Pop Skull

A pill addict (Lane Hughes) confronts ghosts in this artsy, independent film directed by Adam Wingard. Not unlike other Halo Eight releases (such as "Devil's Muse"), this will cater to the more cultured horror fan, not necessarily the splatter-gore fan. Those who need constant, fast-paced stimulation will be bored and likely quickly become distracted. This is not just entertainment, but art put to celluloid.

Instead of giving a review -- really, what sums up this film is its beautiful vision and presentation, rather than a focus on the plot -- I wanted to clarify another review I read that says "Pop Skull" is for the viewer who "can remember your first heartache". Despite all the great things one can say about "Pop Skull", this review went over the top and needs a sense of grounding.

Hughes is compared to Jack Nicholson in "Five Easy Pieces" and Marlon Brando in "Last Tango in Paris". That's some heavy praise. I would hold off on judging Mr. Hughes until his next role, though I concur that he was the man for the job here. The film itself is compared to "Easy Rider", another Nicholson film. Again, this may be a stretch. "Easy Rider" is today a classic... "Pop Skull" is unlikely to achieve this level, and I'd be interested in hearing the reviewer's opinion after a second viewing in a few years.

The reviewer asks, rightly, "since when does conventional film-making imply superiority to something attempting to try something else?" This is a crucial question, both for this film and film in general. The formulaic structure of most movies and their film quality is accepted as the standard, but independent films need love, too, and often times the new concepts trump the tested methods. The reviewer craps on such so-called independent films as "Garden State" ("vapid") and "Saw" ("stupid"), which is unfair, in my opinion. These are both fine films, I think, just simply different from "Pop Skull". To dump on bigger budget indie films is just as discriminating as dumping on low budget indie films.

That is all I have to say. If you like the artsy films and have come to like what you see from Halo Eight, get this one. Buy it. Support indie film.

Believe me, I saw lots of horror movies. But not even one compares to that waste of time that "Pop Skull" is. You thought "Haunted boat" or "Seven mummies" or "Chain reaction" are bad? Wait until you see this and bore yourself to death. Literally, with every passing minute of this movie you feel you life being sucked from you and you want to scream and scream again! I saw this at the cinema and half of the people just escaped from the theater after the first half, where nothing happened. Nothing happened in the second half either... And they call that horror, when there isn't a single scary moment in the whole movie!

"Pop Skull" should be an interesting film on many levels as it tells the story of alienation,depression and loneliness due to emotional breakdown.Daniel loses the one girl that he can't live without.She broke up with him to date an actor named Victor.His perception of reality is completely shattered as he trips on whatever he can get his hands on: over the counter drugs,prescriptions,tiny white pills,oblong pink ones.This results in the series of hallucinogenic nightmares...The main problem I have with "Pop Skull" is that it's pretty damn boring.The soundtrack is excellent,the acting is decent and the film leaves many questions unanswered.Admittedly the use of light and shadow is exceptional and there are some great filming techniques used,but the action is slow and lifeless.Just like a drug trip.I enjoyed Andrey Iskanov's similarly experimental "Visions of Suffering" more.5 out of 10.

I don't quite know what was supposed to happen with this movie. I don't understand what was supposed to be scary. I don't understand how the strange lights, flashing, camera tricks, etc. are supposed to be scary or creepy. As I was yawning, I stopped the movie unable to finish the last 30 minutes or care that I didn't finish it.

If you suffer from seizures or classic migraines, stay away from this movie. There is a ton of flashing in it.

It is too artsy for its own good. A pill head is haunted. Are there actual ghosts, or is he hallucinating? Don't know, and by the end of this, you really won't care.

I get that we are seeing things from the perspective of the main character, who is an unreliable narrator. We are seeing his depression over a breakup. His fear of being alone. His growing hatred for, well, what seems like everyone.

We see his growing paranoia. So are the pills causing him to have a psychotic break? Maybe?

I don't tend to need the story line fed to me. But not being able to watch any of the flashing scenes and having to hit the 10 seconds forward key over and over did take something away from this for me. Like, did I miss something that advanced the story?

It is slow, and I felt because of that I couldn't pay enough attention to it.