By Melissa Antoinette Garza
This is one of those movies I have read the synopsis of a thousand times, but never bothered to watch. I think I even own a couple copies that I found dirt cheap. I do that often. I’ll buy a movie, never watch it, and forget that I own it so when I come across it again, I’ll rebuy it. Recently my husband and I sold a bunch of movies to Amazon, and I can’t tell you how many doubles and triples we had.
Right now, I’m not even watching one of the copies that I own. I’m watching this off of Netflix. My husband and bunny are watching it with me and they both seem equally uninterested.
The film actually opens with a bang. A satanic cult with cool masks stabs a topless woman who was tied and bound against the wall. Immediately after, the movie introduces us to the main characters. My first impression was that they were the most annoying bunch of college kids in the world, but they do become better as the film goes on.
When they’re first presented they are on their way to the rave and the club irritated the hell out of me. It consists of bad lighting, repetitive techno music, and topless women in cages with glow sticks. I’m sure that someone out there loves that type of scene, but it’s definitely not mine.
At the rave, Samantha (Jennifer Lyons) a very forward blonde who talks like a chipmunk takes ecstasy from the club owner. She tries to sex down her drug-dealing boyfriend Eric (Bryan Kirkwood) but he tells her he’s selling so she finds a random dude to make out with. The good boy of the group David (Charlie O’Connell) is confronted about Eric’s misdeeds and gets jumped by one of the workers at the club. His girlfriend Susan (Ashley Jones) tries to reason with the guy telling him that the owner gave Samantha drugs, but it falls onto deaf ears. The entire group kicked out which aggravates the last one of the bunch Joe (Rashaan Nall).
As they drive off, Fawn (Elena Lyons) who is covered in blood wanders in the road. She is incoherent and dazed. Unable to stop, they strike her. They get out and help her into the car and once again begin their journey. Within moments they are run off the road by the group that had tried to kill Fawn. They don’t stop until the group’s car has been turned over. Joe ends up with a bad ankle, Samantha ends up bruised and a bit bloody, and everyone but Susan, David and Fawn turn into little bitches.
Still in masks, the cult emerges from the van to ensure that the car is dead. When they know the group is stuck they leave so they can start the game of cat and mouse. Without a choice, everyone starts walking. They hear an engine and despite everyone’s pleas to be careful, Joe jumps in front of the van begging for help. Of course, it’s the cult and he’s dragged in the van. Did I mention that Joe was African American? Okay, he wasn’t killed but for all intents and purposes he was the first casualty! That’s right; a horror film in 2001 got rid of the black guy first! There was no irony or sarcasm within the film. He was just legitimately the first one to go. Not only was he the only main character without a mate, the creators also didn’t really give him a personality, and then lastly they make him the idiot that jumps in front of the van for help. It could’ve all been coincidence, but I doubt it. It’s the common strategy of “Look we’re not racist. We have a black guy as a main character!” Maybe, I’m being a little mean and over-judgmental, but they got rid of him so fast.
Later, sassy Samantha turns to Fawn and asks her why everyone is going to die. Fawn tells the group that the cult is called The Shadows and they had wanted to sacrifice her to Satan.
Really, no one mourns or worries for poor Joe that much. The group ends up in a cabin attempting to hide out. Samantha and douchebag Eric try to convince Susan to make Fawn leave. Right in front of the poor bloody chick they trash-talk her. Fawn apologizes for the circumstance she got everyone in.
Now, this isn’t really a spoiler as it’s known from nearly the beginning. When the people in masks begin attacking, the group finds out that The Shadows are made up of the people from The Rave. Even the club owner is among them.
One of the major issues with the film is the attitudes of Samantha and Eric. Though Samantha apologizes later in the film, she is horribly selfish. I understand she’s scared but she’s legitimately ready to throw someone to their death in effort of self-preservation. More than that, she tries to make Susan feel guilty that she won’t do that and even goes as far to hint that Fawn is after David which wasn’t true.
It’s clear that Samantha’s father is a powerful and wealthy lawyer, but she acts worse and more entitled than Paris Hilton. There’s an effort to create a scene like The Breakfast Club (1985) where Samantha and Eric give speeches about how they don’t want to be like their parents.
Despite the attempt at redemption, Eric is really just a jerk. We’re not talking about 12 year old kids here. They’re college kids; and Eric actually wants to hide the fact that he was a drug dealer from the cops even though it could put Joe at more risk. It takes Susan to say that she’s going to tell the whole truth for Eric to fold. I don’t know why David, Susan and Joe would hang out or be friends with them.
The group begrudgingly sticks together and heads to the highway until they reach town. They meet a minister who claims to know about The Shadows. He brings them to the Sheriff (Tim Thomerson) who doesn’t believe the group. Strange things begin to occur in the town and it’s clear that The Shadows aren’t working alone.
The conclusion is a bit of a surprise and well done though it does go on a bit too long.
Overall, it’s better than I expected. I had a rough day at work and was looking for a mindless watchable movie and this certainly fit the bill. At times, it played like a Lifetime version of Race with the Devil. Now don’t get me wrong. It’s nowhere near the same caliber. In fact, if this was an actual remake of the movie, I’m sure it would make my most-hated list. I hesitated even writing that they shared a similarity, but in plot alone there is a definite likeness.
There are amusing scenes and fun moments within the production. It is slow moving at certain points but never so much that I wanted to shut it off. The acting is what is to be expected. It wasn’t horrible, but definitely not Oscar worthy. The characters despite the flaws already mentioned are fine and at least distinguishable from one another. They remind me of characters you’d see on a high school show like 90210 or Veronica Mars. I do wish that Joe had been given a little more to work with. Horror movies need the characters that are just there to be casualties, but as he was intended to be a main character and a friend of everyone, it would have been nice if he had put up a fight or talked about a hobby he had. Anything…
I really wish there would have been some music in the movie as well. Movies with Satanic cults need heavy metal or hard rock music and it really failed in this capacity.
The scenes at the end which were intended to be jump scares failed. My husband, who always falls for them, didn’t even flinch. I’m not a fan of those tactics, but these were lamer than most.
Overall, it’s definitely not amazing but there are far worse. At the very least, if you’re sick of found footage, torture porn, and zombies – this is something different. I wouldn’t go out of your way to see this one but if you already have Netflix and are looking for something that will be at least mediocre, this is definitely something to consider.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5/10
