Hell Girl

I'll be honest when I put Hell Girl on I expected another hyper low budget ghost themed embarrassment alike so very many others I've seen recently. It's not, not exactly anyway.

From the get go I was fairly impressed, the opening was stylish, the character development was fantastic, the script was strong and the cinematography was above par. For these reasons my expectations spiked, foolishly.

It tells the story of a group of ghost hunters on a "Job" who fall foul of a malevolent spirit. You know, the usual stuff.

Out of the gates I was enjoying it, but as soon as the movie really gets going it spirals into everything I feared that it was going to be. Don't get me wrong everything I said earlier still stands, everything is well above par and I have to tip my hat to everyone both in front of and behind the camera.

So why the low rating? Well the plot is just awful nonsensical tosh. No amount of quality everywhere else could save it from that, and Tom Sizemore! I don't know if his career has just nose dived to this level or if he's doing a Robert Englund and paying back to the industry that made him but he's starting to be a blemish on a movie rather than a bolster.

Better than what I expected it to be and very well made, but after about half way it turns real sour real fast.

The Good:

Michael Peter Harrison

Well made

The Bad:

Some elements are beyond stupid

Plot is just terrible

Tom Sizemore

This presented with some elements of a female focus twist, empowerment and such, within the bounds of a supernatural haunting and "ghost hunters" film. Low budget decidedly, but the plot had enough to keep me interested at that B film, found footage type film. (This is not a found footage film, but it has the trappings of one.) Decent movie for what it is, and entertaining enough.

Now I just feel sorry for him - 220 credits yet not been in a decent film since Dreamcatcher in 2003 - he is a good actor but circumstances have dictated that he just does films like this to pay the bills and it's evident he really can't be bothered to put in a performance anymore - really sad - his talent deserves better.

As for the film - cliched ghost hunter team premise that has been done to death (pun intended) with a load of kids who will end up doing Canadian TV bit parts at best - truly awful unlikable characters especially the English bloke who obviously can't get work in Britain and is so needy he writes his own IMDB bio.

2/10 ... and I'm being nice

Not the brightest star in the firmament. A ghost hunting TV show is hired to root out the ghost at a campsite in a goldrush town up California way. We have our alpha male star of the show, the wheelchair bound tech, the brit brain, the girl security, the erstwhile porn starlet and the medium who had a thing with alpha there, and misses it I dare say. Among the campers and revelers is a woman reminiscent of Rose the Hat. In looks, anyway. When they get started they find a ghost story and a serial killer mystery rolled into one. It's a story of a girl made pregnant by a demon and how he kept his line going by raping hither and thither, including his own daughters. I found myself rooting for the show's cast, yes, and caring whether they lived or died. It's a great mystery to unravel along with them and an occasional bit of tension is to be found. Not enough scares to suit my taste which is why I think of this as a marginal like at best.

Overall, I had a very hard time enjoying this, however I have seen worse. In my opinion the writing wasn't very good, but the plot had potential. If you're like me and love giving low budget horror movies a chance, let me know your thoughts on this movie.