Skeletons in the Closet

Although the actors were not A listers they were at least good actors that I am familiar with. I like the premise they started out with, IF I have it right. Hard to know as it was such a MESS!!

The production of putting it all together was a disaster. Very low budget. The script was weird or was it the editing that made it weird?

I did not find it scary in the least because I was so busy trying to figure out what was going on from minute to minute. It was a real chore to watch this movie. I kept watching and rewinding to see if there was something I missed but I am still not sure exactly what happened. I will have to go read up on the plot somewhere.

Only watch if you are into train wrecks. Oh how fall poor Cuba Gooding jr has fallen.

I hate to be overwhelmingly negative when it comes to my reviews, but unfortunately I don't have much positive to say about this one... so I'll try to keep it brief.

From the moment it started till the final scene I almost consistently wanted to turn it off. The script was poorly written and felt juvenile. The editing and CGI were hokey and surprisingly low quality. This movie was almost the antithesis of atmospheric and there was practically nothing scary throughout. Many scenes were over lit and riddled with stagnant wide shots making it feel very amateurish. Stylistically it was just all wrong.

The story was nothing particularly engaging or original either, full of unnecessary and inconsequential aspects such as the scarecrow, the mobsters and many others. The general quality of the picture was crisp and nice which often times was beneficial, yet at other points really detracted from any semblance of atmosphere. I didn't even realize that the acting was really quite good until about halfway through because even the best acting can be hidden under poor angles, clunky editing and a bad script.

There were some really solid performances here, particularly from the mom, her father, her husband and the husband's brother. It is obvious that they used the majority of their budget on casting and let other things suffer because of it.

I do not like to and very rarely give out 2s. I really wanted to round up to at least 3 with this one for the acting, but unfortunately it was too much of an overwhelmingly negative experience on multiple fronts. 2.5 rounding down to a 2, would not recommend.

My guess is this was filmed in about 8-10 days at most. Most scenes are 1-2 takes. They probably got Cuba Gooding Jr. For 1 or 2 days. The plot is extremely simple, almost as if a child wrote it.

By about the 1 hour mark I really wanted to shut it off, but I endured. To get to the underwhelming finale that any novice film goer would expect.

I guess the biggest question is why did Terrence Howard do this project? Why? It couldn't have paid much, maybe just for fun? The plot is partially a flashback story, which the synopsis explains. There's just nothing here sadly. The first 25 minutes is Cuba and Terrence drinking at bars talking, usually in 1 take scenes.

Overall it's passable to put on if you're working or cooking or something, but don't dedicate your time to watching this. 4.4/10.

I hate to see such wonderful actors performing in a movie that just doesnt cut it, that just doesnt succeed in thrilling or scaring, which is the ultimate aim of a horror movie such as this.

The bad: this movie was made with attention for detail. This is isnt some cheaply made B-horror movie. It's not going for the cheap shock effects either, but in the end it just really fails at becoming scary (at all). It's unfortunately more kinda silly looking at moments, which was not the intention whatsoever.

The good: it's always nice to see solid actors like Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. Perform on the silver screen. They deserve a better picture than this though.

Not terrible, but definetly not thrilling or scary or mesmirising. Too bad for these wonderful actors who are starring in it...

This movie is pretty damn awful. Wow. Surprised to see such good actors Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, Clifton Powell in such a slow and boring film. No thrills or chills to be found here. Bland and all over the place. Still trying to make sense of the scarecrow. The whole mobster piece is unnecessary as well. I wish I could get the time back that I spent watching this movie. I decided to see it through to the end, but that was an unsatisfying ending. Nothing and I mean nothing stands out about this film. I don't recommend watching it a total waste of time. I guess the actors got paychecks!!