Exploited

I've sat through many a big budget horror film that was far, far worse. Here's what I'll say. The film held my attention throughout. The characters were interesting, and the acting strong. The film has a polished and professional look and feel -- certainly as professional as any mainstream Hollywood horror genre film. The film also kept me guessing about the killer and it did not have that typical "third act letdown" that so many horror films have.

Bad acting aside, i thought the movie was enjoyable. The plot overall is more than okay IMO. Did suck me into the who's-the-real-killer mystery which drived me to finish the movie.

To the one review saying that only homophobes will dislike this movie, I am gay, and neither me nor my husband liked this movie.

With that out of the way, there is one positive I have, the directing. Director Jon Abrahams (yes, the guy from Scary Movie and the House of Wax remake), showed a lot of potential here, and was easily the best part of the film. Really solid panning shots, and not any particularly bad shots either. He could easily direct some great films with the right script.

Onto the bad. The acting and script are both mediocre at best. No one turns in a particularly great performance, and some are downright bad (granted, the dialogue doesn't help them any). The script is the main offender, which has a LOT of problems.

First off, this is hardly a horror/slasher, it's basically a mystery with slight (and I mean slight) horror elements for about 80% of its runtime, which an really low body count. As a result, it's kinda just boring up until the over the top crazy finale. I expected this to be bad, but in a fun so bad it's good type of way, which it didn't become until the end (at least those sweet panning shots looked nice though).

The whodunnit aspect was incredibly predictable. If you've ever seen a whodunnit before, you should have absolutely no problem figuring this one out. It's possibly the easiest to figure out of any movie/show/game/book I've ever witnessed.

All that said, there is quite a bit of nudity/sex in this. So that may be a positive for some (although I didn't personally enjoy these scenes, to each their own).

Overall, it's pretty bad, but by no means the worst gay film I've seen. Probably not even in the bottom 20 worst gay films I've seen. So while I wouldn't recommend this, there are worse films out there, and this is arguably the best "gay slasher" since there's little competition. The main takeaway is that Jon Abrahams should direct more films. He's really quite good.

The movie has a strong opening that creates a curiosity to see what happened, and where the story is going. The acting is fine - for this kind of movie. I don't think 'slasher' films are known for their superb acting, or scripts.

There are so many holes in the story, though, that it starts to become distracting. Particularly the last minutes of the film, where characters seem to be coming out of nowhere, without any reasonable motivation to be there in the scene at all.

So, yes, the 'exploiter/hacker' isn't too hard to figure out. But the big reveal at the end is usurped by the earlier scene when you think - "Oh, hell, who else could it possibly be!?"

People you saw being murdered, stabbed through the heart, magically reappear alive and well. Some of the situations are simply silly if for no other reason than the characters that show up in them.

There are gay characters, but I wouldn't really characterize it as a 'gay film.'

If you have nothing else to do, and want to watch a mystery whodunnit sort of movie, it's an option.

But, for the record, it's NOT about, as the blurb suggests, "A college freshman becomes obsessed with the previous owner of his school issued laptop." It's a thumb drive, and his wasn't issued to him by the school. But how it ended up in his possession is one more thing that is shown, but not quite explained. Was it stashed in a draw? Who put it there? Did it belong to the roommate? Was it left in the room by last year's occupant?

Right off the bat, the premise isn't really explained. I guess I'm a stickler for details. This missed a lot of them.

If you look at my review history, you can tell that my taste in films is not bad. If I tell you a movie is bad, believe me. But when I tell you a movie is fun, enjoyable and even sexy, believe me more. This is one of those movies. To me, gay films fall into two categories; exceptional (Brokeback Mountain, Free Fall, ect.) and unwatchable (almost every other gay movie). This movie was so well done, I began to wonder why I haven't seen these people before. The cast had great chemistry and the film was shot with a stylish eye, as if the people involved in the creative side of it had some actual talent. It was fun watching all the characters interact with each other's and they were all capable and competent actors that really sold the story.

Speaking of the story, it was actually kind of original and an interesting take on how people deal with situations in the age of IG and revenge porn. I didn't see some of twists coming, although I accurately identified the killer within the first 30 minutes (pay attention to everyone). The story got a bit confusing towards the end, simply because they throw so many relationships and interactions at you at once, but the ending was satisfying and made an already good film that much better.

Overall, it started off as a sexy thriller that evolved into a more serious film that was still really enjoyable. I don't normally give such high praises to movies, especially gay films since they tend to be so hit and miss, but this one is a winner!

Side note; It seems like those giving this movie a bad review are either homophobic/lame or (most likely) have bad taste. Look at their review and watch history before you take anything they say at face value. 99% of people have horrible taste in movies, music and art, so remember to do your own research before you listen to people with poor taste.