Trigger Man

A simple story line but not gimmicky and indeed its ordinariness is what made the film interesting. Some scenes where there was no movement of any kind were too long. No doubt this was to create the sense of "ordinariness" but in actuality the situation was anything but ordinary because there were two killers lurking. The scenery was idyllic which, as with the ordinariness of the hunting trip generally, masked the evil hidden in this placid setting.

Anyone acquainted with contemporary horror likely knows of Ti West and knows what he's capable of putting together in terms of making horror films. He can take various setups and proceed to fill them with characters, atmosphere, and an impending sense of dread in order to effectively adhere to the basic principles of the horror genre. Trigger Man, made on a dirt-poor budget in 2007, concerning three men (Reggie Cunningham, Ray Sullivan, and Sean Reid), who embark on a hunting trip in Delaware where they soon become the target of a lethal sniper lurking in the woods, seems like the perfect premise for West to execute his suspense-driven ways. However, he focuses too much on inherently-inert suspense, which comes in the form of the hunters walking around a cluttered forest to the point of excess; West essentially traps himself within the confines of his own suspense that any form of payoff inevitably becomes a "too little, too late" circumstance.

West does it all with Trigger Man, from being the film's writer, producer, director, editor, and cinematographer, and the film gives off the impression it was shot amongst pals during a weekend getaway. The continuity is all over the place, the camera-work is frequently unsteady, the editing feels sloppy, and the sense of dread is shockingly minimal. The film's glaring error, alongside the fact that the suspense comes in excess, is that West doesn't allow any sort of spacial element to take fold. We never really get the sense of, despite the vast open spaces around them, how trapped these characters are. We don't get the idea of the environment because we're so busy lingering on our empty characters with medium-length, unsteady shots, and with a film that takes place almost entirely in a woodsy setting, the environment is a key aspect. The forest is a lifeless character, complimented by the three leads, absent of any and all personality.

There's a brilliant horror film fighting to reveal itself in Trigger Man, but as it stands, the film is too slight to recommend and too unremarkable to commend on the same level as other West films. This is an interesting effort, combining the most minimalistic levels of storytelling devices, narrative progression, and payoff to create a horror film stripped down to its bare basics of operation, but it's all too shaky and uniformly messy to praise when there are other efforts of the like that do so much better at conveying dread and suspense (the underrated Open Water, anyone?). The good thing is with West's strong filmography, this one will live on as a footnote and its long term impact clearly hasn't worked to stall what looks to be a long, fruitful career.

Starring: Riley Cunningham, Ray Sullivan, and Sean Reid. Directed by: Ti West.

This movie is very very very poor. I have seen better movies.

There was a bit of tension but not much to make you jump out of your chair. It begins slowly with the building of tension. Which is not a success. At least if you ask me. Though at some points or moments I must say it was a bit funny when people got shot and how they went down.

They should had made it something like Scary Movie, then it might be a better movie. Because I watched only pieces of the movie by skipping scenes and it got to boring through out the movie. I must say that i felt sleepy watching this movie so I sure can say it is not worth it.

Don't waste time on even thinking to do something with this movie besides leaving it where it already is. Somewhere very dusty..

Minimal script, minimal character development, minimal steady camera. Maximum stretched scenes, maximum headache inducing jerky zooms, maximum characters walking around in the woods doing nothing. Up until the time flashes on the screen of 12:01pm, you can fast forward and miss nothing, since there are three hunters who we know nothing about doing nothing. To be fair, the movie does have some string music that was interesting, so perhaps a music video would have been the way to go with this. Unfortunately that was not to be, and what should have been a twenty minute short is stretched beyond belief. Forget about "Trigger Man", I know I am trying to. - MERK

"Trigger Man" is definitely the most boring and silliest movie I've ever seen in my life. My aunt's holiday videos are more fascinating.

The actors seem to be recruited at uglypeople.com. They do not have any talent to act in a convincing manner.

They walk and walk and walk through the forest. There's more walking-around than in all three parts of "The Lord of the Rings" together. After the first hour, I began to read a Porsche brochure while watching "Trigger Man" along the way. Awful.

A total waste of time and money. I'd give that movie 0 stars out of 10, since this is not possible, I have to give 1 star.