Mörderische Freunde

"Scream"'s Matthew Lilard is at his insane best in this variation on student life. Unlike another film which took a comic approach to the "dead roommate equals good grades", this film is deadly serious. Good performances aside, the script meanders and lacks true thrills, making it slow going at times. But hang in for the ending - as usual, the best part of the curve is the twist.

Pretty decent premise but poor execution in many ways. The benefit of ONE semester of A's is hardly enough to stake the whole story/elaborate plan on. Instead of telling a solid story, this movie gets caught up patting itself on the back, thinking it's just that clever. Clever is when a movie shows you everything but you still don't see whats right in your face. This movie shows you everything, as well as unnecessary filler that only exists to throw off the viewer. The use of flashbacks to explain things that can easily be figured out is insulting to viewers and really dumbs things down. It takes away from the movie.

I somehow missed this movie in the 90s, and just came across it. I would have loved it when I was young, as its in the same vein as Scream and Urban Legend-- though not a slasher. I was able to enjoy it but it was quite predictable.

Matthew Lillard was amazing. He always seems like such a genuine guy in interviews, and I can clearly see he showed up for this movie, and brought all of his energy to his performance.

As with many other late 90s movies, some parts aged horribly and were super uncomfortable.

I really didn't expect much of Dead Man's Curve at first but I became immediately thrilled once I started watching it. The performances (especially Matthew Lillard) were great and I just dig it when a bad guy thrives as much as Lillard did in this movie. The bigger part of the film was pretty good and would have easily been rewarded with a 7 or maybe even a 7,5 but in the end it just didn't get away with it. In the end Dead Man's Curve just becomes one of those thrillers that wants to be too smart and too original / surprising, resulting in a very annoying and unbelievable ending. It would be rightful to say that by introducing twist after twist after twist the filmmaker succeeded in breaking the movie's neck. Since the ending for me was a big fat 3 out of 10 I find it very hard to make a recommendation regarding this film.

6 out of 10

Insane college student figures out a way to get his grades the easy way. Murder. Everything goes his way as he outwits the police, fools the university staff, and pins the rap on his dopey partner. However, all is not as it seems and some surprises are in store for the viewer. Interesting little thriller, with some black comedy thrown in the mix: makes a guy wonder if such a rule could exist in a university without causing just such an incident.

Matthew Lillard always manages to be the shining light of a film. He was great in Scream, even better in She's All That,and somehow managed to go one better in Dead Man's Curve. It doesn't matter how bad the film is, you can always count on Matthew Lillard. He plays disturbed killer Tim who, with the help of his room mate Chris(michael vartan), plots to kill other room mate Rand(randall bakinkoff). The story gets even more intense however, when Chris' girlfriend finds out. Lillard gives a fantastic performance(as always). The rest of the cast though, trail behind. They're not terrible, but they're just not as watchable as Lillard who plays his psycho killer with acute accuracy. In my opinion, Lillard is one of Hollywood's best up and coming actors. He has a superb career ahead of him and this film is one huge stepping stone that will be remembered as his leap to success. Top film with a fun and twisted story that will keep you hypnotized throughout. Rating=5/5