Stylish but barely mediocre overall

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The independent will rise again. This movie made his way over here in Europe due to mouth to mouth advertisement. The acting really is convincing and the storyline is okay but there was just something missing for me. I was never frightened or had a creepy feeling. The killings really are okay, the blood flows and sometimes are even gory but still I expected a bit more of it. It surely is an ode to old school slashers but I guess the killer itself failed a bit. Made me think of Donnie Darko, you will know what i mean once you've watched it. But the filming and editing was okay. When you see the so-called shots of the story of the book, the colors are into those of the seventies. A lot of flare is used, something we don't see these days. Again, there is enough for everyone. Blood, a bit of suspense, humor and of course nudity. Good effort, but as said, it's the killer who let me down. And if you don't like killing by hammers, don't watch it, it's hammer time!

If you can't guess what is going to happen within about 10 minutes, then you obviously paid no attention during your literary courses and you need some serious mental help. Of course, this movie sets itself up as being all about the journey itself, and on that note, I feel it must get a mixed review. As others have pointed out in some reviews I've read, there is some visual appeal here and there. I did love the peep hole scenes and odd camera angles. But they spent way too much time telling the 'story' of the murders at the cabin, all of which includes too much unnecessary gore. Something about the film just feels wrong, like they tried too hard and rushed too much rather than taking their time, or maybe they just alloted the time they did have to all the wrong things. The concept of a serial killer revealing his recent killing spree to someone in the disguise of a fictional story is intriguing, but I think the concept could've been executed much more effectively as a drama than a predictable, fairy-tale-like parody of already cheesy 80's slasher films. Think about it--let the characters meet, maybe let the killer be more complex and less one dimensional so he has genuine feelings for the girl, then somehow they unintentionally end up back at the scene of his crimes. In that scenario, you wouldn't know what he would choose to do. Will he kill his new love interest? Will he sacrifice himself to spare her? Maybe she is a bit dark as well, so there's even a question as to whether or not she'd turn him in anyway. Now that is a movie I'd like to see. This one, not so much. A pleasant diversion, visually, but you'd have to be a zombie to even feign surprise at the outcome. I mean, come on, a creepy guy who makes no bones about hating the girl from the very beginning? How could that possibly go wrong?

The cinematography and music are excellent and real standouts in this parody of the slasher films that have dominated horror movies for many years. Henry Thomas is a screenwriter who takes a break from his work because of the screaming matches going on in the apartment across from his. In the laundromat down the block he sees the very girl (Kelli Garner) who has been arguing with her boyfriend in the apartment across the hall. They are antagonistic toward each other at first but before the second rinse cycle they agree to eat lunch together. To entertain her he tells her tales of the untimely demises of all her friends who are at this moment at a cabin deep in the woods, throwing a birthday party she could not attend because her boyfriend did not want her to go.Later, she and the screenwriter take an impromptu drive up to that very cabin. I won't reveal any more of the plot, but suffice to say that the story is well written and the ending will shock you! "The Sci-Fi Guy" himself, "Mr. Monster", Forrest J Ackerman, has a cameo rather early on in this movie. Watch for him!

This is a very interesting movie being marketed in a non-traditional way. Amazon has the exclusive rights to it as I understand, and the DVDs are kind of made to order. Whatever the marketing and how it well it works for them, this horror movie with a wink of the eye, needs to be seen, especially by fans of Dario Argento and the old school slasher films. Filmed in 35MM 1.85 A/R, the movie looks amazing. The colors are brilliant and definitely an homage to Argento, as are other aspects of the movie. The first time I watched it, I wasn't sure what to think, because I had read too much hype, and was expecting a dumbed down horror comedy making fan of slasher movies. In other words, I had low expectations, and after the first viewing, it left me a little confused. That's why I wanted to listen to the commentary on the second viewing, and this time, I found it to be a very good horror film even if it doesn't take itself too serious. The story is about Aaron (Henry Thomas) who has a problem with his noisy upstairs neighbor Linda (Kelli Garner). He manages to watch through his keyhole and meet her at a laundromat, where he comes off as a big jerk of a neighbor. But he does manage to get her to have lunch with him, where she tells him she is mad because she was invited to a birthday party in a cabin by a lake, and her boyfriend won't take her. So Aaron decides to tell her a story about taking revenge on those friends with a goofy looking stalking killer, that has a Polaroid type camera on his head, and takes a picture of his victim before the slice and dice routine. Yea, the killer is pretty silly, but his killings in this story Aaron is telling, is not silly at all, and pretty gruesome. Linda gets a little fed up with creepy Aaron and leaves, but they both live in the same building, so they meet again, and then Aaron agrees to drive her to the cabin and the birthday party. That's probably as much of the story and plot I should tell, because this movie is basically a story within a story.The technical aspects of the movie are brilliant with very vibrant colors and excellent camera work, and very good acting and direction. Listening to the commentary is important, because it is easy to miss all the homages on first viewing, and Joe Moe's producer commentary fills in all the blanks. On the gorehound level, there are two or maybe three good kills, and one excellent gore scene with a guy getting sawed in two head to belly. I definitely liked that one, and that along with at least one more would definitely eliminate an R rating, so it's good they didn't care about the rating. But outside of some pretty decent kills, I liked the whole idea of the setup and payoff, even though I pretty much had the whole thing figured out pretty early. It doesn't matter, because watching it all unfold is a lot of fun, especially with the excellent creepy performance by Henry Thomas. I would definitely recommend this movie, it delivers the goods, and is absolutely a delight to watch visually. You could say, it's a very pretty horror film, and even though it does make a little bit of fun of the slasher genre, it doesn't go too far and comes out being just plain silly. On second viewing, it came out much more to me as a good horror film, than a homage to the slasher genre. Give this one a try, it comes with some very good extras, and as I said, a very very good commentary. It's also the last time you'll see of the late Forrest J Ackerman in a brief cameo. Congrats to producer Joe Moe, and director Bruce Dickson for producing a rather unique horror film that is also a lot of fun.