iMurders

A mess, but an interesting one. Deliberately confuses you all the time right until the end, which looks quite cumbersome and unnecessary, because some plot lines seem to be existing just for the sake of it. The motivations are extremely weak, the events make barely any sense. But it also has that 2007-2008 DVD atmosphere (especially with its Facebook clone, chats and and mobile texting) and somewhat engaging to watch. It probably shouldn't work, but it does.

Previously called "Scroll Down" (as revealed in the credits), but seems the name was changed due to the uprising of IPhones of the time.

You know what? This is pretty incompetent in a few ways, but the incompetence works for it.

This is a murder mystery of the old school. You are introduced to characters. Murders are being committed. Clues are placed around. Many suspects and many motives are given.

There is a chatroom angle, but that does not matter. There is a horror genre angle, but that does not matter either.

What matters is that you really are allowed to be the detective. There are none of the detective genre devices that you expect to find. The situation is very chaotic, more nonsensical than the conventions allow. That's what makes it work. Yes, you are a bit surprised at the end. But they play fair, and in the denouement, you have the film flashbacks to attest that the solution was under your nose.

The production values are pretty bad. And the lines are profoundly juvenile. But the mystery itself: cool stuff.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

I only gave this movie a 4 because it had Tony Todd in it. This story was beyond predictable to anyone that is a fan of this genre. William Forsythe took a role that was beneath him and his poor acting showed it, otherwise the established actors in this movie did a great job. That can't be said for the rest of the cast. It was a poorly done story that did not give finality to some some people and no decent background to others. The relationships in the movie were unrealistic for the most part. They chose to do a close-up shot on an actress with yellow teeth, which grossed me out. Whoever made this movie, kudos for getting the established actors, shame on you for casting William Forsythe in a role he is not suited for and go back to school to learn about making a good movie and telling a story well.

Imurders uses the popularity of Facebook and other chatting networks as the basis of a murder mystery. Eight members of the site are killed off one by one. Hollywood casting places the usual stereotypes as the victims.

We begin with Sandra Wilson, a yuppie with a mysterious background, and the lead suspect. A professor named Uberoth(did the writer lose a bet?), a scared model, Lindsay(Gabrielle Anwar), a phone sex operator, Meltnurmouth(how creative), and a special effects guy, Mark. The only thing missing is the butler. FBI agents Otis and Lori investigate the case. A decent cast is wasted with a predictable and the characters are wooden. This belongs on the Lifetime Channel. Do not waste your valuable time on Imurders.

Maybe the worst part of this movie is it isn't so bad as to be unintentionally funny, but it's close.(Charles Durning's psychiatric sessions bring bad acting to a new level). The only suspense in the plot is how some pretty good actors managed to get into this embarrassment of a film. Let's start with William Forsythe, the college professor, who we are suppose to believe much younger attractive women are drawn too. Only in a fat middle aged man's fantasy world could that be true. And this movie. Nothing in this movie is very believable. I feel bad about pointing out just one persons bad acting when there are so many, but Brooke Lewis' performance as the FBI agent is the most frightening thing in the this 'horror' movie. It looks worse next to Tony Todd's performance as her partner who is actually quite good making her look all the worse. The bad plot(you'll know who did it in the first 15 minutes) and acting gets overshadowed by a terrible script. Maybe its a situation where a director falls in love with his own words. Worse dialog you have never heard. Maybe no actor could do a good performance given what they had to work with. So if you are stuck seeing it see it for laughs and maybe you won't feel so bad about wasting two hours of your life.