Fatal Exam

No idea what I just watched....pathetic yet funny horror movie

In a way it reminds me of those incredibly talky 1940's / 50's crime serials where conversation was just a vehicle to explain every last detail and consequence to the audience.

The real stunner to me is the total disregard for the 90-minute runtime that was so integral to the success of the cheap 80's horror genre. Two hours? You're insane!

I can't give it less than three stars, though. That's reserved for movies that proselytize without entertaining, that pursue b-movie charm synthetically and intentionally, or that engage in other bad faith movie-making behavior.

This is shot-on-video. There are no trained actors, models, or bodybuilders. Just a bunch of average kids trying to make a movie, and in that way, it's kind of endearing. There's cheap murder, not-too-terrifying glints of death and an honest attempt to make a movie the entire group would be proud of.

Above all, though, there's just too much damn talking, too much explaining, and too much runtime.

Three stars for effort. Watch if you have a really laissez-faire attitude about how your time is spent...and want to see a kid solve a demon problem with a handgun.

Real cool movie. The actors made some pretty interesting characters, though the acting could be a bit better as evidenced by the nonchalant tone of voice many of them had, even during dire moments. This ironically worked well with the character of Jim (or at least I believe that was his name; names weren't particularly established well). For awhile, Jim is the only one that notices strange happenings around, but yet unlike the typical character who screams and tries to convince himself that what he saw was fake, Jim insists that he was right all along. He says this very casually and adamantly, even though the others refuse to believe him. This is the type of spin on slasher movies characters I love to see, and adds to the comic relief of the movie, even though it doesn't seem like it was intentional.

The plot seemed all over the place at first, but despite the chaos of it, all was explained at the ending and left no loose ends. I wouldn't consider Fatal Exam a supernatural film because while it does contain supernatural elements, they don't necessarily contribute to the main plot directly and instead build up the tension. The first half of the movie is a mystery film while the second is a slasher, so even though it's almost 2 hours long, you get the best of both worlds with two different genres. Score was well composed as well and it's a shame no soundtrack was released!

This movie is excruciatingly long. I think there's a fun low budget so bad it's good film somewhere in there but it turned into an endurance exercise.

Awful ADR, boring, and should never be watched by anyone. There is no "so bad it's good" here. It's so boring it's painful. Stay away from this movie. I have had more fun in a hospital waiting room.