Plasterhead

First off, I must comment on how well many of the shots were setup. So much of the cinematography looks amazing for a low budget horror film... Then there's the movie itself...

I understand the restraints of working with low budgets, but "Plasterhead" is supposed to be the legend of a severely disfigured guy who lives in an old shack out in the woods, that no one has visited in several years. Fair enough, but how hard can it be to find a rundown old house? It seems I see them all the time and I live in a nice area of town. "Plasterhead" appears to be up on the latest home decor fashions, as his (really nice) house is spotless inside and out, and looks as though Martha Stewart may have lent him a hand while decorating (he obviously knows his way around with a putty-knife)... Come on! With the exception of Ernest Dancy as "David", the acting is laughable at best. The main portion of the story takes place in West Virginia (where people have Southern accents), yet only the waitress (who can't act) seems to grasp this concept. Wait till you get a load of the guy playing the sheriff... He's supposed to be a backwoods hillbilly type, but is obviously from the east coast and attempts a (southern?) accent, which unfortunately sounds a lot more like a mentally impaired guy from Brooklyn (quite ridiculous throughout)... The story is down-right stupid, and it's ineptness leads a beautifully shot film right into the gutter. Add the bad location scouting and lack of acting talent, and you are left with a complete mess of all of the above...

There are far better low budget Indies out there if you know where to look.

The main characters had so many opportunities to just walk away and avoid the Plasterhead boogie man in this film. And, yet, they didn't. Of course, if they had, there would be no film. But, screenwriters have to do better than this. They need to inject a reason that the innocent cannot escape.

I had high hopes for this effort, but it was extremely disappointing.

Now, about that atlas: We're told that the disfigured villain was an over-the-road trucker on his way from Maine to Florida when he stopped in this town for a beer.

But, the movie is set in West Virginia! How lost was the trucker?

Reference is made to "Highway 95." Well, Interstate 95 would be the logical, direct route from Maine to Florida... but it doesn't come remotely close to West Virginia.

Mistakes like this just shouldn't happen. It takes astute viewers out of the movie entirely.

You'd be wise to stay out of this motion picture, too.

All you have to do is go to Netflix to see just how many god-awful horror films there are that were made in the last 10 years. It seems that every loser with a video camera seems to think he's John Carpenter.

While this is no masterpiece, PLASTERHEAD still manages to create a good deal of low-key suspense in the first half, during which we rarely get a glimpse of the murderous Plasterhead. (In that, the film is very much like a lot of 1950's "monster" movies, where budgetary limitations almost dictated that the "creature" not be shown until halfway through {or later}). Since this is obviously a low-budget film, the filmmakers were wise to use this approach.

Some other reviewers of this film have commented on how bad the acting is. The "teenagers" in the film are pretty raw and unpolished in their overly-dramatic performances, but you'll see plenty worse in this genre. And there's at least one really good performance by Gerard Adimondo as the local lawman. He's easily the best element of the film and one wishes the screenwriters had developed his "back story" better because he is the most interesting character in the film. From his first few minutes on film, one can sense that he is a conscientious lawman but there is something dark about the character. All of that is conveyed in the actor's performance: Adimondo is terrific.

The film runs out of gas (and ideas) near the end, but that's not unusual for this genre. As for those "critics" who complained about the characters' accents -- Give me a break. This isn't Shakespeare!!

All in all, PLASTERHEAD is an enjoyable, low-budget film, though it's far from a genre classic.