Mask Maker

I had never actually heard of this movie before I watched it,so I had pretty low expectations....maybe that's why I enjoyed it as much as I did....Not that it's a masterpiece by any means, but it's worth checking out....The acting is fine, the special effects aren't bad, plus I always enjoy when they bring in a horror movie icon like Michael Berryman....If you're not overly critical,you might actually enjoy it......

Please don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this movie. I just wanted to enjoy it a lot more than I did. See, in an age of remakes, I feel like it's really hard to find fun, original material so it makes it so much more rewarding when you do. But there's few things worse than feeling like you got the old bait and switch. And that's sort of how I feel about this movie.

Sure, the story and plot aren't exactly a rip off, it's just that someone wasn't trying hard...at all...to make it original. It's a stalk-and-slash movie (Haloween, Friday The 13th) where a guy makes masks out of his victims at an old, abandoned farm house (Texas Chainsaw Massacre). I wish there were more to it, but not really. That being said, don't let that alone turn you off of this movie. It really isn't without it's charms. The kills are fun, the actors actually do a pretty good job in their roles, and the effects are surprisingly good. If you want to just sit on the couch (preferably with some sort of adult beverage) and have some fun, this isn't the worst way you could do it. You just have to get past the relatively well-tread plot.

What if your dream turned out to be a nightmare? After Jennifer's (Deloach) boyfriend Evan (Colletti) surprises her with a new house for her birthday strange things begin to happen. This is a hard movie to review. It is not that bad, but it drags, a lot. It's another haunted house because of something buried in the land movie that is not that bad, but it would have been a good "Fangoria Series" movie at an hour long, trying to stretch it out for an hour and a half really hurt the movie. If you are looking for a decent horror movie that is a cross between suspense and a slasher, this is a good choice. If you are looking for a very scary movie then I would go for something else. Not terrible, not great. I did like the ending though. I give it a C.

Would I watch again? - I doubt it.

Another slasher film. They still make them, I still buy them for about 10 pence. This one involves an annoying couple who have just bought a house that needs a bit of fixing up. You know, a bit of re-wiring, some double glazing. They might want to think about getting rid of undead serial killer in the back garden too.

No serial killer is worth anything unless he has some victims, so this couple's annoying mates show up to get killed. You know the type – They're younger than you, better looking than you, have more sex than you. Kind of makes you want to kill them, remove their faces, and wear them as masks yourselves.

So just like recent slasher films such as Stitches (okay), Blood Cabin (good), Madison County (pretty poor), The Bunnyman (ok) and The Rockville Ripper (ok), the killer chases folks around the house/barn/garden, they get the drop on him and fail to do anything about, blah blah you know the drill. Nothing much new to see here, although the 'using the victims faces as masks' thing kind of works.

I know they remade Friday 13th, but Mask Maker feels almost like they've remade the remake. Seriously, 'modern' slasher films, i.e. those with a - seemingly - indestructible undead serial killer have been around for nearly forty years, yet, in that time, film-makers don't seem to have been able to come up with anything more inspiring that 'teenage couples have sex and die.' If any couple partakes in pre-marital sex, you can write them off the cast list (same goes for any nudity at all).

Mask Maker is about your average undead serial killer, stalking a load of annoyingly-attractive American teens in a big house two of them have recently bought. There are attempts at explaining why he's undead, but it doesn't really matter. His 'gimmick' is that he doesn't really have a face and he rips off victims' faces and uses them as his own (didn't they do that in Texas Chainsaw?). It's worth noting that if you're wearing an ill-fitting, blood-soaked, torn-off mask of someone, all your friends will instantly think you're really them and not bother asking questions until you've hacked them to bits.

Talking about hacking people to bits, the death scenes are particularly uninspiring. Yes, there's a bit of blood, but nothing very original.

It's predictable too. No major plot surprises here. The clichés come thick and fast, especially with the 'locals who always know something' about the horror that is to come.

Basically, if you're into films with undead killers stalking dumb teens, just stick to Friday 13th. It may be a little old by now, but it's still better than this.

Oh, and if you're thinking of buying a property, get your solicitor to check that no psychotic undead serial killers aren't buried somewhere on the premises. If you find out there are, I recommend returning to the estate agents and looking for somewhere else.