Driftwood

After the death of his older rocker brother Dean of overdose, the rebel sixteen year-old David Forrester (Raviv Ullman) becomes bitter and obsessed with death, while grieving his brother. His parents decide to send him to Driftwood, a camp leaded by Captain Kennedy (Diamond Dallas Page) that promises to transform dysfunctional boys in men. David is lodged in the Level 1 and discovers that Captain uses brutality to control and modify the attitudes of the teenagers; further, that he uses the camp with the intention to make money in real state business. When David is haunted by the spirit of the Captain's nephew Jonathan (Connor Ross), who died in the swamp nearby Driftwood, he discovers a dark secret about his mates in Level 1 and the brutal Captain Kennedy.

"Driftwood" has a promising beginning, and the reformatory seems to be a teen version of "Prison Break" with corruption, sadism and brutality. However the plot is so absurd and ridiculous that, associated to the terrible acting, makes this movie completely worthless. Some reviews that give high ratings seem to be fake comments and published only to promote this weak movie and lure the readers. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Driftwood, o Reformatório" ("Driftwood, The Reformatory")

I saw Driftwood Saturday at the Fango Weekend of Horrors. At first I thought Ullman would just pull off some low-end Disney acting, but he was actually very good. You can see a smoldering in his eyes that I didn't expect him to be able to emote at all. Also, he gets to use his real name for the credits in this movie, Raviv. The poster still shows Ricky though.

My expectations were low for Diamond Dallas Page, but he was good. Oddly, I thought the scenes in which Page didn't speak a lot were better than the ones in which he did. But if he can keep getting better than you never know.

Driftwood is NOTHING like 2001 Maniacs. I tried not to think about Maniacs when I went in to see this movie. I didn't need to bother. I wouldn't think Driftwood was by the same director as Maniacs if I had gone in blind. The movies are vastly different in approach and feel.

I have some fun facts for this movie I am afraid to put in here because they might mildly spoil the movie. I do suggest seeing Driftwood. A good ghost story with multi-layered social commentary. The acting is much better than I think most people expect from a B film so don't let that be a deterrent.

When I watched "Driftwood" on the chiller channel... I promise you it... actually shocked from the very beginning... 'til the end! It was full of chills and thrills... I trust guys...I know what talking about... it actually scared at times here and there, everywhere... Call me weird(or not) horror films to my best interest...knowledge "DON'T SCARE ME AT ALL!" Anyway, for my own opinion , I thought this movie was pretty good (decent) with all those visual and special effects the crew put up were without a doubt awesome... even though, most of you wouldn't agree more or at all! It runs smooth, pretty fast, at times edgy,like any horror/ horror/thriller does. It also struck or actually shocked me (and/or again not) was towards middle to the end of the film (Driftwood) when David Forrester(Ricky Ullman)learns and find real truth was behind unexplained and "maybe, just maybe incidental" murder and a ghost of Jonathan, that kept haunting David in nightmarish forms of visions and preliminary dreams throughout middle to almost the end of Driftwood and the kid whom Captain Kennedy( Diamond Dallas Page) killed just for pleasure...? Or actually probably for a reason? Evidently and without a doubt or question not. He did it 'cause he wanted to get rid of him...SOMEHOW (AND...HE DID)...and then again he paid for what he's done by seeing the ghost Jonathan in David... Give it a try, take a look, you might like it!

Grade B-, B, or B+ the most is A- STARS 10 out of 10

The movie clearly hits home with some people, but for me I'm afraid it missed the mark.

From the outset the acting appeared somewhat B-movie-like. Some characters overacted, the script felt unnatural and some of the lines spouted were just clichés from a phrase book.

The lead guy was OK - his acting was clearly what the producers spent their money on. By no means an Oscar-winning performance, he did grab the spotlight but only really thanks to the quite terrible acting around him.

The story is OK - that's all though, "ok". Not great, not inspiring. Nothing new. I only just made it to the end but constantly wished it could have been forwarded.

Seeing as most people here seemed to enjoy it, I can hardly tell you to stay away but it is in no way shape or form a great movie.

Israeli-born actor Raviv Ullman ('Phil of the Future') here plays David Forrester, a morose kid who's been obsessed with death since his older brother, a rock musician, O.D.'d. His concerned parents (Lin Shaye, the "Insidious" series, and Marc McClure, Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeve "Superman" films) send him to the title institution, which looks after troubled youths. However, when he gets there, authority figures such as the swaggering Captain Kennedy (wrestling icon Diamond Dallas Page, "The Devil's Rejects") order him to toe the line...OR ELSE. It turns out, they're VERY rough on their charges. Soon, David develops interest in the story of Jonathan (Connor Ross, "Headgame"), an inmate who'd supposedly perished in an escape attempt.

Granted, all of this is quite familiar stuff. And co-writer / director Tim Sullivan ("2001 Maniacs") doesn't have very many surprises in store for his viewers. "Driftwood" is occasionally atmospheric, but not very creepy *or* scary, as the story starts leaning on supernatural-horror elements. Some of the gore and makeup are good, but the visual effects are unimaginative. The characters - the inmates, anyway - are uninspired types.

All of that said, this was reasonably well made, and paced adequately, wrapping up in just an hour and a half. B flicks like this can't really be measured against mega budget Hollywood product, anyway, and this one proved to be watchable enough. It benefits from Ullman's decent lead performance, some sexy ladies (Baelyn Neff ("Kissing Strangers"), Kim Morgan Greene (a veteran of episodic TV)), and villains who offer the audience great thick slices of ham. Page in particular is an effective heavy. It's nice to see Shaye and McClure, as always. Familiar faces among the supporting cast include David Eigenberg ('Sex and the City') as the henchman Norris, and Cory Hardrict ("Warm Bodies") as Darryl.

At least this little picture shows that Sullivan can handle serious genre fare as well as he can a campier effort like "2001 Maniacs".

Six out of 10.