Fat Chance

Part of me was semi-intrigued, being someone who is no stranger to horror/comedy/thriller films and has liked quite a lot and the idea interested me somewhat despite being ridiculous and potentially distasteful. A large part of me was apprehensive though, having heard it was not good and that it looked like one of those cheap and overdone films with a muddled tone.

Which, when watching it, was what 'Camp Massacre' (aka. 'Fat Chance') essentially was. It is not just not a good film, it's an intelligence insulting waste of time. If it was trying to entertain, scare or both, 'Camp Massacre' failed abysmally on both counts, making the film a terrible chore to sit through. Am not hating or trying to be malicious, it is just my genuine stance on a film that didn't do anything for me as well as many others.

Acting, from particularly the leads, is both overplayed and stiff. In all fairness they were hindered by hammy direction, constantly awkward and limp dialogue and that the film has no interesting or likeable characters whatsoever.

Script is childish, flabby and even improvisatory-sounding. The story is not much of one and takes forever to get going, when it finally does it is not for long and it is too late to care. The opening is irrelevant and the whole concept is predictable and tedious, not to mention much more distasteful than it sounded on paper, this is likely to offend anybody overweight or trying to lose weight because things can go too far.

Unfortunately, the comedy is completely witless, childish and so overdone it gets exhausting. The more horror-like elements are a long way from tense or suspenseful, generating little interest even. The kills were not creative and would go as far to say they were too tame, while the things there to by the film's definition "spice things up" came over as gratuitous and abused.

'Camp Massacre' is a cheap looking film that even makes the scenery look tacky. Can't remember anything about the soundtrack.

Overall, terrible with only a few okay shots (too far and between) rising it above irredeemable quality. 1/10 Bethany Cox

The plot.

Ten obese men appear on a competitive reality show geared toward weight- loss.

As contestants disappear in the night it becomes apparent that a killer is on the loose.

OK so the spin is that they are fat.

Movie opens with a girl getting psycho'ed in the shower. Has nothing to do with the film as far as I can tell. IMDb sez this had a $100,000 budget. The production values are decent for that but did everyone work for free? And what did you pay Bree Olsen? White powder?

Honestly, All these obese men were hard to take.

And it's revealing anything to tell you that Buckethead is the killer. You find that out from the get go and it's really lame.

The one good review that is published here HAD to be from someone who worked on the film.

I was able to be one of the lucky group to attend the US premiere of this film, and I can say that I was both impressed and entertained thoroughly. I'll try not to stray so much during this review, so I'll just break it down into the good and the bad, as well as a small synopsis.

The Synopsis: A group of ten contestants meet up for a new weight loss reality show called By The Pound. The heat is sweltering and the food is scarce, but not too long after staying, they realize the biggest threat of death may not be the impending doom of heart attack and heat stroke. Contestants disappear without a trace, leaving everyone to wonder who is killing them off? Who will survive, and what will be left?

The Good: For an indy film, it was very well shot. I have to give a kudos to the filmmakers and the cinematographer for making the film visually enjoyable to watch. The locations were nice, and gave the movie a great summer camp feel. The cast was also highly entertaining. Two of my favorites being T.J. Moreschi and Jason Henry, whose characters had me laughing throughout (not to mention Ru Benjamin Revolver, who made me laugh uncontrollably every second he was in a scene). However, I feel that every actor on the cast truly brought their own to the table, and because of that, the film worked incredibly well with every character on screen at any given time.

The Bad: There isn't much to gripe about in this film, which I'm very glad to be able to say. The only things that stand out to me as something I wish could have been done away with are some of the zoom-out or zoom-in still shots. Not to say that ALL of the shots were unnecessary, but I feel that some of them seem to cheapen the overall feel of the movie. The only other thing I can possibly think to bring up would be a couple of continuity errors peppered about, but really no film is immune to the curse of continuity, and there aren't even enough to write home about.

Overall, FAT CHANCE is a nice throwback to those campy late 70s/early 80s slasher films, with over the top characters, a solid location, and more laughs, blood, and (man AND woman) boobs than you can shake a Chick-O-Stick at. And since the current XXL Version is the one making its rounds on the convention circuit, I highly suggest trying to get your hands on a copy of it so that you can see the film in its full glory before it needs to be cut down for full distribution.

If you're a fan of cheesy, 80s slasher films, you'll be wanting more second servings than any contestant on By The Pound!

Probably 40 minutes or so could have but cut out to make it a shorter but less boring film. It seems to be super low budget which adds a lot of charm. There is room for a sequel that could be good. The general plot line is novel and decent.

I wish I knew why people think they should make movies when they don't have a story, don't have decent actors, don't have a budget, and don't have the ability to make a movie look in any way like a legitimate, watchable movie should look.

Could the person who wrote the positive review please ask them? I ask this because you obviously know someone in the cast or crew, because no one else would give this mess a rating over 3 stars.

Some low points... the opening sequence seems to have nothing to do with the movie... the concept of someone murdering contestants in a reality type show is tedious now, and simply lame here... the acting is better not discussed, because there's not enough of it to comment on... no one in this entire movie is likable... WAY too long.

Cheap, poorly acted, boring, overlong, cringe-worthy, probably bad for your health to watch. Otherwise, great stuff.