Fresh Hell

I felt really badly knowing that someone put a lot of work into this project. I felt as if they thought they were witty when crafting the dialogue. The acting was like a film class. The emotions were not realistic. The last set was nice. I genuinely didn't like the stranger. I suppose I wasn't supposed to like him so that can be considered a win. It was just written over the top from start to finish. It wasn't a slow build. The mystery of it wasn't engaging. I have seen a few other zoom split screen movies. I understand the low budget convenience. The others weren't good either. I am certain it could be done well. The others I saw were also elimination murders.

The movie is set at the height of the COVID lockdowns, so we are introduced to the main players via ZOOM. There are to be eight, diverse, and all have a common connection. This seems an easy way to get a movie made with the restrictions of COVID but will not age well, as the references are too current to survive for long. Grace starts, and each in turn slowly logs on. As they wait for Laura, she doesn't appear but a stranger appears, and does some very bloody things that upset others in the group. And then, others in the group seem to be killed off one by one, or did they? Because messages are received from the supposed murdered persons after they were supposedly dead. The movie is done in three acts. Three insufferable acts that really try the patience of the viewer. I would give high marks for incoherence, but that is really not one wants a movie to be. People appear in dog masks, but there is no explanation of what that is about. Is it a cult or hallucinations? The concept of the movie is interesting, but it fails miserably.

I was hooked from the very intense beginning to the crazy-ass end. The cast did a phenomenal job at making us feel how uncomfortable, confused, and scared the characters were.

I'm a big fan of juxtaposition in film, so the way they were able to be so intensely chilling and hilarious at the same time was incredible.

And the message they had behind the writing, damn.

Definitely recommend giving it a watch if you enjoy chilling horror with a nice palette cleanser thats got something to say.

From the moment the players (actors?) Started popping up on the screen I knew I was in for a bad time. Overacting, hamming, scenery chewing was the backbone to an uninteresting story. Each individual was more over the top than the next.

Dialogue that is meaningless and just words to fill the time. Cursing, mania, sadness, all came together with the most annoying people possibly on the planet. I truly wanted to turn it off after five minutes however I stuck with it to see if there was anything redeeming. Nope, nothing. It didn't need a director, editor, soundman. It seemed sloppily put together that everyone seemed tortured to finish their roles. Throw in social justice speak; I'm checking my priveledge, I donated to BLM, Covid was still thought to be a deadly plague (sorry folks who insist it is still deadly) have destroyed any future for this piece of work. It didn't age well in 1 year. In a few years ago it will be a non horror story that was based on useless information and the worst acting I've seen in years. Be afraid of bordom and watching people try and act. Not one person was believable.

Overall, this wasn't a bad movie. It was an interesting concept and did a fairly decent of capturing the feel of the COVID lockdown period. The scene where the villain Zoom-bombs the protagonists' online party was both funny and creepy.

The acting was a bit uneven. Some of the characters were pretty well done, but others were really bad. The villain in particular ruined it for me. Apparently, he was going for an "over the top" psycho and used Jim Carrey as his model. I just couldn't get passed the fact that he just seemed to be doing a really bad Jim Carrey impression. I kept waiting for him to bust out some lines from Ace Ventura or The Cable Guy.