The Last Laugh

This is very much like a student film with a decent budget -- for a student film. So if you judge it on that basis, it's ok. If you judge it by other horror films you'll see in a theater, it's dismal.

First, the acting, driven by the director's creative choices, feels forced and inappropriately "dramatic." People are peeved for no reason, angry without cause, emotional without motivation, shake their heads in disbelief and/or disapproval far more than real people would, and just generally behaving inappropriately for the situation. In other words, its actors are directed like they were in a hotel porno. This is done partially to justify their subsequent victimization at the hands of a serial killer, since this is not a teen movie, hence the filmmakers can't use sexual promiscuity as the setup for the murders.

This thriller also lacks an essential item for serial murder flicks -- tautness. The pacing isn't tight, isn't compact. It's sloppy and diversionary, and because of that, it struggles to hold our interest, partly because it keeps releasing its hold on our attention, and partly because we stop caring about the characters nor their welfare, and we even stop believing there's a phantom lurking about this opera.

Maybe this director/writer is using these films to build his resume of "watch how many trick camera shots I can do to prove I deserve more investors for the horror projects I wish I could make?"

If GOD ever gave me 2 option between Death or this Movie. ill definitely go for death. Worst Performance, Screenplay, Story. Please stay away from such headaches!!

Okay, so I started playing Tetris halfway through this movie, BUT, the first kill alone warrants a total rating of 4/10 or better. Why? That first kill was excellent and unique. You'll see. The overall movie barely kept me engaged, but there are a few good scenes. (I watched it a few days ago, and I barely remember most of the movie already. *shrug*)

This film has no redeeming elements... firstly the sound mix is atrocious - two people will be having a conversation and each persons dialogue will sound like it was recorded at different times and edited together - it really strange, some scenes have a hiss noise under them and others don't and it jumps between this throughout the film.

I love slasher films, i have pretty seen them all and will watch anything if its a slasher, but the acting in this film seemed like most of the people were doing the director a favour by saying the dialogue. it was not acting. it was merely speaking - with exception to the girl playing Bethany who seemed like shed attended a few classes.

The death scenes are filmed in a really pretentious way - as if the director was trying to be clever and artsy but they are mostly incredibly boring.

The story arc of the main character and his dead girlfriend backstory ...i mean enough said ....but ill add that it was in no way fleshed out and became tedious real quick, potentially due to the lead actor's performance, costuming and the camera angles chosen by the director.

Really this film could be shown to film students as a lesson in how not to make a horror film.

Also, the ending SUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKED

I haven't hated a film this hard in a really long time

I am probably the target audience, of which is maybe very specific, so obviously it works for me and i am biased:

This is great writing, great concept, anyone saying otherwise is not considering many things, budget for one. This is great use of location and lighting in certain scenes is excellent. The lead carries more and more as the movie progresses, and is supported by great cast, of which are not hollywood name actors, yet, but are actors.

Also, this industry meta type genre is for people who enjoy film and seeing new filmmakers create, with the understanding of filmmaking and respect for it, especially when you don't have a huge studio budget. I wish I knew the budget, but you can tell that there may be quite the resource compromises; the film is bigger than budget. When it starts getting dark about midway it especially looks great with shots and lighting.

BOTTOM LINE: it's an insightful type movie for filmmakers especially, and slasher horror fans. It's original, though the plot has been done before, it does it's own worthy version of the "Stage Fright" type movies. It's for the fans, the ones who love making movies and have dreams to overcome their fears and perform at the professional level.