The Laughing Mask

Those of you who saw several posters and stories about The Laughing Mask within the last few years and like myself were expecting a horror film will be somewhat let down with this film. If you don't watch it till the end...

I was expecting pure unadulterated gore honestly when I first saw the shot of the dude with the Chaisaw I was like "YES"! Then I got to see this film recently and although my thirst for gore remained unquenched, I was surprised to see a very well put together thriller with horror tendencies.. And then I was hooked.

This is definitely not a slasher film, not a torture porn or gore fest. This is a thriller in the veins of "along came the spider" and others starring serial killers. The plot revolves around the murder we first witness in the beginning of the flick. Jaycee Johnson was murdered in cold blood by this laughing maniac and we pick up 6 months later with her husband Jake (played really well by John Hardy) who conjures up a plan to have The Laughing Mask come after him in hopes to find his missing daughter..

There is definitely a cool subplot involving a gang of thugs called Rancors and a very interesting twist in the end, so if you're looking for a gore fest stay out, but if your'e looking for a cool thriller with horror tendencies, a good story and a kick ass killer I suggest this movie for sure.

Caught an early screening and was very surprised. Honestly from the previews I was expecting another Jason or Michael Myers but this was so much more.

I've read somewhere that the director was inspired by "Angel Heart" and you can see several nods to this movie there, the twist ending was unpredictable and fun, and the acting was very good. I loved the character of the Mask though, the mask was cool, creepy and still fun. HIs attire was a total nod to Angel Heart with the 1930's old school clothing with a dash of Joker on top, The Laughing Mask killer is not just funny, he is Lethal..

At first you think all the killings are random, but once the story develops you see exactly whats all about

I won't give any spoilers but its a jaw dropper ..

The story starts with a random murder. We don't know anything about the victim until months later, we're told her name was Jaycee Johnson and her husband Jake is a writer hellbent on revenge. As far as Jake knows, The Laughing Mask killed his wife and kidnapped his daughter. Enter Kate O'malley (played by Sheyenne Rivers) a tough cop with a the language of a sailor, Kate was friends with Jaycee and took a leave of absence after her death.

Jake writes a book about The Laughing Mask, telling all kinds of disparaging things about the killer hoping to goad him to attack Jake.

The rest falls under spoiler territory but you won't be disappointed.

Its not easy to find a good one on screambox but I think I got it. I know, there's a lot of nay saysers on this and lots of 9 plus which also don't make sense but this movie falls right in the middle. The Acting is what you would expect from low budget, so if you're going in looking for Daniel Day Lewis just keep going. Its mostly day players, some decent, some godawful, Rivers is great, so is Gabriel Lee. John Hardy was given the main role here but he's not ready to carry. He looked great but sounded wooded like a soap opera star. From the day players, the best is the talent agent guy, it cracked me up. The story is decent, the killer is incredible and if you took the character and injected some money you would have a new Horror Icon, the intro and the cartoons were really well put together and if you can forget some of the acting there is some solid writing and its visually entertaining. Its a horror B movie for free guys, just sit back, crack a cold one and have fun.

Looked interesting, was free on Tubi and why not? Its not high budget but the use of practicals was very well done. The quality shifts a lot, like the scene where they find the body was awful but the kill scenes and especially his "lair" was very well done. The killer steals the show but there are little things here for everyone. Ending left it super open to what? I couldn't find anything after this. The killer character has the bones to be a superstar to be honest, I loved the look, the 30s aesthetic and music choices, Unfortunately it was wrapped around some very mid talent outside the main actress and the main bad guy.

Caught it on Tubi, Im a low budget film freak, and I don't mean low budget like these 3 mil plus movies out there, I mean I like to see what people can do with near nothing, for me its the closest we get to real cinema. With that in mind, this is a perfect example of a full-feature film being done with whatever you have around you and turning out great. There is obviously no budget to speak of. The actors are all unknowns, and some only have this as their only film, Aguiar's strengths were the character itself, referenced in tons of other reviews here, its polished and a great killer. Using music to deliver the dialogues was a great touch and free music even better. The more technical aspects fail somewhat, sound is rough and ADR sounded spotty in several outside scenes but the cinematography is truly great with some really inspired kill scenes. Is it super polished? No, is the acting rough at parts? Yes but its the fun of low budget films. Give it a try!