Community

We're all used to the group of annoyingly-attractive American college kids who take a roadtrip and end up falling foul to a band of psychotic locals. The teens run, they scream, but, try as they might, they can never seem to get out of that backwater town they stopped for gas in.

This is one of those films... only it seems to be set in the inner city. Some might find that a bit hard to believe - that people have no way out of somewhere crawling with people. However, that's not the worst of Community's crimes.

It's about two college kids who are making a documentary on a notorious housing estate, allegedly filled with the dregs of society. One point in the film's favour is that - based on that setting - it could have been a 'found footage' film. It isn't. And that's one of the main reasons I kept watching.

Guess what? The two teens get more than they bargained for when the locals turn psycho on them. Cue the running, the screaming, the capture, the escape, a bit more running and lots more screaming.

I've read some of the other reviews on here and it's clear that this film is taking a lot of harsh criticism. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a masterpiece, just that it follows a tried and tested pattern that's been done so many times before that there's nothing new here to truly enjoy. The acting and gore is a little suspect at times, but that could be forgiven if the films was a bit more original.

All you have here is another Texas Chainsaw style film, albeit in a different location to the middle of small town America.

Also, if you check out some of the 10/10 ratings for this film, I can't help but be sceptical about whether the film-makers are getting their friends to review the film. Most appear to be from authors who only review this and either one or no other films. Hmm. Am I being too cynical?

Two student film makers decide to make a documentary about the Draymen estate which is a crime ridden , violent place blighted by drugs . They are intrigued when they hear about a super strong strain of marijuana and decide to track the production factory

A rather strange type of British horror movie that is part horror , part social commentary and part thriller . Unfortunately while the horror and thriller elements are well done to a degree any pretensions and attempt at social commentary soon becomes lost as the story turns in to a British urban take on " The backwoods brutality " sub genre of horror featuring protagonists finding themselves all alone in a desolate landscape full of mortal dangers . Writer/director deserves some credit in taking a tired formula and trying to do something new with it but everything collapses very quickly when examined in any detail . It's easy setting a story like this in some remote American woodland where psychotic rednecks can abduct and murder people travelling through the location but not here . Britain is a very bureaucratic country where everyone will be on a database and the number of residents and visitors to Draymen going missing would never go unnoticed . Police would investigate , social services would investigate and perhaps more importantly Daily Mail journalists would be splashing the Draymen estate all over their front page . In other words it would be a cause celebre

You have to also stop to ask how far reaching this conspiracy is ? For example a character runs away and jumps on a bus . The driver who is no doubt in league with the cannibalistic marijuana growers lets the characters pursuers on to the bus where they hack their victim to death which is very messy . Ask yourself this though - how do the cannibals clean up the mess within a credible time frame ? The bus would have to be driven somewhere , floors mopped , windows cleaned and probably seats upholstered and yet would no passengers complain that their bus didn't turn up ? Maybe the entire bus station are in on the conspiracy but this seems unlikely . You also have to turn off your brain big time in not realising that this super strength skunk is nonsense . You fertilize it with human flesh and this some how makes it the most addictive substance ever ? I don't think so .

All this is a great shame because COMMUNITY is a low budget Brit horror flick that dares to do something a little bit different and while it does bring up a few tense and suspenseful scenes you're constantly noticing the plot holes these scenes throw up . It's a good example of no matter how well a horror film works on the surface suspension of disbelief is always needed which is why the horror genre isn't well regarded amongst critics

I wasn't expecting much from Community given its 3.9 rating here on IMDb, however I quite enjoyed this creepy little Urban Horror. Now I watch a slew of movies, horror movies in particular and there are simply mostly average and below average made movies. Community however, despite it's low budget, was I though above average. Taken in the light of an Urban Horror short story I thought the acting was decent and the use of sound particularly good; this isn't a particularly gory film a lot happens off camera. Taken points few horrors are not formulaic - the likes of Martyrs being an example of a great horror few have seen which breaks that mold. However Community was not a dumb movie like a lot of US horrors. There wasn't academy inspiring material as to why things happened as they didn't however it wasn't just plain dumb, could have been smarter in some points but was smart enough at times too. The premise resonates some points which added to creeping me out, as I grew up in a place where there were estates the police did not enter and some terrible things happened within them, and there's certainly use of symbolism within this movie. And Auntie..creepy or what. Finally I am always one for joking about female leads in horrors generally making bad decisions that causes disasters and I thought this was another one of those, however I was able to suspend disbelief because this wasn't the case entirely here.

Community (2012) is a scary,moody, creepy,bleak,dark,paranoid,grimy & gritty almost so real to life pure Horror movie made in that disturbing inbred no rules or morals dysfunctional way like The classic The Texas chainsaw massacre (1974) or Wrong Turn (2003) where a whole family are so apart & isolated from the rest of the world that they function in a primal animal monster way & have no idea about right & wrong!!!

The rough grimy estate named the Draymen estate is dreary,grubby & trashed it looks almost apocalyptic & that's very creepy & gives a terrifying atmosphere that basically anything could happen here & no one would care or even help.

The scary thing is this Horror movie is not far fetched at all & it's very much real in alot of places around England I've seen them myself & they are no go zones especially at night time because you will get beaten up or stabbed they are that bad!!!

The fantasy Horror movie part is the cannibal side to it but everything else is scarily true but hey maybe eating each other is next for real? Wouldn't put anything past how rough they are!!!

So yes the tone is on the edge creepy & the atmosphere is desolate wasteland Danger everywhere style that gets terrifying at night fall & the claustrophobic atmosphere gets so thick as our 2 students are running through the dark gloomy estate & down some dimly lit tunnels being chased by evil looking feral depraved hooded youths,the feel is almost John Carpenter style reminiscent of Assault on precinct 13 (1976) & that's a very good thing!!!

The two student documentary makers are excellent & give fantastic performances for such a low budget flick you can feel the fear & terror they feel & see it in their faces!!! Great performances!!!

This violent Hoodie youth culture is everywhere here in England & at thr time this movie came England was named Broken Britain that's how bad the streets got with evil violent gangs of thugs & this movie came out of that paranoia of whole uncontrollable Communities murdering people & all hooked on drugs it's scary but true & has only gotten MUCH worse!!!

A raw & gritty British HORROR THRILLER.

This movie has everything necessary to achieve a nice little tale of horror. A fairly original plot line, reasonable acting by everyone, a good setting, nice editing, directing and sound effects. What more could you need right?

Unfortunately, it makes the mistake of being utterly predictable almost all the way through. It's really sad when a movie tries very hard, only to fall into the too often used clichés that are the salt and spice of horror films.

I won't bother listing these clichés. If you watch the film you'll see them easily enough, and you'll probably agree with me that they sort of pull the originality out of the film. Even that would be forgivable, but the clichés themselves seem to actually DIRECT the flow of the film, leading it to a predictable finish.

It's almost as if I could ask myself leading questions every few minutes:

"They're doing _____, so that means that later _____ will happen." "The main character won't stop doing _____, so later on _____ will happen." "The whole plot is based on _____, therefore _____ type of ending will occur."

etc. Sadly, I was right at least 90% of the time.

It's not a waste of time to watch though, all in all it's a reasonable little thriller. Watch it with a friend or two.