Charlie(Simon Wallace) is in quite a predicament. He seems to be repeatedly waking up in nightmare scenarios involving his fellow high school students while having to attend summer school for misbehavior. Each nightmare normally ends with poor Charlie about to die. Whether he is to be a human sacrifice at the hands of a Satan worshiping cult, running from giant spiders, avoiding Nazi assassins, attempting to escape vampires, or contending with a loathsome dirty perverted hick(just after hunting some deer; and he has some brothers), Charlie is always in peril..and, he's the central figure in everything that happens(most of the time, he's also the hero who never seems able to fulfill such a demanding role without tragedy). All of this happens in or outside the school.
Kind of interesting experiment, it's established early on that Charlie is a horror fan who writes reviews for his website and this film seems to reflect his psyche coming apart at the seams..he's been watching way too many horror movies and now Charlie(or as his friends often refer to him as "Upchuck")is paying the price. I personally liked the idea of the horror movie set inside the school, and when Charlie exits the building, in turn, running afoul of rednecks, I think it shows that he is perhaps trapped..he can not stay in the school or leave it without coming across some sort of threat. And, there's this fascinating point in the movie regarding a "reversal of roles" where Charlie himself "becomes the antagonist". My personal favorite of the mini-tales(directed and written by numerous people)is "Nazi" mainly because there are these cool camera shots of Charlie and his pal Dennis(Lance Hendrickson) hiding behind walls as an ominous figure moves about further down the school halls. "Nazi" also features kids being gunned down, an eye gouged out with a knife, and Charlie rendered helpless after multiple gunshot wounds cripple him. I felt the rednecks tale is a little out of place with the rest of the movie because everything had a sort of rhythm to it as it pertains to the inside of the school..I think what worked in my mind was the frightening idea that no matter how hard he tried, Charlie seemed caught in a limbo inside the school, it was his prison. Amy Cocchiarella is Lindsey, the girl who often winds up in Charlie's nightmares mainly because, I figure, she's his fantasy chick..in most of the tales, she's either in need of saving or someone who leads Charlie to his doom. Ultimately, what I always think works in favor of these types of films is the idea that you never know when Charlie might actually wake up for real and what the consequences might be.
Kind of interesting experiment, it's established early on that Charlie is a horror fan who writes reviews for his website and this film seems to reflect his psyche coming apart at the seams..he's been watching way too many horror movies and now Charlie(or as his friends often refer to him as "Upchuck")is paying the price. I personally liked the idea of the horror movie set inside the school, and when Charlie exits the building, in turn, running afoul of rednecks, I think it shows that he is perhaps trapped..he can not stay in the school or leave it without coming across some sort of threat. And, there's this fascinating point in the movie regarding a "reversal of roles" where Charlie himself "becomes the antagonist". My personal favorite of the mini-tales(directed and written by numerous people)is "Nazi" mainly because there are these cool camera shots of Charlie and his pal Dennis(Lance Hendrickson) hiding behind walls as an ominous figure moves about further down the school halls. "Nazi" also features kids being gunned down, an eye gouged out with a knife, and Charlie rendered helpless after multiple gunshot wounds cripple him. I felt the rednecks tale is a little out of place with the rest of the movie because everything had a sort of rhythm to it as it pertains to the inside of the school..I think what worked in my mind was the frightening idea that no matter how hard he tried, Charlie seemed caught in a limbo inside the school, it was his prison. Amy Cocchiarella is Lindsey, the girl who often winds up in Charlie's nightmares mainly because, I figure, she's his fantasy chick..in most of the tales, she's either in need of saving or someone who leads Charlie to his doom. Ultimately, what I always think works in favor of these types of films is the idea that you never know when Charlie might actually wake up for real and what the consequences might be.