Exploited

The movie has a strong opening that creates a curiosity to see what happened, and where the story is going. The acting is fine - for this kind of movie. I don't think 'slasher' films are known for their superb acting, or scripts.

There are so many holes in the story, though, that it starts to become distracting. Particularly the last minutes of the film, where characters seem to be coming out of nowhere, without any reasonable motivation to be there in the scene at all.

So, yes, the 'exploiter/hacker' isn't too hard to figure out. But the big reveal at the end is usurped by the earlier scene when you think - "Oh, hell, who else could it possibly be!?"

People you saw being murdered, stabbed through the heart, magically reappear alive and well. Some of the situations are simply silly if for no other reason than the characters that show up in them.

There are gay characters, but I wouldn't really characterize it as a 'gay film.'

If you have nothing else to do, and want to watch a mystery whodunnit sort of movie, it's an option.

But, for the record, it's NOT about, as the blurb suggests, "A college freshman becomes obsessed with the previous owner of his school issued laptop." It's a thumb drive, and his wasn't issued to him by the school. But how it ended up in his possession is one more thing that is shown, but not quite explained. Was it stashed in a draw? Who put it there? Did it belong to the roommate? Was it left in the room by last year's occupant?

Right off the bat, the premise isn't really explained. I guess I'm a stickler for details. This missed a lot of them.

Bad acting aside, i thought the movie was enjoyable. The plot overall is more than okay IMO. Did suck me into the who's-the-real-killer mystery which drived me to finish the movie.

I've sat through many a big budget horror film that was far, far worse. Here's what I'll say. The film held my attention throughout. The characters were interesting, and the acting strong. The film has a polished and professional look and feel -- certainly as professional as any mainstream Hollywood horror genre film. The film also kept me guessing about the killer and it did not have that typical "third act letdown" that so many horror films have.

If you want to watch a homoerotic horror then you definitely need to add it to your watch list. As far as B level horror is considered the acting is satisfactory and the filmography is as good as can be expected. Having attractive men as the characters in focus is a nice change from the genres norm and the plot is engaging the whole way through. Some graphic scenes of rape are depicted and as the title suggests, you almost feel exploited watching it as the character's scenes up to that point want you seeing more of him and you get it in an uncomfortable way. The ending has a few plots holes that doesn't end in a totally satisfying way... its definitely worthwhile if you've exhausted your watchlist and are looking to be entertained for the night.

Usually gay movies (not Oscar-bait bs) are terrible. Really terrible. Usually they're romantic comedies. This is not that. This is a very nicely-produced movie and it even features good actors. There should be more movies like this: it's sexy, fun, stupid, suspenseful, and campy. Either you like that combination of things or you don't. I do.

These filmmakers by the way should have made Cold Moon Over Babylon. The villain in this, although he doesn't have an exposed hairy chest, conjured up in my mind what I imagined Michael McDowell's villain to look like. Unfortunately that book was made into a film sans McDowell's gay sensibilities and completely blew chunks.

Exploited's user rating definitely should not be hovering around the 3.5 territory. If you ever wanted to like David DeCoteau's gay genre flicks but couldn't, this movie is a giant step up from those. And while I'm beyond sick to death of gay coming out stories, this one doesn't count because it has so much else going on. Worth a watch.