Craving

Been following Horton's filmmaking channel and groups online for some time so naturally when he announced this movie just came out on Tubi, I quickly moved it to the front of my queue. (I secretly would've like to have driven a couple hours to be at the Los Angeles premiere but it was on a weeknight)

The movie was about what I expected, though the trailer hints it's not perfect, I did want to like it more than I did. As with most indie films, you get some good stuff and other parts not so much.

What I liked the most out of this movie was the campaign to push it, with excellent marketing materials and artwork. The film itself used de-aging technology for flashbacks that really helped a lot with the continuity of the characters; you didn't have to guess who was who. But if anything they were aged too much in the present since the flash backs are around 15 years ago and they look significantly younger (less than half their age).

I'm not a huge fan on gore, but I do appreciate it when it has purpose. There's a little too much here for my taste, but I'm not a gorehound. Low budget horror lovers certainly get a pay off at the end of the movie, so stick around.

As for what didn't quite work for me, I noticed in the trailer the performances just did not seem all that convincing for the situation. It's another thing I expect from indie films, but every now and then you get a goody cast and this was not that. With so many cast members, several had some okay parts, but were mostly disconnected. The only standout to me was Bryant with Morman a very close second. I liked Caliber's vocal tone and Bourke's delivery most of the time.

The score was pretty decent, as was the mix but the sound design really needed some work. Gunshots sounded too generic and it was like they were only drag and dropped in the edit. It really took me out of the film and I really wanted those parts to have more of an impact.

Unlike so many indies, I understand this is a film meant to make money. Rose being part of the cast is a no brainer for that. The script was okay though some of the best dialogue was in Gail's flashback. The Frenzy character was not likable at all and they almost had too much screen time, though it seemed like her part was intentionally done this way. I think if more of the cast had better performances and the sound design got the same treatment the practical effects did, the other minor issues are much easier to overlook.

Looking forward to seeing improvements in this team's next project!

I will preface this brief review with a couple of facts. One, I LOVE horror films, especially creature features, and let's face it...there just are not enough good creature features made anymore. Two, I truly enjoy independent film and cinema. While budgets always place constraints on projects, a good script and good team can produce an excellent, enjoyable film without the help of Hollywood or a large purse.

Now about "Craving":

• the acting is terrible. It's one thing to have "wooden actors..." you know...the ones that are a bit stiff, but the folks in this movie (the ENTIRE cast) are amateurs at best. Stagnate, posed, lifeless lines & deliveries...timed and contrived screams...unconvincing in every way.

• the script is actually not the worst I've followed. In actuality, had this been a big budget movie (eg better actors, better sets, better FX, bigger budget), I might have enjoyed it. But the acting was so terrible that even had the script been adapted from a Pulitzer Prize winning book, it wouldn't have mattered.

• the special fx were not good. I can often overlook this, as we all know that fx are among the most costly part of a film, but these were pretty cheesy. Most kills are offscreen, followed up with immediate pan to whatever pile of substance they're using for blood. It should be noted that film makers did indeed TRY to make it gory (toward the end) but like most other aspects of this movie, this fell flat.

-very slow. Very very slow. Very very very slow. Tediously slow...I mean like fall-asleep-in-the-middle-of-the-movie. The first nearly 2/3 of the movie is nothing but listening to unemotional dialog .

Really wanted to like this, as it gets harder and harder to find good horro films. Sadly this is not one of them, even though all the reviews rave about it - seems like these folks maybe got screener passes. I would not recommend a single aspect of this movie.

>>> minimal gore >>> some fun violence and guns >>> no nudity >>> some profanity. But not heavy.

I don't see how anyone could rate this movie favorably. The monster is cool, especially for this no budget video. Prior to that, low achievers in a bar are invaded by more criminally involved druggies who are running from some vigilante citizens group talking about 'the monster'. After nothing happens for 100 minutes, finally the monster appears. The gorefest continues for another 13 minutes, & then we get a 4 word explanation. Aaaaand back to the gorefest for the comedic outro. No perspective, no story - not sure there was even a plot - no atmosphere, no visual interest, dialogue was meaningless...

For what is effectively a homemade gore film...the special effects are pretty good.

But that's about all the positivity I can throw at this thing.

Because the rest of it is a complete dumpster fire.

Not only is the plot convoluted as all hell.

The story around which it is based is confusing at best.

If only because of it's complete and utter implausibility.

And absolutely horrible dialogue.

It's not just bad.

It's embarrassingly bad.

Though, it's not like they get any help from the actors delivering the lines.

As they are just as atrocious.

The basic premise of the film is that we have one group of masked men, having driven another group of people, into a bar- with a third group of people- who are held hostage by the second group of people, that have been trapped inside the bar by the group of masked individuals.

With one of the people in the bar being a cannibalistic monster, in disguise, of some sort.

Whom the people outside want exposed.

Hence why they have trapped the people in the bar.

As they are holding out until it has to feed.

At least, that's my best guess.

We get the backstory of the bizarre cast of characters in a series of flashbacks that hop all over the place, from time to time, and character to character.

In a way that makes it seem like it was constructed by a child.

What makes things particularly confusing, is that it's never made evidently clear how the two groups came to be in the first place.

The whole thing leaves you with so many questions...

But the best I can tell...is that the masked men outside the bar are a group of vigilantes...who seek to out the monster that killed the one man's family.

That the second group, driven into the bar, were actually there to rob it.

That the two lesbians were planted into the second group, by the leader of the first group, because her brother was also killed by the monster.

And that the people from the bar were sacrificed, because the monster is weakest after it feeds.

But this requires a lot of reading into.

And begs the question...if they knew who the monster was...why didn't they just isolate him when he was drugged?

It almost seems like the perplexity of it all was tactically employed to keep you engaged...by the simple fact you desperately try to piece the convoluted mess together, in an attempt to understand what the hell is actually going on.

Up until the monster makes it's appearance, and it goes into full gore mode.

It's so bad, you can't help but laugh.

But f*** if it's not entertaining.

I wanted to hate this so bad.

But actually found myself kind of liking it, in the end.

Because...all faults aside...

It's so bad...it's endearing.

If only because the monster is quite cool.

And the special effects are badass.

It's still bad.

But it's entertainingly bad.

4.5 out of 10.

I'm a big fan of low-budget gorefest 'Feast' which is about a bar full of people who are under siege from some monsters. Nope, it certainly won't win any Oscars and was definitely not written by Shakespeare, but it was damn good fun. And, if that's what you're looking for at the time, 'Feast' would fit the bill.

Here, in 'Craving,' there's a similar set-up - a group of strangers are barricaded up in a bar and there's a creature going to wreck havoc. Okay, there are bits that are different. Here, the bar is under siege from a group of people who say that there's actually a monster inside and they're there to kill it (or everyone inside in the process!).

One of the major differences is that there are a lot of 'explanation' flashbacks which tell you the backstory for various characters. It does add more 'story' to 'Craving,' but the downside is that it does feel a bit like 'filler' and it tends to slow the movie down a bit.

But the performances are good and there are people here who are slightly different to the average cast of monster films, i.e. Teenagers (played by twenty-somethings) who just run around screaming, so that's something, plus the special effects deserve a mention. There's a lot of gore and the film-makers really lean into the 'splatter' in general, giving the film a bit of an 'over-the-top' feel.

There's definitely good points in this movie and it's worth a watch if you can find it on a streaming platform for part of your package, but it does get a bit confusing sometimes with all the 'reasons' why people are doing what they're doing and who they're double-crossing. It may have just been better leaving it to be just a bar under siege from a monster.