Low budgies are always something of a crapshoot. On one hand, the people involved have more freedom. On the other, they often can't afford talent. Hellweek was supposedly produced on an estimated budget of $14,000 and, for the life of me, I can't figure out where that money went. The camera-work is amateurish at best, the acting is a bit worse than amateur, the script is meandering and occasionally nonsensical, and the editing is non-existent. There are serious issues with sound-balancing where one second you can barely hear the characters but the next second their laughter can be deafening. The color is off in many of the scenes and there are lighting issues in many shots. The film also suffers from the all-too-frequent problem of inconsistent outdoor environments where morning, day, dusk, and night fly by in minutes.
The story is both meandering and often incomprehensible. Near as I can figure, ghostly serial killers are haunting a warehouse where a fraternity plans to haze new members. Of course, it takes forever for anything resembling hazing to begin. Much of the movie revolves around a boy named "JJ". His is apparently the only important name, as any scene that he's not in (and there are very few) all of the rest of the cast is mostly talking about him. And, to prevent you from forgetting who that character is, JJ frequently talks in the third person or otherwise self-references.
The majority of the film is consumed by talk about some big party, occasional drama between characters that doesn't build into much, and pointless almost-subplots (a porn business, a premonition, a psychic, etc). While the movie is supposedly about kids being attacked in a warehouse it takes forever for them to actually get to the warehouse. It's almost as if the horror was an afterthought. The villains and effects are generally goofy and their motivations range from being confusing to silly.
Hellweek plays out like a bad student film project. Most of the actors deliver dialogue with an almost smile on their face, an "oh, look at me, I'm ACTING!" The camera-work, editing, and production are generally shoddy. The story lacks focus and even the dialogue is weak. Would recommend avoiding.
