Spin the Bottle

Then this movie would have been just another teen unfunny movie of underage drinking and making out and football tryouts and middle-aged fitness influencers attempting to play high school cheerleaders and Justin Long and Ali Larter and not F Murray Abraham as the only people you know.

But instead this haunted kissing game adds like an unnecessary seven hours to what would have been a 80 minute thing for you to drop your nieces off at the theater while you danced danced revolution over at Dave and Busters.

I think all that remains of the original premise to the adolescent romp is the soundtrack which is more apt for an American Pies reboot than for a horror movie this dull and overly long.

And who doesn't wear a black tie to a funeral!

Where do I even start? It's amazing to me that a movie with a listed budget of over $2M would be as hollow, lame and look as bad as this. There is no style, there is not even an attempt at atmosphere, it's not remotely scary and the script is lifeless and on the nose. Why use CGI so much in the movie? Open the furnace, CGI fire! CGI smoke! CGI blood! Who financed this movie? I don't think anyone involved has ever actually seen a horror film before. It was like a combination of trailers for Halloween episodes of Days of Our Lives. None of the characters act real, zero verisimilitude. A total dud. Overblown lighting that looks like a carnival haunted house. And it's over two hours long! We live in the age of Barbarian, Hereditary and other edgy, hard hitting horror movies that push the envelope and have well constructed stories along with well designed productions. This ain't that. Awful. Like watching a high school church production.

The plot is a lazy, rehashed mess that attempts to cash in on the nostalgia of party games but delivers nothing more than tired clichés and painfully awkward dialogue. The acting feels like a high school drama project gone wrong, with performances that range from wooden to outright cringeworthy. The pacing is all over the place. Production values feel cheap, as if the entire thing was thrown together without any real thought or effort. This movie is not just a waste of time; it's a blatant insult to viewers' intelligence and a sad reminder of how low some filmmakers will stoop for a quick buck. Even Justin Long couldn't save this mess.

It's cheesy but it's enjoyable because it's not trying to be anything else. If you liked truth or dare you might like this one. It had some good scenes and scares but unfortunately did what most horror movies do and explained itself too much and was too long, it would have been more enjoyable if it was 30 minutes shorter because right now it's just long enough that you loose focus. However if you're new to horror and don't want something too scary this is good, good to have in the background while hanging out and talking about the movie, not too gory but still has some pretty spooky deaths, and feels classic. It feels very 2013 except for the 2024 slang phrases which I feel they managed to incorporate in a way that worked better than most movies that try that.

I usually try not to let ratings influence me before watching a movie, but the current 3.5/10 obviously didn't go unnoticed. Still, I decided to give this one a try and watch the story of a teenager who moves into an abandoned house where a grisly massacre once took place. After barely getting to know them, he shortly invites a couple of newfound friends over to play a round of spin the bottle.

We get a brief introduction scene showing the supposed massacre, and then we're introduced to our main character, Cole Randell, played by Tanner Stine. The movie also features Ali Larter and Justin Long, both of whom I usually enjoy watching on screen. They didn't get much screen time, especially Ali Larter but Justin Long as Sheriff Stanton was an enjoyable presence, even if it's a little hard to take him seriously at times.

After the teenagers play spin the bottle, they start experiencing paranormal events and must figure out how to stop the evil force from killing them all. The movie awkwardly introduces a love story, which ends up being laughable since the whole cast just keeps making out with each other. They're terrible friends and overall annoying characters. The movie is far too horny, and it's hard to find anyone to genuinely root for. There's also no character development, and the acting ranges from decent to poor, likely due to the bad dialogue.

I actually enjoy the classic setup of an outcast coming to a new school and trying to prove themselves. It's been done before, but it's usually fun to watch. In this case, though, it barely worked. The effects were absolutely terrible, they didn't just look cheap, they looked lazy.

It felt like no real effort was put into this movie. It seems like they just wanted to pump out another haunted house or haunted item story to make a quick buck. It's definitely not worth watching, and the over-two-hour runtime makes it even worse. This story could have been told in 80 minutes or less, but instead it's dragged out, making the film a genuine chore to finish. I definitely wouldn't recommend it. There are so many better horror movies out there, and this one is just a waste of time. [3.3/10]