Pop Skull

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.

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.

I have been seeking this movie out for weeks and had to join Netflix DVD to secure it. I watched it one night when I wasn't feeling well on a weekend and decided to stay in. That night changed my life.

This movie embodies so many emotions that really can't be put into words. Paranoia, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, fear and perhaps guilt. Adam Wingard basically shows us what the mind of someone who is desperately struggling looks like. It's something most of us have gone through but something we never thought could be depicted on screen. It's beautiful. Every scene is beautiful and meaningful and will bring you to your knees. I don't understand how something like this was created with such a small budget. I have never seen anything this authentic since Harmony Korine. Adam Wingard uses so many different types of varieties of direction to depict what we can't hear and can only see. I simply cannot give this enough praise.

Yes, perhaps this isn't something that you would watch with your family or even friends. I watched it alone and have rewatched it alone since. There are scenes that remind me of Cronenberg and Lynch but yet separate Wingard from the bunch. This movie is hard to retrieve but please try. I have been a fan since I saw "You're Next" and for me, this movie is his best although I love all of his work. This is what someone who really knows what they are doing creates and his passion and clear intent shines through and leaves an imprint on you that no movie has in so long.

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.

The movie "Pop Skull" written by E.L Katz, Lane Hughes, and directed by Adam Wingard is in my opinion the example of an ideal horror. The story is about Daniel and his heartache which has been caused by his girlfriend. When they broke up, Daniel got depressed. He couldn't differentiate between dream and reality. The atmosphere of that movie is dark and creppy like the Edgar Allan Poe's prose. Wingard captured that sense of fear and put it on the screen, in every movie shot. "Pop Skull" has great music, noble photos and excellent acting.The main character Daniel played by Lane Hughes is so stunning and authentic. The movie language of Pop Skull is hard, obscure and dramatic. The Hounted motif was used very genuine and subtly. When you watch Pop skull it's impossible not to be scared.

Great job Adam.