Mischief Night

I see people criticizing the fact that it looks a lot like The Purge, and I got to say, it's false! Only people that aren't too much into horror could say this, because let's face it, are all haunted houses movies the same?!? And if you wanna find some similarities, trust me, it goes a lot better hand in hand with When a stranger calls, the remake. Same atmosphere, same idea and other things that lookalike.

Anyway, Mischief Night is one bad movie, and it all starts with the scrip. How could they pass this and send it on the big screens? If you wanna talk about all the things you've seen a million times in other horrors, well, all the bad parts are right here. I really think they focused on this, trying to relate to others, and they did, sure, they managed to make another horrible movie. Think about "Prom night" (the remake) and then imagine something worse than that. You get this one!

So, try When a stranger calls, try The purge, Try funny games, even try The Strangers, but NOT, Mischief Night. Don't ruin yours! Cheers!

I went into this film with zero expectations and was *very* pleasantly surprised. Film is about a teenager, Emily, who becomes blind after being in a car accident that killed her mother. The actress playing Emily, Noell Coet, turns in a very strong performance. I can see her becoming a major star. The movie suggests Emily's blindness is psychosomatic. Anyhow, Emily and her father move into a house, where we see the previous occupants get slaughtered on "Mischief Night". Well, Mischief Night is back, and the miscreant who killed there before is back. Except this time, Emily's dad has left on a date and Emily is alone. The psycho killer enters the house and eventually a taut game of cat and mouse ensues between the killer and this blind girl. The killer is scary and there are some scenes that are very creepy. There are a few things in the film that are not explained (which I won't reveal), but in the end, they don't detract from the film. If you want a good suspenseful movie, check this one out!!

'Mischief Night' did intrigue me first hearing of it, when it appeared in my recommended for you section. This was when reviewing another low-budget horror recently as part of one of my many completest quests. The concept was pretty great and could have been quite creative and the cover looked very creepy.

Unfortunately, the potential 'Mischief Night' had was not lived up to. There are definitely far worse films, at least 'Mischief Night' didn't insult my intelligence or make me regret even watching it. It did leave me feel frustrated because it could have been good, was not expecting originality but was sort of hoping that it would be engaging, entertaining and scary, neither of which were there enough. There are moments, but we don't want moments, consistency in my mind is preferable. This is not coming from somebody with a bias against low-budget, far from it, there are some good ones out there that overcome budget limitations. Nor is it coming from somebody who wanted to hate it, would never do that with any film.

As said, 'Mischief Night' has its moments and good points. It doesn't look too bad, some atmospheric lighting, an unsettling setting and some style in the photography. There is some creepiness and a sense of unease, a few did make me jump or bite my nails.

Nor is the acting a complete disgrace. Not incredible certainly, but they at least try. Noell Coet and underused Ally Walker come off best. The music has some eeriness.

However, the story does lack tension and suspense on the most part and suffers from a generally dull pace, too many easily foreseeable moments and that a potentially creative premise has very ordinary execution. The kills, which are not many, are not scary or innovative and they are also pretty tame, lack build up and treated indifferently. Things don't make sense either, something that is apparent as early on as the confused and far from relevant opening, everything just comes over as vague and the conclusion feels unfinished.

Script is full of awkwardness and cheese, the direction is lethargic and the characters are underdeveloped and in some cases annoying. The editing can lack cohesion, with continuity errors and inconsistencies to fill a novel the size of the longest Stephen King book, and limitations show in the cheap effects. Didn't get any threat out of the villains.

Overall, far from a complete mess but the severely lacking execution of the story ruins it. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK) Rating: 1.5/5 stars

A mediocre, run-of-the-mill horror film, with a done-to-death plot, flimsy back-story, and completely derivative scare elements, which we can now conjure up ourselves even in a state of slumber.

This weak endeavor at chilling our senses might have encountered some moderate success 10 to 15 years ago, but now with the gargantuan influx of myriad horror films that have flooded our cinema halls and DVD shelves, such a derivative film must at least be treated uniquely and the characters need to be given some depth to make it enjoyable for the viewers.

MISCHIEF NIGHT is a pretty lacklustre movie that feels entirely derivative of previous, better films in the genre. There are elements of THE STRANGERS here in the presence of masked villains who say very little and creep around houses, alongside throwbacks to the classic 'blind woman' thrillers like WAIT UNTIL DARK. Another blind woman thriller I saw recently was the Michael Keaton-starring PENTHOUSE NORTH, which is about on par with this one.

After a fairly confused and irrelevant opening sequence, we're introduced to the usual type of premise: there's a young blind woman in a house on her own at night, on "mischief night" of all things, which is when houses get egged and the like (it's sort of a tamer version of THE PURGE). Inevitably the bad guys show up with murder in mind, and there's a lot of tiptoeing back and forth and suspense scenes involving broken glass, poor mobile phone signals, and the like.

Sadly this is the type of film where we've seen it all before, and it doesn't help that the lead character is completely unsympathetic so I had no particular desire to see her make it through the night. The filmmakers try very hard to make this frightening and suspenseful, but if I'm honest I was bored by it all.