Bystanders

While I had indeed never heard about this 2024 horror movie titled "Bystanders", of course I needed no persuasion to watch it, given my love of all things horror. Sure, I didn't know what I was in for, and thus had no expectations to the movie, so I suppose that writer Jamie Alvey and director Mary Beth McAndrews had every opportunity to entertain and impress me.

However, writer Jamie Alvey put together a very, very bland and generic script and storyline for director Mary Beth McAndrews to bring to the screen. There was very little enjoyment and entertainment to be found here, especially if you've spent years watching horror movies, then you're in for nothing grand here. "Bystanders" is the type of movie that you put on and let it run in the background, paying half attention to it, whilst doing something else.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. But despite of having a generic script to work with, the acting performances were fair enough.

Visually, then you're not in for anything spectacular. A shame really, because the movie would have benefitted from having great special effects to spruce up the otherwise mundane narrative.

"Bystanders" is not a movie that I would recommend horror fans to rush out and get to watch. It is suitable for a single viewing, then you'll bag, tag and forget all about it, never to return to it a second time.

My rating of "Bystanders" lands on a three out of ten stars.

I watched this film because I know Deaton Gabbard. I have a few things to say, and I will be as unbiased as possible. One is overall this film is solid but of course could use some work. Deaton as Brad is fantastic. He's so crazy you never know what he's going to do next. Jamie and Murphy are both badass, in a character sense. There is some moments that Murphy falls flat but he picks it right back up with his funniness. Jamie is great, and has a nice charm to her. I do agree that the monologues are a little bit out dragged out, and Murphy's rage is a little bit out of place but it works. Brandi is also soild, as well as the other frat boys. Wilcox and Six's scene was my favorite alongside Deaton's scene in the cabin just before he dies.

The pacing could be better as well as the lighting in a modern sense. It definitely reminds me of 80s horror.

Overall I enjoyed it. They actors aren't god awful by any means but there are some patchiness sometimes, and that just might be the way it's cut.

I understand it's a low budget sub genre film, and that's okay. It's not for everyone. I am excited to see what everyone does next. Especially Deaton. Good job man and everyone involved.

I don't like to be negative - so I'll start with a positive: This is not the worst film I've ever seen. (That honour goes to "Smokey and the Bandit 3".)

This is, however, probably the second worst film I've ever seen.

The basic premise doesn't have the greatest of potential, but it's not the shabbiest either. With a lot more work it could've been an average run-of-the-mill horror.

The acting is terrible. I can't put all of the blame on the actors, though. With a better script, a better director, and better editing perhaps their performances wouldn't come across as poorly as they do.

The editing, though, is the worst I've ever seen. Actors are seen smirking and gesticulating to people off-camera, and sometimes speaking but with no audio. It's genuinely worse editing than you would expect to see on an average highschooler's homework project, and doesn't come close to what anyone would consider an acceptable standard.

I strongly advise avoiding watching this - unless you're actively looking for the worst film ever, for a laugh, in which case give it a look - we've got a real contender here.

While it's obvious this movie doesn't have a high budget, i enjoyed the fact that the movie doesn't show the torture porn that so many directors chose to show with women in horror movies. I love this idea of a revenge movie, and the leads did a fantastic job (as did the other cast members, because they really made it convincible to hate them). I enjoy the storyline and the clothing choices seems nice. Also Grays actor was super fine. The references were cool as well, wasn't expecting a Dexter reference. But this movie showed what every person who went through something similar wanted to do to their assaulter.

I read some of the positive critics reviews, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I even hyped it up with my family as we love horror movies. Well this was not horror but horrible. A few minutes in I thought it might go somewhere but it quickly evolved into a big hot mess. The story was so farfetched, the actors unbelievable, the plot? What was the plot? Zero character development. The screenplay must have been written by a 12 year old. The foul language didn't even sound believable. It was over the top. My wife and daughter fell asleep, my son and I gutted it out, hoping it might get better. It kept getting worse by the minute. I don't like to throw out cliches like "worst ever", but this is right up there. My son said... "what did I just watch" and it was easily the worst movie he's ever seen. I can't think of a reason for someone to sit through this mess unless you like to torture yourself. You've been warned.