The Frightening

the ending is decent but overall the movie is pretty bad. the acting is terrible except the lead guy is OK but mostly they are overacting. the cinematography is horrible during the scary scenes, it made me feel like i was going to have motion sickness and sometimes it looked like the editing was off. when they would cut from one character to the next, it did not line up right. and the gore is just too overdone, especially for how little slashing there is. i wasn't expecting much and that is basically what i got. i only watched it because i have a thing for scary movies but i definitely would not recommend it to someone and if someone asked me about it i would say watch it if you have nothing better to do.

Well written, well acted, well photographed, well directed but absolutely hideously edited horror film. Good editing should be invisible. It should never call attention to itself. The editing in THE FRIGHTENING makes the film unwatchable. There are these absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary flashes of white every two seconds. This makes watching THE FRIGHTENING about the same as experiencing Chinese water torture. What were they thinking? Brinke Stevens makes a nice cameo appearance, and the lead actor who plays her son is very good. I can't believe a director as accomplished as David DeCoteau would give his movie to an editor who made the film an unwatchable experience.

It is Corey Peterson's first day at Hallow End High School when he discovers that there is a rash of murders occurring on campus. It is a battle of jocks versus the geeks and Corey is forced to choose sides.

This film has a very abysmal rating on IMDb. Now, I do not want to be the one to defend it. I really, really do not want to be that guy. But clearly the people voting have not seen other David DeCouteau films. After recently watching his "Ring of Darkness", this one comes off as a masterpiece.

Fans are going to find the DeCouteau they know and love. Plenty of young men with smooth chests to see. Sometimes wrestling, sometimes showering and sometimes just being topless because it feels right. I watch and I wonder what the actors are thinking when they accept these roles. If they are gay actors, I understand. But if not, does it make them feel odd to know they are going to be presented on screen as male playthings? This might be a question for Jason Paul Collum...

This isn't as bad as some reviewers would have you believe, but it's still not good. The story is borrowed from half-a-dozen other movies, though there are a couple of decent plot points that are semi-original. The flaws are numerous: bad acting, bad slasher FX, and very bad script. The only one who impressed me was the main character's mother, who was suitably subtle in her role. The FX are just laughable, and whoever thought up the costumes for the killers was just not putting any effort into it. Of course, the actors were all burdened with lines that make it evident that the writer(s) put TOO much effort into them. (What 17-year-olds talk like that?) But even with these flaws, the story unrolls at a reasonable pace and the movie makes progress towards the final resolution in a determined and dogged fashion. The end itself makes you feel a bit cheated.

If you have nothing better to do on some late night, this is an acceptable slasher movie. But just barely.

David Decoteau does it once again. He makes a movie, full of beautiful, well sculpted men in their underwear, but for some reason, he refuses to make a film with an original idea or plot.

I had really been anticipating this film's release. The trailer looked interesting enough, and I thought maybe Decoteau had finally gotten it right. However, borrowing too much from other genre films, we are offered nothing new or original, even for a B-movie. The script really seems to want to go in a decent direction, but in true Matthew Jason Walsh fashion, the ending is rushed and makes no sense and does not tie in to the rest of the film. However, you can't blame him, (though I have before). He is only a writer for hire, and for this film had many restrictions placed on him by the Distrbutor's and Producer's of this film. Oh, well...

Newcomer, Matt Twining really did one of the best jobs in this film. His acting is pretty solid and was executed well. Tanya Dempsey wasn't in this enough to really critique her performance. Most of the other players were just there and did nothing for the film. Brinke Stevens was really upstaged by Twining in the scenes they were in together. Still, she is Brinke, and that is all we need to care about!

As for the ending, which is really what most will hate and rip apart. I really liked the back story of the school and the student being dead since 1925. Though it was vastly underdeveloped...I would like to see the orignal script or a more bigger one from Mr. Walsh. He really had an excellent idea that was turned into a Sixth Sense rip-off!

The editing of the film is by far its saving grace. Danny Draven does a superb job making this look like a psychodelic nightmare though the past and though another world, without really doing it! If that makes sense... Quick flash cuts really helped move the eerie pace the film really wanted to have...but really didn't for lack of story!

Overall I give this film a decent rating. It was worth watching, and for die-hard fans. Alot less homoerotic than previous films by Decoteau, but still enough male flesh to make those it is intended for, quiver with glee!

6 out of 10