The Roost

"The Roost" is a movie that was most assuredly made by lovers of "B" movies for lovers of "B" movies. Nothing more, Nothing less. And as a lover of this particular type of film I was stoked to see it. I have to admit though...It was a while before I could get into the movie. It starts out slooowly, With a intro/outro featuring a horror host that I found to be fairly interminable. As a matter of fact I didn't know what was going on for more than a few minutes of the film. Once the feature actually started I managed to get a hold of the concept & enjoy the film a little bit more. A lot of the film is grainy & dark. Not a good combo if you ask me but it 's not enough to hinder watching the film on your TV. It must have been rough to watch on a big screen though. The plot? Well let's just say that 4 People are stranded on an old country road in the middle of the night & seek shelter/help at an barn that they stumble upon. Unfortunately for them the barn is infested with killer bats that have the ability to turn you into a zombie if you are bitten by them. WTF? Yeah, It's a bit odd. As a matter of fact it doesn't make any sense at all. But I don't think they were looking to make a logical movie when they were filming this. Just a movie that makes you jump a few times & cover your eyes a bit. And in that sense they succeeded.....Barely. It's got plenty of atmosphere & the performances were pretty tight(When you can hear them, The sound is fairly bad. Subtitles help a lot). The ending was also pretty eerie. All in all a pretty good little movie to get you through a dark & stormy night with your significant other. And I believe that's what the filmmakers set out to do. They succeeded.

Eeeeeeek...look, I'm a filmmaker too, so I'll try to be constructive...1.) get a better camera man. What's he doing the whole time, scratching his butt? Keep the camera still for Christ's sake! 2.) use more than just a key light to light your "actors" 3.) don't film dialog with the "actors" backs to the camera 3.) bring in your zombies before the 43 minute mark 4.) have at least one other person review your script before you shoot it, multiple drafts can be effective in developing meaningful dialog 5.) pay for better ADR services...if you paid even $1 you got ripped off 6.) give me the name of your agent ... if he can sell this piece of poop, he can sell ANYTHING!

But keep trying...I think you'll nail your next one...as long as you eed tips 1-5.

This is such a typical "bad" attempt at making a horror film. The usual storyline: a group of random friends on a trip somewhere who take the wrong road, get lost, etc..etc...and find HORROR instead of a way back to the highway and anyone even remotely normal to help them. All of these people are hapless individuals who probably are fine in their regular lives...but put them in a rural setting...in the dark..with nothing..and OMG..they cannot function...alone or as a group. They spend endless amounts of time looking scared/confused/lost...and stupid in almost every scene. We should go..we should stay...OMG...what do we do NOW? And...they talk about it all the time...trying to make plans to do SOMETHING. If they go outside...SOMETHING will get them...in this case vampire bats are doing the terrorizing. Of course...they don't all stay together..one or two have to wander off...go look for help...get the car...they never should have left in the first place...blah, blah, blah. They know they made a mistake...and now...well..they have to deal with it...as one by one...they probably are all going to meet a gross and untimely death in some way. Tbe scenes are of poor quality..the lighting is bad...the reactions of the actors are even worse most of the time...over-acting is at the top of the list here. We don't cheer for any heroes...or find anything worth saving here as this film goes on and on and on. Yawn. If you played this one at an all night horror film festival...everyone would be asleep before the night even got started. Save the popcorn for something worthy...cos this one isn't even good enough to be found in a bargain bin at the dollar store.

I recently watched the Ti West throwback The Roost (2005) on Tubi. The film is framed as a late-night fright show and tells the story of a group of friends on their way to a wedding who end up at an abandoned farm-on the wrong night.

As previously mentioned, this picture is written and directed by Ti West (Pearl) and features Tom Noonan (RoboCop 2), Karl Jacob (Catfight), Wil Horneff (The Sandlot), and Larry Fessenden (You're Next).

It's clear this movie was made by someone who truly loves the horror genre. Tom Noonan is perfectly cast as the eerie horror host, and he brings a lot of fun to the role. The main storyline is fairly straightforward and nothing groundbreaking, but West makes the most of his limited budget. The makeup, costumes, and practical effects are solid-the infected look cool, and the corpses are impressively done. The bats are just okay, but they're easy to overlook. At just over 80 minutes, the runtime also feels just right.

In conclusion, The Roost is a fairly average entry in the horror genre, but you can spot early flashes of Ti West's emerging talent. I'd give this a 5/10 and recommend it to horror enthusiasts looking for something atmospheric and independently made.

I am a sucker for zombies, but this one definitely needed more.

The whole film took place on a deserted road and in a barn. A roost of bats turned people into zombies. That's it. No explanations. Just people getting turned into zombies.

This could have been a 10 minute YouTube video and it might have been interesting, but stretched to 80 minutes, it just didn't have anything to recommend it.

The music was good, and it did have a creepy atmosphere, but like most low budget productions, the lighting was terrible.

Try something else.