Offerings

"Offerings" by Christopher Reynolds tells the story of mute serial killer John Radley who after killing nurse and escaping from mental asylum stalk and kill all those that tormented him when he was a kid.His bloody rampage is obviously Michael Myers influenced.John is no ordinary killer for example he killed and ate his own sadistic mother.He has only one friend from childhood:blonde girl named Gretchen."Offerings" is a blatant and unapologetic "Halloween" rip-off.Even its musical score clearly reminds John Carpenter's famous music.Black humor sprinkled death scenes are quite inventive but mostly goreless.Still fans of cheesy slasher movies will enjoy this low-budget horror.6 body parts out of 10.

When I first saw OFFERINGS three years ago I absolutely despised it for being a complete rip-off of one of my favorite horror movies Halloween. I recently got bored and decided to rent it from my local video store. I was looking forward to ripping it a new one Mystery Science Theatre 3000 style with my buddies. They all had a good laugh at it (they had never even heard of the damn thing). I was somewhat taken back by it. It is a rip-off movie, yes, but you know what It is a pretty slick rip-off movie. You could do a whole lot worse when it comes to low budget slasher films. I actually have come to appreciate the style it creates in some of its scenes. Don't get me wrong its still packed with laugh out loud bad acting and things of that nature but what the hell? Not even close to being as bad as I once thought it was. I say give Offerings a view. In my book it deserves at least a 4.

Much of this movie from a genre perspective is slow and un-propelled. The killer is utterly dull as well. But there are incidental sections of it that are worthwhile. There are some fun perverse little moments such as a female feeding her friend dog food or a pizza with human meat. Also a section with the two females watching a horror movie by themselves and commenting on how the female in the movie acts. It predates Scream (1996) and indeed the movie more or less devolves into a parody of itself. There is also a lot of black humour in the dialogue and some of the killings are creative. If the pace had been different this could have been a lot more fun and memorable. Note: the trailer appears to have shots of an alternate version of the last killing.

Offerings is a good horror flick that is worth seeing! The film was put together nicely, and scary too! When you first watch Offerings, you notice that it relates to the Halloween film...right down to the story line and even the music. Even though this film practically ripped off the formula from Halloween (metal case escapes, goes to his hometown, seeks revenge), all-in-all, Offerings is a fun, yet cheesy film filled with cheesy killings.

--If you have friends over while watching this film, make sure your not eating pizza or at least give a quick glance at the toppings.

--Like many slasher films, this one has only one cop dedicated to the case, and he is so nerdy and dumbfounded, it makes it all the more hilarious. A funny scene is when he apprehends a kid from trespassing and the kid says his name is "Ben Dover." It takes the cop 2 minutes to finally realize the punchline. Lines like "What's all this I hear about an ear?" adds to his gumpy character.

--Only thing that was annoying about the film was that the two lead girls always stayed in the house even though body parts were showing up around the house for a few days. It was like they were confined into the house. The ending could have had more explanation too. It even makes you feel sorry for the killer (in a funny sort of way).

--Overall, Offerings is not that bad of a film, it's definetely worth your while.

6/10

A young boy gets pushed down a well by some brats, kills his mother, gets sent to an asylum, breaks out as a teen, and returns home to get his revenge on all the kids who tormented him. In the meantime, he leaves little presents for the one girl who was kind to him.

We all love John Carpenter's Halloween, but Offerings loves it a little too much. The music is almost identical, every night time scene is bathed with that same blue light, and some of the story beats are the same, but that's sort of it's charm. If anything, this goes to show you that you can't recreate something no matter how hard you try.