Scarce

By all accounts, "Scarce" should bore any avid horror fan to tears. It is a plot we have seen over and over and over again, and in the end, offers nothing new. However, the film does so many things well that it ends up being an enjoyable slasher film that is better than a lot of stuff I have seen make it into theaters lately.

The film starts badly. In fact, I rolled my eyes more than once and was prepared to shut it off. We see a bunch of college aged guys at a huge party drinking, trying to get laid and spouting of some bad dialogue. However, this only lasts for about five minutes, when we flash forward to the next morning. We meet our three main characters--all typical college guys--who are heading back home from a short vacation of snowboarding in Colorado. They banter back and forth during the drive and eventual hit a huge snowstorm in Pennsylvania. They stop at a diner, where the have an encounter with some locals after asking for directions. Obviously, any horror fan knows where this leads, as the directions they are given are bogus and they end up crashed in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard. In the crash, one guy breaks his leg, so the other two venture out to find help. They get to a cabin where they meet up with a seemingly friendly local who offers them food and place to stay. Well, turns out (surprise!) this local is actually a cannibal, who, with the help of a few of his buddies, kills travelers and harvests their meat to make it through the scarce winters.

The film is the combination of so many films I have seen from, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to "Hostel" to "Wrong Turn" to "Calvaire." However, the production is top notch and the filmmakers know how to create tension and suspense using wide camera shots and angles. Additionally, our protagonists actually are pretty likable, and though they make some dumb choices, we can't help but to root for them. The gore is pretty well done and plentiful enough to satisfy gore hounds. We get chopped up bodies, slit throats, decapitations, and shotgun blasts. The setting of the film is foreboding and I really did "feel" the cold, particularly the last 10 minutes of the film when our main characters are running for their lives during the wind and snow in nothing but their boxer and T-shirts! It is a scene that is many ways reminded me of the highly stylized and effective final scenes of the French film "Calvaire" and I think is done equally well here.

My biggest qualm with the film is that I HATED the ending. Too many recent horror flicks are using this "twist" to be different and effective, when it is actually becoming a predictable cliché. I was actually pretty invested in the two main characters and really wanted to scream when the film ended the way it did.

Maybe I am becoming too soft in my reviews, but I actually enjoyed this film quite a bit and highly recommend it, despite the low IMDb rating and reviews here. If you can get past the beginning (and the end) of this film, it is a very well done and competently directed film that ends up being a lot better than it had any reason to be.

FrightMeter Grade: B

This is the bastard son of Hostel and some stupid random cannibal movie. Bad acting, worse plot. The story is chock full of dumb clichés, weak plot points and stuff that just plain doesn't make sense. Characters behave in ways that only if they were written really badly would. Pointless shots of the bad guys being *bad*. The ending was a joke right? No one would actually make that dumb of an ending. Oh wait, I watched it, it did end like that. I have to say the effects were pretty good, it was gross and the gross was nicely done. Just not worth watching for that alone even if you are a grue hound. Stay away from this stinker.

This movie is a rare gem in the movie world. It is the first work of a young film making duo that has actually made it to theatres and now on to DVD with wide distribution. Kudos to the writer's/producers for this remarkable feat in itself!! The movie itself... alright, it's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it is Definitely not the worst either!! (Open Water, Last Winter... come on, those were horrible!!) What we get to see here is the rudimentary offering from a couple of real guys with a common dream. The production is good, the effects are excellent, and the rest of the movie really isn't bad. Sure, there are some "cliché" aspects; crazy amounts of profanity, seemingly pointless nudity, (did I just say that??) and the acting is certainly not 'A-List'... but the end result is a raw work of art that if nothing else leaves us wanting to see where these guys go from here. At the VERY least, one has to appreciate the countless hours of hard work and determination that lead to the reward of this DVD. How many small town folk can say that their movie made the big screen?? SCARCE may be a rough around the edges inaugural offering, but I for sure can't wait for the next one!!

I can honestly say this is by far the worst movie I have ever seen and I have seen probably 10 times more films than others my age as a film professional.

It had no chance from the beginning, as it's script was consistent with the overall badness; not clever, no shape, no depth... It wasn't scary. It was just gross. Even the fake blood was done badly. The camera work and print quality was as bad as it gets too. It seemed that every instinct one would naturally have in order to make a good film, this filmmaker chose the opposite position, perhaps thinking it would make his work "original". In a world where it is difficult to be originally "good", he has achieved unmatched originality at being "bad".

Steve Warren, the star, is as creepy as he needs to be, but he has no room to make this thing stink less. The two young men co-stars were competing to see how far to one extreme to the other they could go with their emotional tones, from flat to overly animated, as if a lesson in what NOT to do.

One would think if it was so bad, one would at least be entertained by it in some bizarre way, but no, it was unbearable, impossible to watch, and sadly, I always watch a movie from beginning to end. In this case, I may need years of therapy to recover.

I can say there is one thing this film could do well; it can reduce your appetite. So, dieters, go for it, daily and get skinny.

I saw this at the Toronto Festival of Fear (Fan Expo) this year in August 2008. I was super excited to see it because I kept seeing the trailer for it at the Anchor Bay booth. I was not disappointed. Great amount of gore and some really awesome shots. It's a perfect Anchor Bay title and will fit in perfectly with some of the stuff they've already released. I'm excited for this to come out on DVD! I also enjoyed the plot of the movie. The script was pretty good and got the point across. I really enjoyed that. And I REALLY liked the death scenes. The amount of blood and gore was PERFECT. That's my favorite part of a movie. Good job, guys!