Not all independent films are good or worthy of cult status. This movie falls solidly into that category. It tries so hard, too hard, to be worthy of cult status, it's so evident it's trying; though, it just turns out to be very trying.
What you have is a sound premise a horror fan who has become desensitised to horror. He's such a fan he takes his girlfriend to haunted houses on Date Night and predicts when and where the scares are going to come while laughing continuously. The character is very annoying and rather humourless, if he was to resemble snot-girl from The Blair Witch Project then Lucas Neff does a fantastic job of creating a lead character you're just praying and hoping to be killed. If not, then his acting skills are lacking or the Director, Vincent Mascaile, had a warped vision for this movie.
So the writer Luke Barnett adds the element of Fear Inc. a company who, when hired, come to scare the proverbial crap out of you. This now lands in the "The Game"'s field of expertise, which actually gets a mention in the movie. If you're going to carry out a movie in the same magnitude of that film it should be just as good and as convoluted, however, it isn't
There are a lot of missed opportunities in this movie, which could have elevated it to at least watchable, if not enjoyable, and possibly to cult status, though a lot of work needed to be done to get to that destination.
Once you realise what Fear Inc. do, which is given away at the start and in a monologue before the scares even begin then the surprise and possibility of the situations being real plummet into the farcical. You can see the twists coming as the director and writer call their punches before they throw them. The film would have been stronger had the viewer not known Fear Inc.'s agenda. This would have led them to continually wonder if our hero's the victims were in any danger. It's pretty much impossible to create tension when you know nothing is at stake as it's all playacting.
Apart from Lucas Neff's character, all the other cast have believable and relatable characters, with the exception of Caitlin Stacey, who portrays Joe's girlfriend, Lindsey. Even though Stacey is one of the strongest actors in the line-up, I couldn't help but wonder why this strong woman was still attached to the waste-of-space Joe. There was no chemistry between them and this causes an imbalance in the plausibility of the movie; even more so when you learn it's her and his friends who have hired Fear Inc.
This movie is labeled as a Horror - it's not - a Comedy - it's not - a Thriller - it's not that thrilling, but this is as close to a decent description as any.
Should you watch this movie? No go and watch The Game, The Scream box set, The Saw box set, Deliverance, and Southern Comfort, which seems to be the movies this is roughly based on. All of which are better than this film... even the SAW series from III upwards.
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