Chemical Peel

So many "OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! That was so gross!!!!" moments! I really loved how this horror film attempts to explain the 'monster' instead of leaving you asking so many questions.The character development is not lacking as we quickly love our leading lady and loathe the agitator. Lots of solid revenge moments and one epic shower scene (don't worry, its all bloody gore)! I hate when horror films have blood that is fake but it LOOKS FAKE! This looks like the real deal, especially when its all over the floors and our heroes. After seeing this film at the premier, I can't wait to get my copy and watch it this season. I am pretty sure my face will peel off with all the extras on the DVD and I can have a digital copy to take with me where ever. Yay!

Gathering together for a bachelorette party, a group of women awake to find that a chemical spill has been accidentally unleashed nearby and is slowly affecting the group forcing them to try to fight off the deadly virus before they kill each other.

For the most part this here wasn't all that great of an effort.What really ends up hurting this one immensely is the fact that so much of the film's running time is simply spent on the girls turning on each other and offering little in the way of making them appealing which is crucial and important in such a situation. Considering the initial reason why they're getting together in the first place and what's the entire purpose of their meeting, it tends to just waste so much time here going for the type of useless subplots that do anything but make us believe that they're friends. While the snapping at each other in the beginning when they're still unsure about the entire situation does make some sense as the slowly- dawning threat is gradually unveiled which affects the group differently is certainly understandable, there's little need to carry this out as much as it does into the later half by showing them continually snipping at each other for completely unneeded and useless natures, from their backstory about the dead friend, the meeting with the friends and all the other rather unneeded parts here that makes the group quite unlikely to be enjoyable to be around. Even more puzzling here is the fact of what the purpose of bringing the local hunter into the group was supposed to serve as there's little point in him being there. He's so late into the film that regardless of how much he got exposed to he should still be far more infected than he really is, the addition to the body count isn't all that needed and in reality shows off another in a long line of continuous bad decision-making by the group which is the last big flaw here. Avoiding common sense by ignoring the strange toxic gas-cloud surrounding them and going outside, failing to even seal up the house until just about the hour mark and finally tuning out the emergency broadcasts by staying around each other when they have the infection instead of staying in isolation is a major series of missteps that furthers the situation more than normal and really holds this one back all-together. About all this one has going for it is the fact that the graphic representations of the infection against them are quite fun, from the various bloody sores to the opening blood-vomiting and finally the graphic meltdown that still comes hidden away so as not to get the full-effect of the situation but gets just enough to matter. As well, it does score well in their panic and confusion when the entire reveal is found out and it remains watchable enough throughout, but on the whole the flaws more than outweigh the positives here.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Extreme Graphic Language.

This could have been good if they put intelligent characters in the movie. Had my doubts when I saw the main cast was millennial coeds, but the reviews made me curious. Nope. Its exactly what I figured it would be. Bunch of half wits and a super mean and evil girl that makes you want to put her head through the cabin window and watch her skin boil. Give it a shot if you want, but you were warned.

I stumbled upon the 2014 movie "Chemical Peel" in 2019 and I hadn't even heard about it. But I read the synopsis and it sounded like this might actually be an interesting movie, so of course I sat down to watch it.

I will say that the concept idea behind Hank Braxtan's movie was interesting, and the movie definitely had lots of potential, but something was just lost along the way, because the movie never really got out of the mediocre muck that it settled into. It was a shame, because "Chemical Peel" could have been so much more, but it ended up being a mediocre horror movie that came and went without leaving much of a print. Perhaps it was all the things that were never brought to fruition or the seeds that were planted but never given a chance to be used in the movie, or perhaps the fact that the movie was overly predictable.

"Chemical Peel" has some interesting special effects, which unfortunately had a tendency of falling over into the cheap production value side of the box. That was a shame, because with a bit more effort on the special effects and make-up side, then "Chemical Peel" would have been more visually pleasing.

As for the acting, well it was mostly adequate. There weren't really any outstanding performances in the midst here, as the ladies seemed to be about the same level of skills, for better or worse.

The ending of the movie was definitely not satisfying and it most surely helped to drag the movie down with its stupidity. That ending was seriously a slap in the face with a cold, dead fish for us in the audience that had been sitting through the entire movie.

"Chemical Peel" didn't leave any lasting impressions with me, and it is sadly a movie that will fade into the fogs of oblivion and never come out to be watched a second time.

"Chemical Peel" (2014) only cost $20,000, but it's so proficiently made it doesn't feel like a micro-budget Indie. It comes in the tradition of "Carriers" from five years earlier with the main difference being that this is a 'confined location' flick. In other words, the bulk of the runtime involves the house-in-the-sticks and the dramatics of the females.

Speaking of which, blonde Natalie Victoria stands out on the beauty front as protagonist Rae. Meanwhile statuesque redhead Arielle Brachfeld is a real biyatch as Angela, but it happens. Leigh Davis is also worth a mention as Kimberly. Too bad the director didn't know how to shoot women.

At about the 18-minute mark the situation takes a life-or-death turn and the story becomes very compelling. It morphs into a body horror flick and is hampered by the one-dimensional location, but it's worth checking out for those interested.

It runs about 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in the Greater Los Angeles area at Glendale, Ojai, Semi Valley and Hollywood.

GRADE: B-