Extremity

I was expecting more violence and gore. But only one bit so little disappointing. The acting was good. The story had potential to go nasty but was safe and kinda slow and boring at first. The lead actress is stunning, really beautiful and did a great job so one to watch out for. Good luck to her.

Seems like a missed opportunity. All the masks and supposedly extreme scary rooms were just meh. I was expecting it to go brutal snuff style but was a lame Halloween house essentially. I almost gave up.......then the ending made up for it and it was kinda fun for last ten minutes. Even if a bit of a stretch of believability.

Seen worse. But could have been lot better. And certainly NOT to the extreme.

Started out pretty strong but completely lost its way in the middle. It became confusing and misleading, but not in the sort of way that boosts the cinematic effect. It didn't seem like the creators themselves knew where the film was going. It was like they had half of a good idea and just tried to wing it with the other half.

The premise was quite good and fresh. You have a severely abused and traumatized, mentally ill woman on a journey of self-discovery and she believes an extreme haunted house will help to free her from her past. I've actually always wanted to do one of these types of extreme haunts, so I was really interested in the idea and in a more illustrated depiction of a person who would want to do this.

The main character is layered and well-developed. It's never said exactly what mental illness she has, but it looks like possibly Bipolar Disorder (and definitely PTSD), which I haven't seen depicted much on screen, so I commend the attempt at showing such a complex condition. And the main actor plays the part very well.

The beginning was very stimulating and stressful in a way that really elevated the horror, leading me to believe this would be a home run film. Then somewhere in the middle, the main "villain" is revealed and it's so utterly disappointing this character was depicted the way he was. It completely ruined the movie, in my opinion. All credibility was lost, and the final act was mostly just a steaming pile of crap. The main character was the only thing that made this movie watchable for the final half hour.

They should have gone deeper with her backstory and they should have completely rewritten the antagonist. Complete overhaul with him. What a disaster he was.

Overall, I felt let down. It's worth a watch, and entertaining enough, but the amount of wasted potential and pointless convoluted plot details took this from what I originally thought would be a 7 or an 8, to a (very generous) 5/10.

The first hour plays out as Fincher's THE GAME but directed by Rob Zombie: dumb, loud, and obnoxious. But when the cards are turned over in the last 30 minutes, the film really starts swinging for the fences. So, if you can stand the endless screaming and interminable flashbacks of the first hour, you'll probably be satisfied when it's over.

Everything from the actors to script to cinematography is bad, you can really feel how low budget this movie is. Not worth watching. The only thrilling thing about this movie is that it ends, poor performance from everyone involved, save your time, stare at the wall instead.

'Extremity' happened to appear in my recommended for you section, and because the idea sounded so fascinating it was difficult for me to say no to watching it. The cover also was a creepy one and the title was attention grabbing. And despite how my previous reviews have looked like, there is absolutely nothing against films made on a low-budget, there have been numerous good ones. Despite how it indicates otherwise, also do appreciate horror, which has seen many great films, even if it is not my favourite genre.

So there was potential for 'Extremity' work. It is said with a heavy heart, not malice or prejudice in any way, that it doesn't...at all. Have seen far worse films of the genre, of similar budget and overall and it is not completely irredeemable, other films have insulted the intelligence more and have been worse looking, written and acted. Not that that is much of an endorsement, there is so much done wrong here in 'Extremity' and to a quite annoying degree.

The setting is spooky and the costume design is decent looking.

It is hard to appreciate both though when the rest of the production values look as though they were made with no care and in haste. The editing especially lacks cohesion, it's too drably lit and there is just no atmosphere or style at all. What little there is of atmosphere is undermined by cheap-sounding and random sound effects that are intrusive in placement and recorded too loud. The music didn't seem to fit and offers nothing unnerving or memorable.

Furthermore, the script is so start-stop awkward and cheesy that it doesn't matter whether you are trying to not take it too seriously, it would stick out like a sore thumb regardless of how one tries to watch the film. The story takes a premise that could have been very creatively, and executes it so ordinarily and dully. Nothing is surprising and 'Extremity' fails to be both interesting or scary thanks to a dull pace and no tension, suspense or creepiness.

Just non-stop obviousness (most of it having been done to death long before the film existed) and ridiculousness, complete with far-fetched and sometimes vague moments and very bland and irritating characters that behave and make decisions in a way that makes one endear to them less. The direction has no personality or distinction, not even rising above competent, while the acting with no exception is not really worth mentioning and not in a good way.

Overall, very bad but have seen worse. 2/10 Bethany Cox