Tanuccoon

The original Alice in Wonderland story was a little odd but, within the context of a dream, ultimately excusable. The director/writer of the film must have found the story too ordinary, as he opts for a more bizarre and occasionally creepy re-imagining. The adaptation is pretty loose in relation to the original story and omits several major characters (most noticeably the Cheshire Cat, although he could have been invisible the whole time....) although many of the key plot points remain.

However, the kicker is that most of the artistic elements aren't even all that memorable, let alone good. The best one is the rabbit coming to life in the beginning but then it's mostly so-so until a very creepy take on the tea party. Some is just weird for the sake of weird, which doesn't necessarily make for a good film.

The worst part is that the film is fairly dull and the repeated effect of seeing Alice talk for the other characters gets annoying fast. As such, the film may be worth watching just to see how much of it you can stand before switching it off.

Don't be deceived by the excessive praise afforded to this film, as it actually features little substance. Many of the vignettes are just a scene in length and none are particularly outstanding. The sort of hammy, over-the-top acting seen throughout may be excusable in a feature length film where other content exists to pad it out but instead the viewer is stuck suffering through heavy over-performance after heavy over-performance. The writing varies immensely, with some of the most cliché content seeming a somewhat deliberate attempt to mock everyday, mundane conversation.

That's not to say that the film isn't without its charms as, at times, there's an everyday feel to the thing when the actors aren't trying to desperately oversell their performances. However, the most aggravating aspect is the sheer predictability at times. Viewers should be able to easily intuit the coming action; this doesn't result from foreshadowing but rather poor writing. While some things are left unsaid, one can easily draw conclusions. The film features some major stars which, I imagine, is probably the reason it's received a free pass from so many despite being mostly a forgettable humdrum.

Low budgies are always something of a crapshoot. On one hand, the people involved have more freedom. On the other, they often can't afford talent. Hellweek was supposedly produced on an estimated budget of $14,000 and, for the life of me, I can't figure out where that money went. The camera-work is amateurish at best, the acting is a bit worse than amateur, the script is meandering and occasionally nonsensical, and the editing is non-existent. There are serious issues with sound-balancing where one second you can barely hear the characters but the next second their laughter can be deafening. The color is off in many of the scenes and there are lighting issues in many shots. The film also suffers from the all-too-frequent problem of inconsistent outdoor environments where morning, day, dusk, and night fly by in minutes.

The story is both meandering and often incomprehensible. Near as I can figure, ghostly serial killers are haunting a warehouse where a fraternity plans to haze new members. Of course, it takes forever for anything resembling hazing to begin. Much of the movie revolves around a boy named "JJ". His is apparently the only important name, as any scene that he's not in (and there are very few) all of the rest of the cast is mostly talking about him. And, to prevent you from forgetting who that character is, JJ frequently talks in the third person or otherwise self-references.

The majority of the film is consumed by talk about some big party, occasional drama between characters that doesn't build into much, and pointless almost-subplots (a porn business, a premonition, a psychic, etc). While the movie is supposedly about kids being attacked in a warehouse it takes forever for them to actually get to the warehouse. It's almost as if the horror was an afterthought. The villains and effects are generally goofy and their motivations range from being confusing to silly.

Hellweek plays out like a bad student film project. Most of the actors deliver dialogue with an almost smile on their face, an "oh, look at me, I'm ACTING!" The camera-work, editing, and production are generally shoddy. The story lacks focus and even the dialogue is weak. Would recommend avoiding.