The Stay

Yikes. The acting is mediocre at best. I can't get past the opening scene with the first terrible actor talking on the phone and then weirdly walking around his friends house with the obvious "I already did this 300 times" look on his face. Nah. Cringe. Hard pass.

The story is meant to be horrific, it reminded me a lot of the kinds of stories we might get with 70's and 80's slashers. You can easily follow where its going and it does pick up at a pace you would expect for a traditional slasher. The ending felt a little weak though and it really could have used some better music to capture the horror element. Either way I thought it was a surprisingly good horror.

Another "producer/actor" producing movie for himself. Even if the story could've work, you can note the poor interpretation, sound problems (the horse must have hit the microphone while eating), So many mistakes during the struggle scene, so fake!

I'm giving 3 stars only because with a good director and good actors, the story could've been interesting.

The movie could have been good.

The story is interesting, but the direction, storytelling, and especially the actors ruined it completely.

Greetings from Finland!

I really enjoy movies with a "small group stuck in an isolated place" setting. With few characters you get to know them better when there's more time for each one individually. 'The Stay' does take advantage of this. There is a lot of dialogue between the four main characters and you do get to understand their motives.

But. The actual dialogue is not very interesting and the more you get to know these main characters, the more annoying each one of them become. It didn't take too long until I began to wish they would all face a gruesome death.

Unfortunately despite the setting The Stay is no slasher and you are forced to spend a long time with these characters before the terror begins. And when it does begin, the killings are not imaginative or brutal enough.

The acting was not super good, but I think the bigger problem was the uninteresting and excessive dialogue between the couples. Bo-Lee's actor did a fine job.

I did enjoy the scenery and the camera work was very good. Points for that.

All in all I give a lot of respect for this independent production and have no doubt that mr. Hamm will make a more kickass film in the future. This time though I can't give more than a 4/10.