Bystanders

Feminine rage and vindication from the minds of women will always be superior. Every moment of Bystanders has that. It doesn't miss a beat. Emotions? High. Revenge? So sweet. And the breaks in between are filled with a good amount of humor that stems from a nifty twist on behalf of our protagonists.

The feeling that I got growing up when discovering horror movies is the same feeling that I got while watching this. I still hold those horror movies close, and I'm going to hold Bystanders close.

So much appreciation goes out to director, Mary Beth McAndrews, for envisioning an organically dark and justified film from Jaime Alvey's (who also stars as Clare) story that holds so much truth as well as power.

Heck yeah, ladies!

I read some of the positive critics reviews, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I even hyped it up with my family as we love horror movies. Well this was not horror but horrible. A few minutes in I thought it might go somewhere but it quickly evolved into a big hot mess. The story was so farfetched, the actors unbelievable, the plot? What was the plot? Zero character development. The screenplay must have been written by a 12 year old. The foul language didn't even sound believable. It was over the top. My wife and daughter fell asleep, my son and I gutted it out, hoping it might get better. It kept getting worse by the minute. I don't like to throw out cliches like "worst ever", but this is right up there. My son said... "what did I just watch" and it was easily the worst movie he's ever seen. I can't think of a reason for someone to sit through this mess unless you like to torture yourself. You've been warned.

I watched this film because I know Deaton Gabbard. I have a few things to say, and I will be as unbiased as possible. One is overall this film is solid but of course could use some work. Deaton as Brad is fantastic. He's so crazy you never know what he's going to do next. Jamie and Murphy are both badass, in a character sense. There is some moments that Murphy falls flat but he picks it right back up with his funniness. Jamie is great, and has a nice charm to her. I do agree that the monologues are a little bit out dragged out, and Murphy's rage is a little bit out of place but it works. Brandi is also soild, as well as the other frat boys. Wilcox and Six's scene was my favorite alongside Deaton's scene in the cabin just before he dies.

The pacing could be better as well as the lighting in a modern sense. It definitely reminds me of 80s horror.

Overall I enjoyed it. They actors aren't god awful by any means but there are some patchiness sometimes, and that just might be the way it's cut.

I understand it's a low budget sub genre film, and that's okay. It's not for everyone. I am excited to see what everyone does next. Especially Deaton. Good job man and everyone involved.

While I had indeed never heard about this 2024 horror movie titled "Bystanders", of course I needed no persuasion to watch it, given my love of all things horror. Sure, I didn't know what I was in for, and thus had no expectations to the movie, so I suppose that writer Jamie Alvey and director Mary Beth McAndrews had every opportunity to entertain and impress me.

However, writer Jamie Alvey put together a very, very bland and generic script and storyline for director Mary Beth McAndrews to bring to the screen. There was very little enjoyment and entertainment to be found here, especially if you've spent years watching horror movies, then you're in for nothing grand here. "Bystanders" is the type of movie that you put on and let it run in the background, paying half attention to it, whilst doing something else.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. But despite of having a generic script to work with, the acting performances were fair enough.

Visually, then you're not in for anything spectacular. A shame really, because the movie would have benefitted from having great special effects to spruce up the otherwise mundane narrative.

"Bystanders" is not a movie that I would recommend horror fans to rush out and get to watch. It is suitable for a single viewing, then you'll bag, tag and forget all about it, never to return to it a second time.

My rating of "Bystanders" lands on a three out of ten stars.

The basic idea of this horror crime is good. But the execution is far from good. There's not enough music to help build the horror. A simple audio can go a long way. Besides, there's a problem with how some scenes were being dragged out for too long. My guess is without those unnecessary long scenes, this movie would've been less than an hour. I don't think that the acting is the main problem. The directing was the one ruining the movie. It's true that some of the actors couldn't act very well, but most of them are due to bad directions. I don't recommend this one, even if you're a fan of revenge themed movies.