Please, please, please do not waste your money!
A. lowery | 07/26/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I enjoy small budget horror movies in addition to the blockbusters. I came across this movie at Best Buy, so I thought I would give it a chance. It's a cross between Saw and Hostel. The first 15 minutes start out great. I was very interested. Then the viewer learns that a "remake" of some snuff films is being made (then switch to the real movie). I always hate those movies in which movies are being made inside the movie--especially in horror films. Well, the "skeleton crew" finds the real snuff films made by a madman in the run-down mental hospital. The director becomes obsessed with them and begins killing the crew while filming it. After the first 15 minutes of the movie, it goes downhill fast. The characters are not likeable, and I really did not care if they got killed or not. It just becomes so ridiculous. Characters are walking around aimlessly in the building looking around corners. I really do not think this movie would even make it to the Sci Fi network 10 years from now. I watched about 3/4 of the movie then got up out my bed to write this review. The movie is so bad that I want my money back."
Wow bad.
J. Onorato | Hobart, IN USA | 09/09/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"There are varying degrees of bad. Some of my favorite movies are what I call 'awesomely bad.' A few examples of this would be Gingerdead Man, Sick Nurses, Versus, or Chainsaw Sally. Unfortunately, Skeleton Crew doesn't fall into this category. This one is more of a 'Wow' bad.
To explain: The main character starts out surviving a car crash and walking to a nearby insane asylum for assistance. Roll Eyes Here. Anyway, from the very beginning, the actress playing the main character was not very good at her trade. Not very good at all. Beyond that, she had no screen presence, she is somewhat unattractive and she speaks in a brutish sounding Eastern European accent. I hate to sound so critical, but I seriously wondered who the actress might have been in bed with to get even this meager role. Perhaps she was the director's girlfriend or something. As it turned out, that exact scenario was worked into the plot. She was 'playing' a bad actress who was sleeping with the director. Aha.
Next, we meet the director of the asylum who is, in my estimation, perhaps the second worst actor I've ever seen in a movie. EVER. And for reference, the #1 worst actor starred in the horrible Beyond the Wall of Sleep DVD.
But then, we are shown that the actor playing the asylum director is 'playing' a bad actor. Nevertheless, all the rest of his scenes are bad, just like the main character's. Go figure. In fact, other than the young girl playing the character Anna, the movie is filled with bad actors well deserving of gruesome horror-flick deaths.
Finally, it is explained how the whole experience is actually a movie within a movie, within another movie. Sadly, all three movies are beyond redemption."
Entertaining in a very surprising way
The Tao of Netflix | Washington, DC | 06/01/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"If you consider the sum to be strictly the whole of its parts, this movie should get a negative ranking, i.e., less than 0/5 stars. If for no other reason than some of the acting being quite possibly the worst I've ever seen, it should fail. However, I have to say I found something enjoyable in this film. Sure it is nothing more than a take on Hostel, and even glimmers of House on Haunted Hill, but it was fun. I know this review is going to sound terribly unhelpful, but I encourage you to give it at least a rental shot. Certainly not recommending a purchase, but a rental isn't a terrible choice."