Community

Okay, this IS indeed a very low budget film; that is pretty obvious. And, usually those can be screwed up VERY easily. However, I honestly found myself quite enthralled and very much drawn into this SERIOUSlY F'd up little community.

First and foremost, I cannot say enough about the excellent use of sound in this film. I noticed a number of similar comments about this from other reviewers here. EXTREMELY effective... I personally really love it when they get super creative with the sound design in Horror films because when it is done right, it really can add to the mood and atmosphere, around which this movie is solidly constructed.

You notice that in all the positive reviews here, that just about EVERYONE mentions the word 'Creepy'...? Well, that is because that is PRECISELY the word that embodies this film. Another thing that I personally appreciated too, was that this movie could have very easily descended into the mind-numbingly boring and ineffective 'Torture Porn' territory. For my taste, I am really glad that they used a measure of restraint so that we could more fully enjoy the type of mood that they were trying to create. And, in my lowly and wretched opinion, I thought they did a very good job with what and who they had. The setting was definitely there to exploit the violence for it's own sake. But, thankfully the film makers were intelligent enough to see exactly where the strengths of this little low budget film were and emphasized them appropriately. Man, ONLY in the UK can they make films like this (ones like 'CITADEL', for example) where they create this powerful, almost otherworldly Mythology about these types of neighbourhoods that is most effective.

Also too, a person who watches this film MUST realize that at times they are using Pitch Black humour, so dark it is almost opaque. The idea, which I'm not going to go into here because it is sort of a Spoiler, but the main premise is certainly unique, something that I have never thought of before, that's for sure. So, this is one of those movies where they are building a mythology and premise that one needs to be able to accept in order to enjoy it. IF you are a hard core 'Realist' and want ALL of your movies to be FULLY realistic and if you are one to roll your eyes if ANYTHING at all strays from what is 'Believable', then you will definitely not like this film. As another good reviewer here said, you MUST be able to suspend disbelief and really allow yourself to get pulled into the story in order to enjoy it, and I completely agree...

I cannot stress this enough, but IF you are the kind of person who likes these kinds of films, then TOTALLY ignore the meaningless 3.x rating and give it a try.

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.

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.

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

The setting was great, the story was delightfully strange, and the acting was actually pretty good for low budget. Not a lot of jump-scares, but more of a twisting, winding tale of brutal insanity. This movie is very reminiscent of early Troma films, before they went for the buckets of gore and back when they relied more on the shock value of the story itself. The characters in this film were very 'Rob Zombie's House Of 1000 Corpses' oriented in that they were believably trashy and appeared honestly completely insane. I was hesitant going in due to the 3.9 user rating, but was delightfully entertained and pleased. I'm giving it a 6 for it's harsh and unashamed originality and execution.