Bad Turn Worse

I saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival and it was without question, the finest film there. I hope this film gets wide theatrical release! For first time directors the Hawkins Brothers have produced a very tight film that treats the viewer with respect. The cinematography is stunning, particularly given that the film is shot in a rather bleak part of Texas. The film was intense from start to finish. Mark Pellegrino has taken the world of bad guys to a new level. He's a local for sure, but was an original. Quite frankly, all of this cast was top rate. While there are three relatively new actors involved, I expect that we shall be seeing them all down the road - and I would certainly include the directors in this statement, as well. If you get the chance, see this gem.

Three Texas teens hope to make a break for it and escape their dead-end existence in a cotton-mill town but get sucked into the seedy underbelly of organized crime when one of them steals from the wrong man.

The general plot of this is pretty good, and fans of crime or heist movies will probably dig it. There is a really cool scene with the heist run-through that really makes the film for me, and if nothing else, solidified this as a better-than-average movie.

What are we to make of the "32 ways to tell a story" theme? Is that a hint of how we should interpret this plot? It seems like yes, but exactly what we are to take away from it remains unclear. Perhaps a second viewing is in order?

Bad Turn Worse is a crime thriller done without big budget, but still manages to entertain. It presents good script, murky atmosphere of rural town and fresh partially ironic take on crime drama. The movie is not without flaws though, the pacing might suffer at times and despite some good twist the characters fall into stereotypical teen early on.

This is a story of three teenagers who live in Texas dusty town. One of them decides to steal from the mob, a poorly made decisions that drag all of them into gradually escalating situation. It's a bit slow to build-up on first act as the teens only exchange banters. The plot takes speed after a while, although it's still marred on a couple of scenes.

The premise is seemingly simple, yet the script is smart and it delivers nice twists in timely manner . Acting is good for the three leads, they look juvenile, desperately determined and wanting promise of better life. The chemistry works by meshing these bored boorish characters together in much more adult condition than they are supposed to have.

What set apart this movie from mediocrity is the occasional moments of fresh delivery amidst its bleak visual. Several of the scenes are interestingly done, a bit self-aware, surprisingly bloody and a very reminisces of classic pulp fiction.

Having many genre familiarities, it can be a bit stereotypical and the display of boredom might be stagnant, but with its fine performance and good material, Bad Turn Worse is an engaging human and crime drama.

The film opens with a quick and easy robbery. Then come the bright-yellow seventies-style credits. However do not be fooled, whilst film-quality may also suggest a seventies setting, the only other similarity with that era, is a brooding foreboding and grim realism.

The film is set in modern-day Texas. Earlier scenes are light but as the film progresses grimmer and grittier adult scenes make this uncomfortable viewing that goes right up to the edge. This is not a film for the faint-hearted.

The story revolves around three young adults who are caught up in the aftermath of the robbery. They become involved in the criminal underworld and the situation soon escalates.

This film is a modern film-noir so as is typical for the genre there are lots of twists and betrayals. Some plot twists are shown to us the audience before they are experienced by the characters, thus giving suspense, others are not.

Mark Pellegrino has a meaty role, rather like that of James Franco in 'Homefront' (2013) or even 'Tommy' in 'Goodfellas' (1990). The younger Logan Huffman plays a character like 'Tommy' in 'The Butterfly Effect' (2004). Both convince in their roles. Mr Pellegrino's character is cold, even while he pretends to be friendly and playful. Mr Huffman's character by contrast is a brooding presence. His mental machinations and robust physique make him intimidating and scarily unpredictable.

Mackenzie Davis and Jeremy Allen White play two college-student-types who get caught up in the mayhem. The two young thespians act their socks off as they struggle in the situations their characters are plunged into.

There is also good support from Jon Gries. Veteran actor William Devane, in a cameo, got it just right, and shows, as he did in 'Marathon Man' (1976), that a small role can be played to make an effective and lasting impression.

The film was directed by Simon and Zeke Hawkins. They captured great scenes of the flat Texas landscape as well as taking scary and tense scenes to the very limit of the audience's endurance. They should be rightly proud of this full-length film. Hopefully, we will see many more films from this talented pair in the future.

If you liked the 2012 films 'Mud' and 'Everybody Has a Plan', or the 2013 films 'Cold Comes the Night', 'The Counsellor', 'Love Is the Perfect Crime' or 'Homefront', then this similarly dark film-noir will appeal to you.

A grim and gritty 9/10 but a strong stomach is needed.

Saw this 2 years ago and decided to rewatch it today.

I literally remembered nothing about it except that I found it underwhelming but passable as a time-waster.

Rewatching it today unfortunately I ended up focusing on the wrong things, like for instance the acting which was subpar for the morepart. Mark Pellegrino is an alright baddie but the youngsters in the lead didn't really impress.

Especially Jeremy Allen White who had a constant blank face in every scene even in the most intense life-threatening ones and we are supposed to root for him after all which is hard when even he doesn't show signs of caring.

But he's young and I'm sure he'll do better in other things.

The pace doesn't help either as it highlights the flaws more than anything else.

So yeah definitely not a movie you end up watching over and over again, I know 2 times is more than enough in fact I should have stuck at 1.