Skew

I really enjoyed this movie as it keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what kind of creepiness is going to jump out at you next! Most thriller/horror movies out there today are solely into shock value, rampant with gratuitous gore. Skew doesn't rely on over-the-top gore to scare you, it succeeds in doing so with great camera work, creepy images and freaky incidents. What starts out as a fun road trip becomes a gradual descent into the hellish unknown. You really feel for the two main characters in this film, they are likable, and yet the terror surrounding them seems beyond their control. Unlike most movies today, Skew really makes you think. You'll be trying to figure out what's going on all the way up to the very end. And then the reveal is splendidly disturbing.

Skew is yet another hand-held POV horror in a similar vein to The Blair Witch Project and its countless found footage imitators. On this occasion, the person behind the camera is Simon (Rob Scattergood), who experiences disturbing occurrences while documenting his road trip with friends Rich (Richard Olak) and Eva (Amber Lewis): while peering through the viewfinder, Simon witnesses strange visual distortions that seem to predict the subject's imminent death.

Told at a very leisurely pace, with the camera even resting on inanimate objects or total blackness for minutes on end, Skew is definitely a test of one's patience at times; however, commendable performances and sporadic moments of well-handled weirdness keep the viewer watching, as does the hope of a satisfying denouement. It's rather frustrating then that, by the end of proceedings, several issues are still left unresolved, most notably the true nature of the supernatural phenomenon and the fates of several characters.

On occasion, a little ambiguity can work in a film's favour, but in this instance, after such an arduous and often uneventful haul, it only serves to irritate.

N.B. A little detective work here on IMDb has since enabled me to better understand the director's intentions, but when an in-depth explanation from those involved is necessary in order to appreciate a film, then it only seems fair to call it a failure.

I just caught this on The Horror Channel and I'm somewhat perplexed what it was doing there . As the threadbare story unravels the possible horror element is people having distorted faces that led me to believe that I might be watching something along the lines of John Carpenter's THEY LIVE where a special camera alerts the viewer to alien infiltration and a scene of violence at the end but I doubt if SKEW is about alien invasions

It's also a very boring film like so many lost footage movies . One can understand low to no budget producers using this format since it requires little money for expensive cameras , film and a star cast but many of us consider the art of cinema as telling a visual story and these type of movies usually revolve around realist situations that are so realistic you could easily make the same film on your I-pod

In short this is very banal seen it all before stuff with guerrilla film standard production values . Unless I missed something it's not a horror movie and I'm very sceptical about other comments stating that you have to watch a couple of times in order to get it . I strongly doubt if I'll be watching this again

In the wake of found footage greats like Paranormal Activity, Grave Encounters, REC., Cloverfield etc. a movie like Skew automatically makes you have high expectations for it and be extra critical of it but I can thankfully say that Skew came pretty darn close at being in their league. The movie does have a pretty slow build up introducing us to three friends Simon, Rich and Eva on a road trip to a wedding, everything seems fine and dandy but tension soon builds when Simon starts seeing strange and unexplained images in his video camera that he brings along that makes faces of strangers that they encounter on the trip distorted and soon after tragic accidents involving the strangers that they meet occur. This movie has suspense throughout and an involving story filled with twists that will have you guessing and scratching your head til the very end but that is the film's major problem that there is more questions than answers and is one of those films that makes you come up with your own conclusions which I hate and is a shame because this movie had so much potential but the story seems unfinished. There are a few scares here and there and a lot of creepy and chilling scenes but nothing major enough to make you lose sleep over it but this movie is mostly story/character and suspense driven but then again an unknown movie with unknown actors and a limited budget it's pretty darn impressive and a gem even though it needs a little bit more polishing and fixing up the loosen ends. Overall it's like The Blair Witch Project meets Shutter meets Final Destination without the gore meets Tape but without any true, memorable scares and too many plot holes it makes you think what could of been especially with an intriguing and unsettling premise but it's definitely worth a look with patience and an open mind and low expectations. 6.6 out of 10

I first saw Skew at the Mississauga Film Festival. This is a psychological thriller/horror film that has found a new voice in its "found footage" sub-genre. Skew kept me wondering and waiting for more. The acting is good. The character of Eva is especially strong, haunting the audience with her wide eyes. The effects are subtle and work well in the grainy home video 4x3 ratio. Sometimes the scenes felt a little too long, but there were enough scares that I was compelled to see it again when I was in Manhattan for the Manhattan Film Festival. This second time I concentrated on the story and picked up on clever plot points that I missed or didn't seem to matter on my first viewing. Pay attention, this film is coming from a new direction that will side-swipe you.