Paranoid

I bought "Frightmare" for six bucks at Circuit City thinking that it was the early 80's version. Imagine my surprise when I pop in the DVD and find a straight to video horror film from the year 2000! I'm a fan of said independent films, so I wasn't upset. I decided to give the film its due diligence.

The Good:

• Some pretty good scares in this movie. A lot of them are "jump scares" and "loud music tomfoolery," but this film should give you a jump or two, at any rate.

• Some decent atmospheric elements. The Haunted House is pretty cool. Some of the "stalking" scenes (the one at the beginning and the one in the middle) are suitably creepy and fairly well done.

• The two main actresses are actually decent actors. The rest of the cast, however, are not very good at all. Said actresses also provide ample "eye candy," if you like tight outfits, leather pants, etc. =) - The killer's outfit/mask/demeanor is also suitably creepy.

The Bad:

• Really bad editing. The movie jumps around a lot. Some of the editing tricks are neat, but overall, it pulls you out of the movie. The editing also makes the plot confusing at times.

• Soundtrack is suspect. The "creepy music" is good, but the soundtrack often relies on a drum machine/bad techno score to fill in the quiet parts. It doesn't work very well.

• The "twist" at the end had the ultimate potential for coolness, but the aforementioned bad editing made it fall flat. This is the wasted potential I'm referring to.

• Sub par acting. As I mentioned earlier, the two main actresses are good, but the rest of the cast comes off like a bad high school play.

Other notes:

Note the names of the main characters...Freddy, Jason, Norman, Michael and Hellraiser. Subtle.

You can see a lot of "Scream" influence in this film. It's interesting to see what is inspiring the next generation of filmmakers.

Overall:

I give it a 4 out of 10. Lots of wasted potential here, but the movie is very watchable if you enjoy these types of low budget, independent films. I don't regret spending the six bucks at all.

Why is it that whenever a relatively knew Director gets an idea for a film, they feel the need to rush it thru like their life depends on it. Everything was there in Paranoid. plot twists guessing games shocks and thrills. but a little more attention should have been given to introducing the elements of the film, rather than ramming them down the throat. The cast obviously was suffering from the age old problem of Dude i am in a film if i over act it will compensate for the lack of script. I wish that films like this were given the chance to develop their ideas. on a lighter note did anyone else notice that the anchor woman in the beginning was unable to get a single sentence right, and when the illegal rave flyers were being handed out, how many times did they need to shoot the same scene as the flyers in their hands changed colour more times than traffic light on speed. As far as the ending goes , hey it ended what more do you want. i hope that the team behind it keep going and dont give up , just take more time people it is worth it

A very cheap movie made in order to try and capitalize on the success of recent horror movies such as "Scream." The beauty of no budget, independent films are that the makers of such movies are forced to be creative and use their imaginations to make up for the lack of money. This is not the case here. Someone wanted to make money with a small investment, and in return they crapped out "Frightmare." At least Ed Wood loved what he did and, in his mind, tried his best.

Well, I must say that this wasn't the best horror flick I have ever seen. But then again...could this obviously low budget flick ever amount to one of the tops? I will say, however, that the acting wasn't all bad. I mean...how could the poor young actors do much with what was written to begin with. I was at least able to finish it. It seems to me that this is obviously a first film for the director...and how many of us could even do this well. The mask was cool, the girls were hot... Would I watch it again? Probably not...but at least people are talking about it. Even I would rent it based on the below comments just to see what all the fuss is about.

sniff, sniff...what's that you smell? oh, look. it's a steaming pile of frightmare. this painfully inadequate attempt of a movie is truly terrible. usually, if a movie is really really awful...as bad as "ax 'em" (2002) per say, then i find something redeeming about the fact that it is absurdly lacking any quality that might suggest an iota of professionalism. however, unlike those gems, frightmare had a budget of more that 50 dollars. it has the quality of any made for tv movie (lights, a decent camera, etc), however the acting made me want to poke out my eyes in an oedipal act of anguish. and maybe the fact that it follows the plot to 'scream' so predictably, yet attempts to come off seriously, was what really got under my skin. it simply shouts mediocre louder than any movie i have ever seen.