Spin the Bottle

I watched Spin The Bottle because Justin Long and Ali Larter are in it, but let me tell you this... they're seriously slumming it in this one; it's an extremely weak teen horror that is totally unworthy of their talents.

Larter plays Maura Randell, who is recovering in a mental hospital while her son Cole (Tanner Stine) makes himself at home in the house where, decades earlier, his grandmother Lorelai killed several of her friends while playing a game of spin the bottle. Turns out that there was a demon trapped inside the bottle, and playing the game enabled it to possess Lorelai.

This being a wholly unoriginal and extremely predictable piece of crap, it will come as no surprise when Cole and his new high school pals find the bottle and play their own game of spin the bottle - with disastrous results.

The teenage characters are extremely irritating, which wouldn't be a problem if we got to see them all die in very gory fashion, but the film is practically bloodless. There's really bad CGI visual effects, loads of wearisome exposition, lots of kissing (but no gratuitous nudity), and the whole thing is spun out over two excruciatingly dull hours! Justin Long is the best thing about the film, playing the local town sheriff and father to Cole's love interest Kasey (Kaylee Kaneshiro), but he needs to be a bit more choosy about his roles: I'd hate to see him wasted in more worthless garbage like this.

This one actually surprised me. Went in with low expectations and still managed to be entertained.

Always love seeing some familiar faces when I got into a movie blind and this one did not let me down on that front. Heeelllloooo Justin!

It had plenty of the horror tropes to offer, but where it lost me often times was with the excessive dialogue and the somewhat simple and unsatisfying death scenes. I would have loved to see more especially when you have such a recognizable cast in your movie.

All in all I did have a good time with the movie, and would recommend to anyone who like a good game night that we all know too well.

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.

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]

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!