Crush the Skull

This is a smart, well written comedy thriller with horror elements that emphasises the comedy over anything else. If you are expecting a tense splatter-fest then you might be disappointed as the main source of humour comes from the incredulity of the comedy placed in a serious situation, which works, but kills any tension that has been built.

The effects aren't amazing but are made up for by good character development, the mains actually being likable, which is rare. There are some pacing issues, you get to know the characters and the situation and then you blink and the movie is nearly over, but it is still overall an entertaining and fun ride.

This is a nice effort and could have benefited from a little more expansion but works for what it is. There are more laughs than scares but as long as you know that going in then you should have a good time with this one.

The acting started out fake and the camera methods were not to my liking at first, but it actually turned out to help the movie in creating the tense atmosphere and the acting worked as well. Some jokes were not exactly laugh out loud funny but the majority actually were... while still blending with the fairly decent plot.

Overall it's more comedy than thriller, but still manages to make you jump in your seat at least once or twice and keep wondering what will happen next. It wasn't perfect but it's the only horror comedy that wasn't ridiculous and all about gore, and was actually to my liking in providing a thriller with a good story line, and with sensible jokes in between.

This was a fun one. The dialog and chemistry among the four main characters was what drew me in. Sure, not all the jokes were winners, but the banter was charming and felt natural for the most part. Plus, the choices made by the Good Guys were often smarter than what you find in the average horror movie (regardless of its budget). They seemed to learn from their mistakes and make reasonable leaps of deduction without my "help" (a.k.a. yelling at the screen, "Why?! Why would you DO that??").

I was disappointed with the antagonist side of the coin, though. I get that there was a psychopath vibe being aimed at, but psychopath doesn't mean zombie. Showing no emotion and practically shuffling through every scene seemed more Heavily Sedated than Crazy Person to me.

What really surprised me were the production values. Even in the dark basement shots the lighting was well done and the audio was consistently good in both interior and exterior scenes. So often it seems like sound quality in particular gets thrown out the window when the budget is tiny. Kudos sound folks!

Overall, I'd say it's a comedy/horror film rather than a horror/comedy, but I was entertained. And, most of the time, that's exactly what I'm looking for.

Almost turned this off several times in the opening 15 or so minutes. Something told me to carry on.

Glad I did. While the negatives up front stacked up, they, like the Jenga game, quickly fell down and the positives began to multiply.

Beginning with Asian actors not only taking major roles, race, aside from a quick non-Asian, albeit racial joke, never was an issue. That was refreshing and progressive. Way to go, guys, not even bringing their heritage up and it was normal. Bravo. Second, such the strong female lead. For such an amateurish film, she 100% acted like a major Hollywood actress.

I digress, let me back up. The movie is about "on-paper" good thieves who upon their last score inadvertently make that their second-to-last and their real last isn't a blast. They encounter a killer with a torture basement and no way out.

The movie is mostly a comedy, though many ideas stem from many horror movies these filmmakers obviously admired. Unfortunately, for the film, the first third or so - when I wanted badly to call this a loss and find another Friday Night Fright, the "comedy" wasn't funny and the direction/camera work/flaws were so film-school reject, it's hard to believe the last two-thirds made up for it in spades.

The jokes got funnier (I found myself actually laughing out loud a few times) and the acting improved as did the cinematography. In that first act, I admired these unknowns were making a movie - that's not an easy task even when most of the stars align, but I felt pity as barely any of jokes landed. Once the first third was over, I forgot this was all-but friends getting together to attempt to make a film and was actually watching a horror-comedy-homage.

Plus, it was a huge plus this wasn't found footage as it hinted at in the beginning. Bravo, again, for not taking the easy and definitely stupid way out for making a real movie.

Overall, while not 100% there and it still felt amateurish at times, once they got their grove and you can spot the dozens of references to subgenre horror movies, you'll probably enjoy this. And yes, references. I believe these people loved the many movies this jammed in and it wasn't about thief or unoriginality.

This is an A for effort. I checked out your IMDb pages. Keep this up and grow more so we can see you get the box-office and praise you deserve.

***

Final thoughts: Horribly, though, I coincidentally watched this as real-life torture and abuse from two "parents" upon their multiple children came out this week. Two Californian "parents," absolutely destroyed their many children with actual torture for their whole lives. Mercifully, one of the kids escaped to get help and hopefully, those "parents" will live long enough to know the evils they did.

So, that all said, despite this movie being made LONG before this incident came to light, it was still kinda hard to watch torture rooms and devices immediately after a true story about the same kinds of malice.

Awful comedy laced with the usual liberal nonsense. Buffoons need to finally learn that PCness and comedy never work, because PCness by definition is anti-comedy. Any ideology that seeks to crush truth can't lead to good humour by default, because comedy is based on mocking reality, and to mock it you need to first accept it. Liberalism is all about avoiding reality.

The attempt to merge comedy with genuine serial-killer scares completely misfires, partly because it's not doable, partly because the cast is annoying and boring, and because the script is lame, often cringey. Millennial humour reigns here.