Crush the Skull

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.

CtS was a low-budget horror film I backed on Kickstarter some time ago. As is often the case, it takes many months before you get to see the finished product (if ever…there are still projects I backed in early 2014 that haven't delivered). I can't remember exactly what made me choose this film as one to support. I think it was a combination of the plot and the prominence of humor in the film. Actually the film's budget was rather large for Kickstarter standards, about $75,000 (I've backed films with budgets below $1,000 if you can believe that).

The film is the brainchild of Viet Nguyen and Chris Dinh. Chris also stars in the film, while Viet served as Director. The plot is somewhat simple: Ollie (Dinh) and Blair (Katie Savoy) are a loving couple who happens to make their living by breaking and entering into upper- class homes. When what is supposed to be their final job before a year of traveling goes comically wrong, they are forced to go into debt to a local gangster and resume "work" to afford their payments. Because time is of the essence, they agree to join Blair's screw-up brother (Chris Reidell) and his "crew" (the hilarious Tim Chou) in a robbery of a vacation home. Unfortunately, the target property is the lair of a serial killer…and once they break in, they cannot find a way out.

Tight dialogue, great humor and good acting are what pull this film together. There are some suspenseful moments, but things never get too serious, and unlike most low-budget horror films the blood is kept to a minimum. Crush the Skull is one of those movies you need to pay attention to as you watch it or you'll miss some of the ongoing gags and subtle humor. You'll still enjoy the more obvious jokes and fun, but the effort you put into the details will be well worth your while.

The characters are well developed and their personalities dictate their actions and the kind of laughter they inspire. The "basement" sets are very well done, and above all the post-production work on sound and music lift Crush the Skull to an even higher level. Those two areas are often shortchanged in the low-budget world, but this team marshaled their resources well and the finished product is much better for those efforts.

I don't think Crush the Skull is available on DVD or on-demand yet, but I believe it will be shortly. Watch for it, especially if you enjoy dark, intelligent humor mixed with your suspense and horror.

+1 Star for opening Sequence, The hook got my attention!!!!

+1 Star for a Great Line!!!

-1 Star For Dumb Sheriff Deputy... not calling for backup immediately when the situation required it and not following other common protocols

-1 Star For Sappy Scenes near the End and the Goodbye 'Crew' Speech

+1 Star for the laugh at the end!!!

Okay this is no big winner by any stretch, but it wasn't bad. Entertaining and worth a watch if you are a horror fan that really doesn't mind the genre being made fun of a little.

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.