Poker Run

This "movie" has it all. Bad acting, direction, writing, and lighting. How this was ever approved is beyond me. I admit that I do not know a lot about Hollywood but it seems that the people that made this movie know even less than I do about making films! The only reason that I continued to watch this film is normally I am a fan of the "nice person/people" that are put in a bad situation by a psycho, i.e. "Unlawful Entry" or "Cape Fear". I guess that I really should not have expected much from a low budget film such as this but it really aggravates me to know that I cannot unsee this movie. The only redeeming quality I can think of is it only lasts 90min.

The stupidity of the two men with wives is great, they actually thought they'd get involved with these upstanding looking bikers while bringing their wives. One Young couple, the other is older. The young guy has a hot wife and wouldn't you know, it she decides to leave him in the night at a hotel and have sex with the lead biker. Little does she know he had his own ideas.

After cheating on her husband I had little concern about her welfare so the rest of the film seemed pointless, the dumb husband risks all to save her cheating butt. The other wife is at least faithful.

There's some good violence here and there and the poker thing is cool but the film is just so silly because of the characters.

I did not like this movie. It has stupid characters making stupid decisions. It tries to generate scares from a pair of crazy bikers terrorizing two couples. The two couples are complete idiots and it is impossible to identify with any of them or understand their decisions. A good portion of the beginning of the movie actually highlights why the audience should dislike these characters.

Our villains are terrible as well. First, their scheme to terrorize the others is so intricate and involves so much time and effort, it is laughable that these two could design it or pull it off. Second, they are caricatures of villains and not very good ones at that.

The end is also very disappointing. There is a bad initial ending and then there is a really bad twist ending.

I don't recommend this one at all.

Caught a screening of this one at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in August '09, introduced by co-writer/co-producer/star Bertie Higgins. While it certainly wasn't the best film that I saw at the festival, it was still a gritty, gruesome and - at times - very tense little thriller.

The plot centers on two suburbanite wannabe bikers and their wives taking part in a "Poker Run" - a high stakes poker game taking place through numerous stops across the American south. But when the crew meets up with a dark, charismatic biker and his crusty partner, they stray from the beaten path and it before long everything goes straight to Hell. The women are kidnapped, and our heroes are forced into a brutal game of cat and mouse.

It's nothing that we haven't seen before...think Saw meets Last House on the Left by way of Easy Rider, essentially. Still, once the ball gets rolling there are some super intense scenes and plenty of the red stuff (if that's what you're into).

One of the films flaws lies in the cast. Certain cast members are pretty dull...our 2 protagonists especially. That said, Robert Thorne gives us an unpredictable, strangely magnetic villain and his partner (who's name escapes me entirely) is wonderfully insane and has moments of being creepy as hell.

My only other real gripe with the film was the pacing near the first. Things seemed to take forever to get started, but once things hit the fan it managed a pretty breakneck pace until the end. I'll go easy on this particular flaw though: in his introduction to the film, Higgins explained that we weren't quite watching the final cut.

Assuming they get the pacing issue sorted out, this one's a pretty tight and gritty thriller. Nothing earth shattering and it doesn't bring much new to the table, but if you're into this kind of flick you'll find a lot to like in Poker Run.

If you are into biker flicks then this is one to see. If you think you will see a top notch flick sadly you wont. I can dig the story but there are a few problems.

Problems I noticed are the conversations going on. Some bikers are as stupid as hell and they don't talk very smart. It's all cliché for the writers but it doesn't add a good thing towards the flick and towards bikers.

The other thing is the use of rather shaky cams and most shots are zoomed in too closely so things are sometimes a bit confusing. Naturally many do watch this for Jasmine Waltz, well known not afraid to show some flesh. But listen, it's all fake, when she's tied up on a bed laying naked it's so obvious that their boobs are fake as hell.

What is good are the effects. There are some scene's that can be brutal for some. The red stuff flows frequently. So it's difficult to say for who this flick is. For an action it's a bit on the rough side and for horror it's too low on the creepy side.

Low budget it is with good effects but full of clichés.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5