User reviews

The cover for 'Spike' looked really appetising. The premise sounded great, being apparently indebted to 'Beauty and the Beast' (a favourite, story and the 1946 and Disney films). It looked good, this was not something that looked cheap. There are quite a number of good and more first-time director films, so there is certainly no bias against debut directors. These outweighed the low rating and mixed to negative (on here) reviews here.

Seeing 'Spike for myself', am going to have to regrettably side, or should that be agree, with those that disliked it and am really sorry about that. Didn't think it was that bad to warrant the lowest possible number of stars, there are far worse films out there and didn't find it one of those beyond redemption films (have thankfully been seeing less of those now), but if there is one thing that really frustrates me when watching something it's when good potential is wasted when strictly speaking it shouldn't be. That applies with 'Spike'.

Lets begin with the saving graces. On the visual side, the advertising doesn't lie as 'Spike' does look good. Especially the photography which is both atmospheric and dreamlike, making for one of the best-looking modest-to-low budget films seen recently and in a while and that is me being serious.

Also thought the acting was better than average, with an initially intimidating but deeply felt performance from Edward Gusts worth singling out. 'Spike' starts off well, the first 10-15 minutes did intrigue and entice me.

However, 'Spike' is primarily let down by an often interminably sluggish pace and a story that after a promising start is far too stretched out (too little story content for a feature-length film) and not always easy to follow. The romantic element doesn't charm or move enough, although the actors were not bad at all on their own their chemistry didn't come to life for me. Didn't feel an awful lot of dark suspense and 'Spike' left me cold on an emotional level, a big problem because 'Beauty and the Beauty' is a very moving story.

While successful on the visual side of things, the direction showed inexperience on the momentum and character interaction. When there was dialogue it was pretty banal and awkward, while the music was completely inappropriate and like it was meant for a different film.

Summing up, disappointing but with a few merits. 3/10

Was just talking about this film, so i thought i'd check out how it was doing on IMDb... i was one of the 'unlucky' folk to choose it at The Edinburgh film fest, i'm horrified to hear anyone suggest it had anything going for it. It as one of the most turgid films i've ever sat through... no-one on the way out of the cinema was saying anything good about it, one gentleman asked me and my friends what we thought as he was in shock at how bad, and to be frank, up it's own ars* the film was!

Please those who have given it so much praise, be honest with yourselves and the readers of IMDb reviews, this film stank big time!

i gave it 1 out of 10 for the sheer genius of the director/writer convincing anyone to make this movie... Just awful...

What a horrible ripoff of beauty and the beast! If they were trying to modernize the story they failed completely. Terrible acting, typical male army , and a lame lesbian relationship helped with the downfall of this film. Don't waste your time

I saw Spike this weekend at Shriekfest at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles. Having been peripherally involved in low budget movie productions, I know how difficult it can be to bring the collective creative efforts of writers, directors, actors and editors to fruition. While I applaud the apparent intent and ideas of the film-maker Mr. Beaucage, I found the finished movie to be awkward, tiresome and ultimately so frustratingly bad that I can not in good conscience recommend it to anyone. I really wanted to like this film. On the positive side, the creature design and effects were very well done and the actual camera work was good. Unfortunately, this was not enough to make the movie work. Every so often there was a glimmer of non-awfulness, but mostly the wooden performances, asinine plot and the excruciating dialogue combined to make the movie very hard to sit through. It was neither fun nor involving. Some reviewers have compared Spike to a David Lynch or Guillermo del Toro movie. That is unfortunate, since it implies that Mr. Beaucage has created interesting characters and a plot worth contemplating. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Ultimately, Spike was so annoying, it wasn't even possible for me to enjoy it as a bad movie.

With a running time of 80 minutes I suppose it's pretty damning to say that it was probably 65 minutes too long.

Judging by the audience reaction at the 'World Premiere' as part of the Edinburgh Film Festival, plenty were in agreement with me. It is never a good sign when you see people leaving the theatre early or sharing bemused looks.

It doesn't help when the marketing describes the film as "Angela Carter rewriting La Belle et la Bête as an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Trust me, the artistic resemblance to any of these works is non-existent.

I was in the first audience to see this film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. As the film is still listed as being in post production I assume that it may not have been the final version that we saw.

There are some great ideas behind it, and there are things that have been done very well in this movie.

The editing did seem a bit clumsy at the start of the film, and I thought the pacing was maybe a bit slow, but these aren't huge complaints, mostly it was good once it got going. I think the main thing which did this film a disservice was the music. Totally the wrong music for the film in my opinion. Hopefully this is just because we saw an early version though and this will be sorted out before the film is distributed more widely!

I hate to criticise as they have made a film, which is more than I've done! So, well done! It's certainly original and worth a watch. I look forward to a more polished version appearing with improved music!

"Spike" opens with a dream sequence, and though that dream is short and stylistically distinct from the rest of the movie -- it's exactly the skin-crawling kind of dream you have when you doze off on a late-night car ride -- those few seconds set the stage for a surreal, deeply unsettling 90 minutes. If you're expecting a horror movie, or a teens-in-the-woods monster movie, you're going to be sad. Instead "Spike" is a gorgeous and haunting meditation on love and death, childhood and fantasy, like "Picnic at Hanging Rock" in a dark palette of red, silver and black. It, well, gets under your skin.

The plot makes about as much sense as Shakespeare's setup for "As You Like It": it's just an excuse to get the characters into the forest. And once the two unnamed couples (one hetero, one lesbian) are there, weird things begin to happen. Something scary pops out of the woods and takes out one of the characters, and for a minute it seems maybe this will be a traditional horror movie. But director/screenwriter Robert Beaucage immediately lets you know you're in different territory: the scary monster leaves behind a handwritten poem. This isn't Freddy, this isn't Jason -- as it turns out, it's just an incredibly lonely guy with a crush on the straight girl. And he's covered in spikes.

The cast does a nice job of keeping you grounded in the strange terrain: this may be a trippy fairy tale, but these are real people. At first I didn't expect to like Sarah Livingston Evans' lead character, who stands around looking vague and then starts fainting; but as the story unspools you gradually see the strength, compassion and even humor behind her delicate features. And I loved Nancy Corbo as the resourceful person you'd always want with you when you're lost in the woods.

Initially I docked this movie a star because none of the characters have names; if you're going to separate your characters and have them wandering around the woods, they need to be able to call "Hey, Bobbi Jo!" or whatever. But after thinking about it I decided that was just ornery; I sort of like that they're all nameless, because you end up identifying with each of them in turn. This movie takes you deep into the primordial forest of the psyche, all the way back to your childhood: your first real friend, your first nightmares. It asks questions everyone can relate to: How do you let someone go? What will you do to protect the one you love? How can you love more than one person? Do you ever really forget someone? And it delivers one final heartbreaking answer: You can never help from hurting the person you love.

(NB to IMDb: This review SO does not have spelling mistakes.)

Holy God in Heaven this is one of the worst pieces of garbage to ever hit the straight to DVD line up. If I ever have the displeasure of seeing something this bad again I promise I will never watch another movie again. This movie is nothing but terrible acting piled on top of useless plot set ups that never develop into anything. I don't know where they found the funding for this "movie" but the person who funded it cannot be too happy with how it turned out. Honestly I can't find one good thing to say about it besides that fact that a girl kind of gets naked in it, even though that isn't even that great because of her terrible "acting abilities". The movie was under the horror section in my local redbox and let me tell you it does not belong there. The synopsis said it was a movie about four people who get lost in the woods and hunted down by a spike monster. Not only is this not an accurate portrayal of the "plot" but it makes it sound like a real movie, which it is not. To sum up what I'm trying to say this movie wasn't worth the 1 dollar we rented it for and I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

Spike is one of those films that does not look like much at first glance but once you watch you become entranced by its wonder and majesty. Robert Beaucage weaves a dark tale that is scary, moving and ultimately tragic; it's like a fairy tale combined with a slasher. The characters are portrayed wonderfully, especially Edward Gusts as Spike, a man with the body of a monster but a heart as big as the earth itself. Sarah Livingston as the Girl is a mixture of beauty and strength as she fights to save her boyfriend from a creature torn by love and lust. even the music is dreamlike in its horror; The Marvelous little toy is used to creepy effect here and its truly unsettling when it plays. Spike is a sight to behold

Right, well I was under the impression that I was sitting down to watch a horror movie when I sat down to the watch the 2008 movie "Spike" from writer and director Robert Beaucage.

Little did I know that I was going to be in for a snoozefest of unrivaled proportions. First of all, I managed to endure 35 minutes of "Spike" before I gave up out of sheer and utter boredom. The movie was so slow paced that I was really to yank out my hair, and nothing of any worth happened in the 35 minutes of torture that I endured. The storyline was void of anything interesting and the characters essentially had the appeal of wet cardboard.

I have absolutely no intention of returning to watch the rest of "Spike", because there literally was nothing in this movie that appealed to me. So I have no reason to return for further torture.

I had never even heard about "Spike" prior to finding it in 2019, and deciding to give it a chance. Some movies are just a swing and a miss. It is rare that a movie is so uninteresting that I actually decide to turn it off prematurely. However, "Spike" managed to do that. So don't bother with this movie, that is my advice.

"Spike" scores a measly one out of ten stars from me.

I was rather excited to see this movie, because some of the reviews here were positive and the back of the CD case interested me. Part of it read as follows: "As they are each picked off one by one by a bizarre beast it becomes clear that none of them will make it out of the forest alive; unless the one the monster so desires is left behind." I should have taken a cue from this. If the back of the case isn't even written properly (sentence fragments should not follow a semi colon), then the chances that the movie might not be worth watching are higher than average.

The plot revolves around four friends who, while on some sort of road trip, blow a tire and plunge into the surrounding forest. When the one male in the group steps outside to see what the damage is, he is attacked by something and ends up with a possibly life-threatening injury.

After this incident the group becomes separated and the movie's title subject comes into play. Throughout the movie, it's clear that someone put a great deal of thought into the different scenes, situations, and dialog, but that person failed to put it together cohesively.

The scenes are fragmented, and the characters act in a way that would simply not be logical in the situation, were it to really occur. The female lead knows that her male friend is seriously injured, and yet she walks around calmly for much of the time afterward.

There are also small items that lower the movie's attempted believability. (For example, when human beings, who are endothermic, reach for jackets due to the temperature of the woods, it is not possible for a rattlesnake, an exothermic animal, to be active. It would be too sluggish to move.) Even considering all the little mistakes in filming and poorly-developed characters (with the exception of Spike, who is something else), I still might have enjoyed the movie had it not been for the music. The music was just terrible. It was not appropriate for many of the scenes and even went so far as to ruin the mood much of the time. I began to wonder if the director had driven to the nearest church to find an organ player, and the one he found had suffered from a stroke years earlier and was half tuned on Balwinnie at the time.

The concept of the movie was interesting, and the creature's costume was well-designed. But this wasn't enough to save the entire film from a horrible music score and unbelievable dialog and character behavior (not to mention obviously staged reviews). And seemingly endothermic snakes.

Director Robert Beaucage has impeccable vision. His monster romance film, Spike, is one of the most visually gorgeous films I have ever seen. A BEAUTIFUL monster romance film - now that's something viewers rarely get a chance to enjoy. Unexpected, touching and filled with visual art. Spike proves that direction and design are non contingent upon funding. After seeing Spike, I'd be interested in seeing what Robert Beaucage does with any script. His visual direction will surely define his future film projects.

There were two exceptional actors in the film. "Spike", played by Edward Gusts, was given difficult, prose-inspired dialogue - an educated monster, if you will - and he handled it with ease. The most touching moment of his performance was what I perceive to be his improvised lamenting at the end of the film . And "His Sister" played by Anna-Marie Wayne, was passionate and so adept at creating her side of the lesbian relationship she was in, I believed every utterance she offered to her girlfriend. These two actors did wonderful jobs and I look forward to seeing their work in the future.

I recently saw Spike in Los Angeles and thought that it was an absolutely beautiful film. Robert Beaucage creates an entire world that both the audience and the characters can get lost in. I think it was an inspired love story that showed both the best and worst of its characters.

I particularly enjoyed Ed Gusts performance as the title character. I think that he showed real sensitivity and heart ache through out the movie.

The best part comes at the end. I won't completely give it away, but it was a tender moment that would move the hardest of hearts. Because it does have touching moments and is essentially a love story, the film is far more complex than a typical horror. It has blood, certainly, but it also has heart.

This was a great movie. Dark, mysterious and entertaining. Just perfect. The characters were well developed. The plot was a okay, but definitely entertaining. The photography was great. The use of light, or lack thereof, was extremely creative and helped make the movie even more suspenseful. The acting was believable and well done. The storyline was well thought-out and took the audience on a journey.

Some of the small technical problems can obviously be worked out as it seems that the movie is still in the final stages. The director (Robert Beaucage)even said that the movie hadn't been seen before, even by the cast.

I'm not sure most were prepared for this film when they went to see it, but most of the audience at the Edinburgh Festival enjoyed this film.

Beaucage incorporated some very original methods that pulled this film together. Several of the scenes are still having me rethink some of the techniques that he implemented. I really would love to see a final version and another film from this young director.