The Stay

Greetings from Finland!

I really enjoy movies with a "small group stuck in an isolated place" setting. With few characters you get to know them better when there's more time for each one individually. 'The Stay' does take advantage of this. There is a lot of dialogue between the four main characters and you do get to understand their motives.

But. The actual dialogue is not very interesting and the more you get to know these main characters, the more annoying each one of them become. It didn't take too long until I began to wish they would all face a gruesome death.

Unfortunately despite the setting The Stay is no slasher and you are forced to spend a long time with these characters before the terror begins. And when it does begin, the killings are not imaginative or brutal enough.

The acting was not super good, but I think the bigger problem was the uninteresting and excessive dialogue between the couples. Bo-Lee's actor did a fine job.

I did enjoy the scenery and the camera work was very good. Points for that.

All in all I give a lot of respect for this independent production and have no doubt that mr. Hamm will make a more kickass film in the future. This time though I can't give more than a 4/10.

The story is meant to be horrific, it reminded me a lot of the kinds of stories we might get with 70's and 80's slashers. You can easily follow where its going and it does pick up at a pace you would expect for a traditional slasher. The ending felt a little weak though and it really could have used some better music to capture the horror element. Either way I thought it was a surprisingly good horror.

I guess some people will like this mess. Has it all, when it comes to brainless people: two stupid guys who married women, who probably thought "he's so stupid, I better grab him while I can". Lets start with the obvious. When meeting a guy, who seems to be the perfect psycho, NEVER make fun of him to his face. After that scene, you don't have to watch anymore, you know what is coming.

As I've said in other reviews, when the director and writer and actor is all the same person, it makes for a terrible movie. And this was no exception. Scott Hamm is horrible on screen. Over acting and 1 dimensional. The plot kind of made sense, but then it didn't. My mind kept wondering off as the movie continued. The caretaker was just an annoying add on that wasn't utilized properly. 2 stars because I thought the black chick was the only sensible one, but then he dumbed her down too. Stick to your soaps man.

Another "producer/actor" producing movie for himself. Even if the story could've work, you can note the poor interpretation, sound problems (the horse must have hit the microphone while eating), So many mistakes during the struggle scene, so fake!

I'm giving 3 stars only because with a good director and good actors, the story could've been interesting.