Crush the Skull

Almost turned this off several times in the opening 15 or so minutes. Something told me to carry on.

Glad I did. While the negatives up front stacked up, they, like the Jenga game, quickly fell down and the positives began to multiply.

Beginning with Asian actors not only taking major roles, race, aside from a quick non-Asian, albeit racial joke, never was an issue. That was refreshing and progressive. Way to go, guys, not even bringing their heritage up and it was normal. Bravo. Second, such the strong female lead. For such an amateurish film, she 100% acted like a major Hollywood actress.

I digress, let me back up. The movie is about "on-paper" good thieves who upon their last score inadvertently make that their second-to-last and their real last isn't a blast. They encounter a killer with a torture basement and no way out.

The movie is mostly a comedy, though many ideas stem from many horror movies these filmmakers obviously admired. Unfortunately, for the film, the first third or so - when I wanted badly to call this a loss and find another Friday Night Fright, the "comedy" wasn't funny and the direction/camera work/flaws were so film-school reject, it's hard to believe the last two-thirds made up for it in spades.

The jokes got funnier (I found myself actually laughing out loud a few times) and the acting improved as did the cinematography. In that first act, I admired these unknowns were making a movie - that's not an easy task even when most of the stars align, but I felt pity as barely any of jokes landed. Once the first third was over, I forgot this was all-but friends getting together to attempt to make a film and was actually watching a horror-comedy-homage.

Plus, it was a huge plus this wasn't found footage as it hinted at in the beginning. Bravo, again, for not taking the easy and definitely stupid way out for making a real movie.

Overall, while not 100% there and it still felt amateurish at times, once they got their grove and you can spot the dozens of references to subgenre horror movies, you'll probably enjoy this. And yes, references. I believe these people loved the many movies this jammed in and it wasn't about thief or unoriginality.

This is an A for effort. I checked out your IMDb pages. Keep this up and grow more so we can see you get the box-office and praise you deserve.

***

Final thoughts: Horribly, though, I coincidentally watched this as real-life torture and abuse from two "parents" upon their multiple children came out this week. Two Californian "parents," absolutely destroyed their many children with actual torture for their whole lives. Mercifully, one of the kids escaped to get help and hopefully, those "parents" will live long enough to know the evils they did.

So, that all said, despite this movie being made LONG before this incident came to light, it was still kinda hard to watch torture rooms and devices immediately after a true story about the same kinds of malice.

I stumbled into this movie by accident; it was the one that I could see at that moment that seemed to have the most interesting title. I was very happy that I did.

The basic premise is that a group of robbers--some competent, some not so much--try to pull off a heist at a house in the middle of nowhere. Unbeknownst to them, the house is actually a torture chamber for a serial killer. Criminal is pitted against criminal, and craziness ensues.

Typically, horror/comedies end up being a bit scary with a few amusing moments, or mostly goofy with some cheesy horror-like moments. This movie jumps back and forth from having the audience laugh out loud to having legitimately tense parts. The ability to do both sides well made this movie very enjoyable for me. Granted, there were times where the jump between the two were almost too quick, making the emotional flow a little awkward. There were also a couple of forced jump-scares. But over all, a movie I would recommend seeing.

The acting started out fake and the camera methods were not to my liking at first, but it actually turned out to help the movie in creating the tense atmosphere and the acting worked as well. Some jokes were not exactly laugh out loud funny but the majority actually were... while still blending with the fairly decent plot.

Overall it's more comedy than thriller, but still manages to make you jump in your seat at least once or twice and keep wondering what will happen next. It wasn't perfect but it's the only horror comedy that wasn't ridiculous and all about gore, and was actually to my liking in providing a thriller with a good story line, and with sensible jokes in between.

Director Viet Nyugen is clearly fascinated with the idea of criminals stumbling onto danger far worse than their own misdeeds. It's a trick Crush the Skull pulls twice in its first and second acts. No doubt it's a theme of Nyugen's two webshorts, 2010's Crush the Skull and 2013's Crush the Skull 2, which feature some of the same cast. But no matter how many times he does it, I'm not sold. Winner of the Nightfall award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the film version of his wicked concept is a weird hybrid of webisode and TV sitcom. I don't know why this made it to the silver screen. It revels in its punchlines as jokes are punctuated with a Parks and Recreation style zoom. This wouldn't be too bad if the jokes were funny, but they're all obvious ones that would only work in absurd satire but this isn't whacky or sharp enough. Instead it uses all the clichés of horror without subverting them, thinking its melodrama is hilarious but it's just melodramatic. Unfortunately it's completely atmosphereless. There are a few unexpected moments I enjoyed, and it's not explicitly bad, it just falls flat.

5/10

CtS was a low-budget horror film I backed on Kickstarter some time ago. As is often the case, it takes many months before you get to see the finished product (if ever…there are still projects I backed in early 2014 that haven't delivered). I can't remember exactly what made me choose this film as one to support. I think it was a combination of the plot and the prominence of humor in the film. Actually the film's budget was rather large for Kickstarter standards, about $75,000 (I've backed films with budgets below $1,000 if you can believe that).

The film is the brainchild of Viet Nguyen and Chris Dinh. Chris also stars in the film, while Viet served as Director. The plot is somewhat simple: Ollie (Dinh) and Blair (Katie Savoy) are a loving couple who happens to make their living by breaking and entering into upper- class homes. When what is supposed to be their final job before a year of traveling goes comically wrong, they are forced to go into debt to a local gangster and resume "work" to afford their payments. Because time is of the essence, they agree to join Blair's screw-up brother (Chris Reidell) and his "crew" (the hilarious Tim Chou) in a robbery of a vacation home. Unfortunately, the target property is the lair of a serial killer…and once they break in, they cannot find a way out.

Tight dialogue, great humor and good acting are what pull this film together. There are some suspenseful moments, but things never get too serious, and unlike most low-budget horror films the blood is kept to a minimum. Crush the Skull is one of those movies you need to pay attention to as you watch it or you'll miss some of the ongoing gags and subtle humor. You'll still enjoy the more obvious jokes and fun, but the effort you put into the details will be well worth your while.

The characters are well developed and their personalities dictate their actions and the kind of laughter they inspire. The "basement" sets are very well done, and above all the post-production work on sound and music lift Crush the Skull to an even higher level. Those two areas are often shortchanged in the low-budget world, but this team marshaled their resources well and the finished product is much better for those efforts.

I don't think Crush the Skull is available on DVD or on-demand yet, but I believe it will be shortly. Watch for it, especially if you enjoy dark, intelligent humor mixed with your suspense and horror.