Claw

These people talk about meaningless crap throughout the entire film and there are a few kills. Yippie. Claw is one of the most derivative, sluggish movies I have ever seen. The only reason I was able to sit through this is because the chick Lina Tanille made a part of me rigor mortis. Claw is like a combination of a student film and a soap opera. Nothing interesting ever happens. Even the nude scenes were boring to look at. The kills were pathetic and for those who like gore will only get some splishy splashy moments. Does have an interesting twist towards the end but chances are you'll turn this s#!+ off before you reach the hour mark.

This is very, very, very bad. You can see the murdered victim..... STILL BREATHING

Badly paced and exceedingly boring, "Claw" certainly didn't grab my attention. It feels like a student film, with amateurish cinematography, flat and emotionless acting, clumsy dialogue, and a plot which fails to go anywhere interesting. While the three protagonists are supposed to be friends, their incessant arguing and abrasive personalities just highlights that they were thrown together randomly by a seemingly inexperienced scriptwriter, rather than being fully realised characters the viewer could care about. Worse, there's no tension, suspense, credible mystery, or even decent b-grade horror movie gore to make up for the rest of the film's weaknesses. Avoid : there's better things to waste your time on.

I have seen many horror movies and some are quite good, some are ok, and some are downright terrible. This movie is so bad in all aspects that I don't know where to start. There is no tension, no suspense, no surprises (there is a twist at the end but it's quite lame), and as far as the whole story goes, there is really nothing to explore, nothing to question, nothing to have any effect on the whole premise of the plot which is really non-existant. I knew from the middle of the movie that I should turn it off and go to another movie, but I thought something would pop up and give hope to this awful movie, but it was not forthcoming. My advice: don't even think of wasting your time on this dud.

'Claw' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an intriguing premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive as well as the low rating and poor reviews.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films have are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Claw' is terrible, with a plethora of problems (huge ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is next to nothing to recommend.

Lets start with the sole positive. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky.

Unfortunately, the scenery is not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited and the drab colour palette, so much so it was hard to appreciate it, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. In particular, the camera work was a nauseous assault on the eyes with its excessive amateurish-ness.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and it's best not mentioning the uniformly lumbering and histrionic acting that shows a huge indifference to the situation and what is going on.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about and useless padding, never recovering. Found too many the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way) if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both very poorly done.

A lot of 'Claw' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you jump or shocked are far from creative or scary and are pretty tame. The ending makes the film finish on an incomplete and confused whimper.

There is not enough threat, and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, it is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy, completely failing to show any sense of horror or creativity. Everything here is neither creative, suspenseful or nail-biting. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden and like their heart was not in it or ill at ease, with the chemistry between the characters and actors coming over as constantly random and aggressive with the subtlety of an axe (do agree that they didn't look or act like friends).

Overall, awful with no redeeming value apart from an element that is difficult to appreciate with it being complemented so badly. 1/10 Bethany Cox