie a chance to surprise them.
View MoreThere has long been a tradition in shoe-string horror movies for the filmmakers to capitalize on their lack of studio equipment and funding by deliberately capturing a raw, realistic atmosphere to make the events on screen more believable. "The Blair Witch Project" probably took the cake in successfully convincing the world that what was taking place in the film really happened, but it was certainly not the first to do so, owing quite a bit to the controversial 1980 Italian film "Cannibal Holocaust" and the 1992 BBC special "Ghostwatch." Legion Filmworks now presents another pseudo-realistic shocker, "June 9." Written, produced, and directed by T. Michael Conway, this direct-to-DVD feature was filmed entirely on a digital camera to give it an eerily authentic feel and, like "Blair Witch," supposedly chronicles the last days of a group of kids who mysteriously vanish without a trace.During a carefree June in 1999, five Ohio teenagers set out for some mischievous fun in the nearby suburb of Boston Mills. After hearing strange tales of the small town's sinister past, Derek Boggman (Trevor Williams) decides to go back for further investigation with his sister Lisa (Alasha Wright) and friends Robert, Jennifer and Berty (Jon Ray, Maggie Blazunas and Chad Vincent). With video camera in tow, the group records every moment of their summer adventure as they drive through the sleepy town in their van. At first only interested in Boston Mills for its novelty value, the kids soon realize that the residents seem to be keeping a particularly close eye on them. Why are the locals so fascinated by five harmless teenagers? And what is it that they are hiding behind locked doors? Lacking conventional plot structure and character development, "June 9" relies heavily on the juvenile antics and defiant attitudes of the lead characters to anchor the film as the horror steadily builds around them. Indeed, the young cast comes off quite natural as they interact with one another. With all of the action captured on a jerky digital camera, the film takes on the appearance of a video diary, making the horror all the more tangible. Through a gallery of genuinely disturbing imagery, the filmmakers subtly create an increasing sense of dread as the kids move closer to uncovering the truth about Boston Mills. Strangers peeking out of windows and voices speaking in foreign tongues conjure up greater fears than all of the special effects money can buy. Tension builds as the kids become more and more aware that their quest for fun is leading them to something they could never have fathomed, culminating in a final twist that could very well go down in cult horror film infamy.Legion Filmworks' DVD presentation looks quite good, preserving the film in its original full-frame aspect ratio. The picture is as good as it can look for being filmed on digital video. Whatever digital artifacts are present are part of the original source and conjunctive with the "home-movie" illusion. The image is frequently bright and quite clear, with a grainy look during night scenes. Again, all of this is intentional.Audio is presented in a 2.0 stereo track that, like the picture, deliberately reflects its low-budget status. There is really little to be said of it. This is not a Hollywood picture with a souped-up sound mix. What you get is exactly what it would be were this footage of an actual event. Accordingly, there are no subtitle options.What we have here is a creepy, unnerving little feature that works because of its utter simplicity. There are no bogeymen jumping out of closets or CG specters coming through the walls. Just the documented footage of a group of ill-fated kids who went out for some thrills and got much more than they bargained for. Director T. Michael Conway knows what scares and has taken no cheap shots with this surprising picture. Don't expect to have a good night's sleep after this one, as the chilling images will stay with you long after the final credits roll.Felix Gonzalez Jr. DVDReview.com
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