The Cohasset Snuff Film

I think that the reason a lot of people gave this movie high credit is it is topical... dealing with school killings, which is sure to strike a chord with many Americans. I checked it out based on one such recommendation. I was told it was a daring insight into the mind of a school killer and that you could watch the decline of the kids mind through the progression of the story. Frankly... BS. The character's decline is more like one step from a comic villain into a only slightly more villainous comic villain, and the acting is so god awfully hammy I actual didn't know whether to find it funny or painful. A couple of the support characters don't do a bad job, although most are less than sterling performers... but the lead... :P All the director needed to add was a maniacal laugh as he wrings his hands. Nor is it daring. This has been done, several times, and several times it has been done so much better. Don't believe the hype... this movie is just tripe, but if you are an American teenager... well, you might think it is good.

There is so much I can say regarding how awesomely, amazingly awful this film is. But sadly I cannot. The only thing that that needs to be mentioned is how noteworthingly terrible the lead is. He is laughably bad as an actor and sank this Titanic of a motion picture within one line of his dialogue. This film was mostly this goofy boy trying WAY to much to be the typical psycho but does it in such a slapstick way. When he attacks the jogger he says "this is a low budget film". That is the truth.

I've seen a lot of horror films, from mainstream to low budget indie, but I won't call myself an expert. I will say though that if you go into this movie expect a gory, blood gushing slasher, you're not going to get what you are looking for. Perhaps the best way to describe this movie is more psychological thriller with a tinge of horror. This movies doesn't delve too deeply into the gruesome, but rather adheres to the old adage "what you don't see can scare you." It doesn't go for cheap jumps like most of the mainstream horror films do now but rather studies the inner workings of what drives people to commit these crimes through the "found footage" genre. While it may not be in the highest of production values, it does emphasize in the character and story structure which is what is needed in this genre. Take the time to watch this movie, but don't let it M. Night Shyamalan you into expecting what it isn't.

As a huge fan of found-footage, this has got to be one of the worst, if not the worst, FF film I have ever seen. The lead was beyond incompetent, so much so that he actually ruined the film. His awkward pauses, and uninspired performance just made me laugh out loud, and not in a good way. It was like watching an amateur try to remember his lines. There were some convincing people in this movie, in particular, the rest of the high school cast. But when your lead is that untalented, how can you save the rest of the movie? It had great potential, but honestly, nothing good can be said about the actual finished product. It was just plain terrible. People really need to stop casting family members and friends in their movies, and find people with actual talent instead. It is a shame that the premise was wasted by such a horrible actor. Avoid this film and do not support such shoddy and poorly conceived film making.

"The Cohasset Snuff Film" purports to be found footage of a high school student's killing spree in the town of Cohasset, Massachusetts in the form of vlogs left by 17-year-old Colin Mason, and his filmed murders. The filmmakers claim that we're seeing actual murder footage in this "documentary" and, to further add to the illusion of realism, people featured in the film are credited as themselves. It's clear, while watching the interviews (with supposed psychologists, a priest, family members, fellow students of the victims, and so on) that these are actors, or people TRYING to act. It's certainly possible, and even plausible so it wouldn't spoil the illusion of a "real" documentary, that unknown amateurs were brought on for the roles. But it's evident that these were individuals reciting lines, attempting to emote, etc. I think the worst offender was "Colin Mason" himself, in his many monologues. I get where the movie was coming from, or at least what it was trying to say -- about how troubled kids are often ignored until it's too late -- but unfortunately for us, the audience, we basically learn nothing about Colin that would turn him into a killer. Which I suppose is why it was decided to just make him a serial killer instead?

And if you were drawn in by the box art, which is fairly gory, the film itself is pretty tame in comparison. There's a lot more nudity than bloodshed, which again would make you wonder why a free streaming service like Plex would have a movie that contains real murders, and the nudity of 17-year-old murder victims? I don't think that would be a thing.

One suspension of disbelief that didn't work for me is the claim that the entire town, after finding out that Colin had uploaded his murder footage to various torrent sites, decided to take action to scrub the footage off the Internet (good luck with that) and then basically erase the murders from existence. The police are going to cooperate, and risk jail themselves down the road? The town government? One woman FROM the town government is interviewed for this documentary, admitting to her crime! Surely the state's attorney general might have some questions upon being notified that in the aftermath of a serial killer operating in a small town, the police and local government just decided to destroy evidence and not notify anyone that it had happened?

For a $50,000 budget, it was an ambitious undertaking that unfortunately didn't do anything new that strained credulity.