Mischief Night

I might be a little out of touch, but I'm pretty sure "Mischief Night" - if that's even a thing - never involved breaking and entering, stealing car keys and cellphones, disabling cars, cutting landlines, and otherwise shoving large knifes into people's throat.

TIPS for blind people:

Never walk around barefoot - especially if you've dropped glass on the floor.

Keep television volume at low to medium so you can still hear your surroundings.

Don't use headphones to listen to music thereby removing one of your few remaining critical senses.

Keep your cellphone on your person AT ALL TIMES.

Keep your lifesaving asthma inhaler on your person AT ALL TIMES.

There's really no reason to ever keep your blinds open.

Don't go running through an open field at full speed - you're blind!

This is yet another movie where EVERYONE walks around - even when responding to emergencies - with a cell phone that's dead or nearly dead.

Poor Emily is told to "Stay here" literally 4 times (I counted) - once by boyfriend Jimmy and 3 times her Dad. And things still went horribly wrong.

Emily, for what it's worth, has the DUMBEST "smart" phone in the world - because APPARENTLY it can't distinguish the words "home" from "cell" from "Dad" from "911" - arguably the most rudimentary words in its audio file.

And when Jimmy and Emily decide they must leave the house IMMEDIATELY to avoid a potential killer, Jimmy decides he wants to walk down memory lane and paw through sentimental photos. Then he decides it's more urgent to look for bandaids than to get out the house to flee the killer.

And, the idea that after your leg is half amputated by a CHAINSAW, you can simply "hobble around" silently thereafter is quite ludicrous.

All these annoyances aside, the movie was still intriguing and somewhat entertaining to watch. The better of these movies of the genre have the blind girl use her blindness to better clever advantage than here. But it was still a decent thriller.

'Mischief Night' did intrigue me first hearing of it, when it appeared in my recommended for you section. This was when reviewing another low-budget horror recently as part of one of my many completest quests. The concept was pretty great and could have been quite creative and the cover looked very creepy.

Unfortunately, the potential 'Mischief Night' had was not lived up to. There are definitely far worse films, at least 'Mischief Night' didn't insult my intelligence or make me regret even watching it. It did leave me feel frustrated because it could have been good, was not expecting originality but was sort of hoping that it would be engaging, entertaining and scary, neither of which were there enough. There are moments, but we don't want moments, consistency in my mind is preferable. This is not coming from somebody with a bias against low-budget, far from it, there are some good ones out there that overcome budget limitations. Nor is it coming from somebody who wanted to hate it, would never do that with any film.

As said, 'Mischief Night' has its moments and good points. It doesn't look too bad, some atmospheric lighting, an unsettling setting and some style in the photography. There is some creepiness and a sense of unease, a few did make me jump or bite my nails.

Nor is the acting a complete disgrace. Not incredible certainly, but they at least try. Noell Coet and underused Ally Walker come off best. The music has some eeriness.

However, the story does lack tension and suspense on the most part and suffers from a generally dull pace, too many easily foreseeable moments and that a potentially creative premise has very ordinary execution. The kills, which are not many, are not scary or innovative and they are also pretty tame, lack build up and treated indifferently. Things don't make sense either, something that is apparent as early on as the confused and far from relevant opening, everything just comes over as vague and the conclusion feels unfinished.

Script is full of awkwardness and cheese, the direction is lethargic and the characters are underdeveloped and in some cases annoying. The editing can lack cohesion, with continuity errors and inconsistencies to fill a novel the size of the longest Stephen King book, and limitations show in the cheap effects. Didn't get any threat out of the villains.

Overall, far from a complete mess but the severely lacking execution of the story ruins it. 4/10 Bethany Cox

"Mischief Night" was actually a nice surprise. I hadn't initially expected much from this movie, but still decided to watch it. And it turned out to be a rather good movie actually.

The story is about a teenage girl, Emily (played by Noell Coet), who is rendered blind after a tragic car accident with her mother. Now on October 30th, what is known as Mischief Night, where youngsters play physical pranks on people and houses alike, Emily is about to stay at home all by herself, as her father (played by Daniel Hugh Kelly) is about to head out on a date after 9 years of solitude after his wife died. However, things quickly turn to horror as Emily is terrorized by an unknown assailant, who eventually gets inside the house.

Storywise, then "Mischief Night" was entertaining and thrilling, with just the right amount of thrills and twists of events to keep the movie fresh and interesting. If you are here for a slasher movie, then you will be sorely disappointed.

The acting was quite good, despite the relative small ensemble of cast members. Noell Coet was nicely cast for the lead role, and she carried the movie quite nicely.

The movie cover says "the lucky ones die quickly", well that is sort of misleading as this movie isn't particularly high on body count. So don't get your hopes up on that account.

"Mischief Night" is entertaining and should be on your to-watch-list if you enjoy thrillers.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK) Rating: 1.5/5 stars

A mediocre, run-of-the-mill horror film, with a done-to-death plot, flimsy back-story, and completely derivative scare elements, which we can now conjure up ourselves even in a state of slumber.

This weak endeavor at chilling our senses might have encountered some moderate success 10 to 15 years ago, but now with the gargantuan influx of myriad horror films that have flooded our cinema halls and DVD shelves, such a derivative film must at least be treated uniquely and the characters need to be given some depth to make it enjoyable for the viewers.

It was watchable because the acting was actually OK. it was the lack of story line that sucked. There was no explanation for anything and no twist since there was really no plot. I guess a cheap stab (pun intended), at copying the purge. Bit of a let down. poorly written, which is too bad since the directing seemed good. This review needs 10 line to be able to be posted so ill drivel on but i think the first four lines sums it up. I wouldn't buy this movie in the $1 bin but if you can watch it for free it will kill some time. I truly believe American cinema as well as some well known authors think the story solely lies on the way to the end. I however believe there should be some sort of reason and surprise to the end. I don't care how delicious orange sherbet is, if there is no gum ball at the bottom it is not a cannon ball.