The Gracefield Incident
While this film does have some great scenery, it’s extremely boring with nothing happening until towards the end (where you don’t even see anything), the characters aren’t worth carrying about, the acting is bad, and the ending is extremely lackluster in how it tries to teach a heartfelt lesson.
Amitvyille: Awakening
I tried to give this movie the benefit of the doubt, but I was very wrong. This movie is terrible in so many ways, down to the script, the acting, the scares, music, characters, etc. The moments of self-awareness is about all I’d give it for the aspects I like. And initially it seemed like this would be so bad it’s good, but it ultimately just becomes plain bad. I feel so bad for Jennifer Jason Leigh, and especially Jennifer Morrison in the most thankless role I’ve seen in a while (I’m serious when I say I think she owed someone a favor).
Leatherface
This one is just a pointless prequel with no real suspense, and feels nothing like a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Instead it appears as a younger version of The Devil’s Rejects. More than anything, this movie only seeks to try be gross and sadistic above anything else. The acting is fine, that’s all I can say about it, but unlike the prequel to the remake (which I didn’t mind), it at least tries to be a good film and gives us character to care about and root for. This one just doesn’t do anything to push the story as a prequel, and it’s very clear it’s pointless to care about the final girl. It’s just a terrible script that makes Texas Chainsaw 3D look good.
Jeepers Creepers 3
Yet another film that suffers from a terrible script. But more than anything, like Leatherface, this is just a pointless film. It revolves around the characters figuring out the Creeper’s origins, and guess what, we don’t even find out what it is or even get some kind of clue. The characters are unbearable except for Meg Foster, Stan Shaw, and Brandon Smith (all providing fine performances). It’s the young cast that are the most expendable and do nothing for the plot. On top of that we have some of the most unintentional laughs, an extremely anti-climactic ending, and a final scene (before the real final scene) that makes no sense whatsoever. The real MVP of this movie though is the creepy BEATINGU truck that is character of itself, and a very welcoming one at that.
Rings
The first act of this film offers promise in that it introduces the cult following the death tape has and how it has suddenly become this twisted death game. I would have loved to have seen this throughout the film, but unfortunately it turns into a teen remake of the original, only it’s boring, uninteresting, and the lead female is terrible in character and performance.
Eloise
Despite a great cast and a creepy setting, this movie is boring, makes no sense, and is completely forgettable. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember anything about this movie other than it being boring and making no sense.
The Dark Tapes
In an attempt to try rank itself up there with V/H/S, this movie just fails. The segments are uninteresting and often laughable, though one segment did stand out more than others as its own take of Ghost Hunters. The wraparound story was good, but it was the most undeveloped of the segments. In general, the segments have nothing in common and don’t connect in any way. And what’s a bad movie without some bad acting?
Jigsaw
It’s not that Jigsaw is a terrible movie, but as a supposed reboot, it’s awful. This movie offers nothing new to the story, the traps are fine and good, as is the acting, but the script is just a complete rehash of the entire series, including some of the twists. And the final twist is just cringe-worthy in how pathetic of an attempt it is to try restart the series. In terms of gore, this is the most tame film in the series, we only get slight glimpses of gore, and that’s what this series is supposed to be known for.
Clowntergeist
I was having a blast with this film for how bad it was up until the mid-point when I felt it should have started to go somewhere, and it ultimately didn’t. By that point until the end, really nothing much happens and when things finally do happen, the movie is basically over. Along with that, the twist towards the end is just a letdown and kind of ruins any fun the film began with.
Friend Request
This was another film I was thought was going to be bad fun, but ultimately just became plain bad. Not only was it boring and uninteresting, but it took itself way too seriously. To be fair, it started out fine, but then once it become more of a supernatural/witchcraft film, that’s when it really started to go downhill. Had it focused more on being a fun supernatural slasher, it would have been a bit better. But at the same time you didn’t care about any of the characters because they were so uninteresting (and poorly acted). Then you get to the ending and that was just the cherry on top of its stupidity. It does have some great occasional imagery however.
–Cody Landman