Waste of time

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I ran into an official copy of this flick a few years ago in Media Markt. I just bought it not knowing what it would be. It is stated as the first slasher coming from the Netherlands. I won't go arguing with it but I know others for example Necrophobia or The Lift. You can discus if The Lift really is a slasher but whatever. Woensdag is out and her's my opinion. First of all, the DVD is OOP and extremely rare to find. Why you can't find it in other countries is very simple. They speak Dutch and there are no subtitles even not in Dutch. The movie clocks in at 75 minutes and that's okay for this flick which really is a compilation of other slashers. Really, it isn't original, but what slasher is, Friday the 13th was even a rip-off of Halloween. And talking about Halloween. This is the first reference they made. You will see first person shots coming from behind a mask. Seen that in Halloween, but they admit it, once you see the mask it's just a Michael Myers mask. Further on, you will have a reference just before the game starts to Blair Witch Project. The killer itself is some kind of supernatural Jason, look at the mask. His face is burned, again look at Jason and Freddy. When he runs after the truck, guess what, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (ending) and the last thing you see in Woensdag is a something coming fast towards the survivors with weird noises. Yep, Evil Dead. But they really spend the money towards the effects used. It sometimes becomes a bit gory with the decapitation and the close up of a knife in a throat but sadly the acting tears this flick down. Sure, it shall be horror geeks I guess who made it with all the references but sometimes they just say their lines without emotion. Some scene's are a bit too long for example the explanation of the game. The editing itself was okay, with the use of some Dutch bands. And of course they added a bit of nudity in it to complete a slasher. Overall, it sometimes is a bit boring but once the killer appears it's okay. Nice effort.

The basic premise of this ultra-low budgeted slasher is completely unoriginal, the gore-effects are cheesier than you can even imagine, the dialogs are laughably inept, the acting performances are pathetic, the script is hopelessly incoherent and yet .... this is a horror effort from The Netherlands, so please forgive me in case I can't possibly bring myself to speak overly negative about it! During the past few years, this country (which happens to be my neighbor to the North) is really trying hard to build up a halfway decent horror reputation, and "Woensdag" certainly deserves to be mentioned as one of the films that played a role in this process. More recently, other Dutch filmmakers had a little more commercial success with the surprisingly entertaining "Sl8N8" and the sadly disappointing "Dood Eind", both of which benefited from a much larger budget. The title simply means "Wednesday", which is fairly insignificant because the events of the film may as well take place at any given day of the week. Like so many recent horror/teen-slashers lately ("My Little Eye", "Halloween: Resurrection", ...), the plot of "Woensdag" revolves on an interactive reality-TV show where the participants – surprise, surprise – quickly get killed off by an unwelcome visitor. Admittedly, however, the setting and concept of this reality-TV show is still somewhat cool and refreshing. Eight young people are challenged to survive a night in the dark woods where, according to a local legend, a sadistic killer wanders around. The live TV-show is well-prepared, with actors imposing as killers and fake ambushes all over the forest, but the silly game becomes deadly serious when the first contestant dies for real. The creators of this little flick clearly did their homework and studied a whole lot of typically American 80's slashers. The legendary "Friday the 13th" in particular, as the killer is almost an exact clone of the notoriously immortal machete-wielding killer of Camp Crystal Lake. Either with or without the mask covering his face, the killer could by Jason Voorhees' overseas twin-brother! The gore is a bit difficult to judge, actually. There's plenty of grossness going on, including implements, slit throats, decapitations and dismemberment, but the effects aren't very professional and couldn't even disturb a small child. The lighting, editing and camera-work are terribly poor, and I guess this movie holds very little value in case you're not a horror fan living in The Netherlands or Belgium. But, if you do live here, it's an encouraging and worthwhile time-waster.

Woensdag is a Dutch horror movie made on a ridiculously thin budget that takes its inspiration from 70s slasher movies.A new TV show is being made called 'Camp Slasher'. In it, there are 8 young men and women who are placed inside a tent in the middle of a dark forest that, apparently, is haunted by the ghost of an old lumberjack. They are given assignments to go find clues in the forest that will lead them to their escape from the forest, BUT they must be careful for when the ghost of the lumberjack catches you, you're out of the game. Those that escape from the forest get to walk away with prize of 50000 euros. The TV crew has cameras setup throughout the forest, and inside the masks of their killer actors so the people watching at home won't miss anything of the action in the woods. Problems however start to arise when the ghost of the lumberjack turns out to be a little more than just local folklore...The total budget of this movie was a whopping 5000 euros, and it shows. The cast is made up of unknowns, most of which don't appear to have any acting skills at all. The lighting is crap most of the time, and the sound could use a bit of polish as well.It's not all bad though. The studio segments are both convincing and funny. Particularly the effect they use to show a contestant has left the game.Like any good 70s slasher movie, there's a gratuitous boobie shot. Like any good 70s slasher movie, the story is nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse to allow the filming of the killings. It's insignificant, and not particularly original either. Like any good 70s slasher movie, there are quite a lot of kills for you gore hounds to enjoy. Most of them are in reasonably well-lit areas, so no scream in the dark that is to mean the person has died, which is sort of a plus. Sort of, because the budget constraints made the wounds look really fake. Some kills are off-camera, but even those will make you laugh.At 75 minutes it's a short movie, but I feel this is another good thing. Some scenes already feel a bit stretched out, but overall the pace is okay. It would be easy to lengthen the movie to the more standard 90 minutes, but it would slow this movie down to a crawl.If you're looking for a horror movie that will have you sitting at the edge of your seat, biting your nails and jumping up from it every few minutes, you'll be sorely disappointed. If, on the other hand, you're in a joyful mood, and like to laugh at some really fake killings in a low-budget movie, look no further. If you like the concept of being put in a bad place, with cameras all around for the enjoyment of the home-front, take a look at the Japanese masterpiece Battle Royale.Overall, they clearly had fun making this movie, and did a great job at maximizing the effectiveness of their budget, but it's still the Achilles heel of this movie. I think most casual moviegoers will want to skip this one. If you're into low-budget slasher movies, give this one a go. It's not the best you'll ever see, but it probably won't be the worst one either.