User reviews

I saw this at the Screamfest in Hollywood on October 18 2007. Finding out after viewing this movie that it was made on a shoestring budget with newcomer actors in Seattle, Washington, I have to give makers of this film some props. The setups are top notch, the lighting and visuals are on par with much of what Hollywood even puts out for horror. Some of the actors in the film showed quality also. There is a pitch perfect scene involving a character in the back of a pick-up truck. Everyone involved seemed to be into making a good movie.

All that being said, there were a lot of problems with the film. The makers said that the film didn't have a distributor yet, and I think when they do get one (and I'm sure that will be real soon) the distributor will have them trim some of the fat. and there is a good bit of fat to be trimmed. There was some unnecessary scenes of people talking to each other on cell phones, relating things we already knew.

They say they pay homage to 'Halloween'(the original); that's great and all, but there is a difference between homage and heavily borrowing...They didn't list 'Haute Tension', 'Identity', 'Silence of the Lambs' either and there was definitely some lending from those films as well.

If there was a grade for suspense alone this film would get a 9 in my book. If you come looking for a bloody/gory movie, this is not your flick. If you loved the first Halloween you will very likely dig this movie.

When I think of all the crap horror films that go straight to DVD, if I stumbled upon this flick I think I would be pleasantly surprised.

I wondered just how much gore and blood this film would contain after I watched the opening where a woman gets beaten in the face with a baseball bat. Over and over and over, the hitting continued past what I would consider dead.

Is this film going to be "over the top"? No problem there. It was more suspense than actual blood and gore. It was a chase to catch an escaped mental patient before he could kill the Sheriff's daughter.

For a low budget film made with inexperienced actors, it was really good. Kept you guessing to the very end, and beyond. What really did happen?

If you're looking for a movie that's not Halloween But feels like Halloween I would suggest checking out Frayed 🚨WARNING🚨 This borrows a lot from the original Halloween Especially the opening scene I'm surprised they didn't name the killer Michael or Miguel But I suppose that might be too obvious even for this movie The story jumps around a bit too much and there are plenty of plot holes I do like the twist on the ending I must admit it wasn't what I expected But I think it would have been better if the writers did a better job with the script But if you enjoy a low budget knockoff I would highly recommend watching this.

FRAYED is a psychological horror film with an introductory "home movie" segment that can only be described as gruesomely extreme.

This is the story of Kurt Baker, a seriously disturbed young man, and his entry into adulthood. We're taken on a whirlwind adventure filled with insanity and murder, ultimately learning the shocking truth behind Kurt's condition.

Or do we?

The ending is as surprising as it is genuinely disturbing. A unique take on a well-worn sub-genre...

A sheriff's wife is murdered by his young son. Years later, that son escapes from a mental institution and goes berserk, beginning a killing spree of those who cross his path, including the family who left him behind.

There are many good aspects and many bad aspects to this film. Let's start with the good. The film quality was excellent, and I felt everything was put together very professionally, especially for a cast and crew of unknowns. This certainly has the ability to cut it as an After Dark Horrorfest film. The gore was also nicely done, with the mother's early murder being much more graphic than I expected.

But let's focus on the bad now... the things that are going to eat at me every time I think about this film. Some of these were summed up by other reviewers, so I'm glad they noticed the same things I did. First and foremost, the similarities between this film and "Halloween" and "High Tension". Especially "Halloween": a killer child who escapes from a mental institute to go after his now much older sister? Hmmmm...

The over-use of the clip showing Kurt looking at the softball photo. I understand that this plays an important part later on, but I didn't need to see it five or six times to grasp the concept. And the mask that seems like it was borrowed from the band Slipknot. Many horror movies use masks, but this was the first that made me think of Slipknot, so I have to think it wasn't an accident.

Beyond that, the plot is largely nonsense. The film has twists and turns, which is good, but probably has too many. I was particularly bothered by what seemed like a few fake endings. As always, I don't want to spoil the film, but let's just say this: the writers should have picked a story and told it, not tried to have so many stories within each other like a Russian nesting doll.

As this film is still better than many I've seen, I wouldn't say you should avoid it. Grab a friend and a few bottles of Labatt Blue and this will make for a fine evening. But don't blame me if you get frustrated or confused. I warned you.

I watched the movie over the weekend with a group of my daughters' friends (about a dozen kids all in high school). It was great to watch a horror movie that I enjoyed and they did too.

The film really is a thinking person's horror movie, and I really appreciated the fact that they didn't dumb it down or insult the intelligence of the audience at any point in the film. There are very few movies where I really respect how the filmmakers treat the audience, and this is one of them where I do. Frayed pays homage to some of the earlier slasher movies, but never appears to be copying them. There are some of the standard scary movie ingredients, but the plot goes way beyond what you expect from a horror movie. The filmmakers were able to take a favorite genre of their own, and make something really creative.

The other thing that really impressed me was the production quality of the film especially when considering the budget constraints of making it. In particular, the special effects were amazingly well done. The thing that most impressed me about the digital effects was the fact that I didn't know most of them were digital effects. After the movie I watched the very brief overview of the special effects and was surprised by some of the things that were done on the computer rather than on the set. This was very well done and I believe the special effects guys deserve huge kudos (and an award for one specific scene) for their accomplishment.

The best endorsement I can give the movie is that I want to watch it again. I know I missed clues and I want to see the movie at least one more time to see what I catch that went over my head the first time. In addition, everyone knows how impatient high school aged kids are, and they not only enjoyed watching the movie, but they watched it again that evening because they all really wanted to see it over again that night.

As for the very violent scene that occurs early in the movie, yes it is uncomfortable to watch. I believe the team earned an award for that one, but they probably won't get one since it is in a small independent movie. The scene is very difficult to watch or even think back to, which is why I recommend watching the bonus feature on that section of the movie. Watching the character/victim in the make up for the final stage jokingly saying "I'm ready for my close up" helped ease the discomfort that the filmmakers were trying (successfully) to make everyone feel.

I recommend watching it with a few friends so you can bat around ideas after the movie. That really helps everyone figure out what actually happens. Frayed goes way beyond a standard slasher movie genre with a tight complex plot, great cinematography, good acting, and remarkable visual effects to deliver a great horror movie.

If the same team makes another movie (which I hope they do), I can't wait to see it.

On Sara's birthday, her homicidal brother Kurt beats their mom to death with a baseball bat and is sent to a mental institution. 13 years later, he escapes and plans to hunt his sister down, who just happens to be camping in the woods with her friends. Sara & Kurt's father, who's also the small town's sheriff is also after his deranged son in this low-budget horror/thriller.

One would be excused for thinking that this was some lame Halloween clone after watching the first ten minutes or so. The truth is while this film DOES share quite a bit with that aforementioned film, this movie is perfectly capable of standing on it's own to feet. The acting, while never Oscar-caliber (not that i would expect that) is still fairly well done. And I found that the film kept my interest throughout. At almost two hours, it DOES wear thin and drag a bit (the editor could have cut 15 minutes or so off). I've seen much worse movies in this genre. This is good enough for a rent at the least.

Eye Candy: Alena Dashiell gets topless

My Grade: C+

Lionsgate DVD Extras: Commentary by Writer/Directors Norbert Caoili & Rob Portmann and writer/producer Kurt Svennungsen; 13 & a half minute Making of the film; 5 minutes on how they did the 'head bash' scene; 5 minutes on the post-production; an ad for Break.com; a trailer for this movie; and trailers for "the Last Resort", "Dead Wood", "Necessary Evil" & "Cravings"

This 2007 horror film, has one of the most amazing and gruesome openings of any movie I've seen for awhile. In camera, a Mother is attacked by a killer with a baseball bat, and in pretty good closeup, her head smashed all to hell, in an extremely gory bloody pulp of a mess. I love movies that get off to such a good start. The suspected killer is her own 5 year old Son that has flipped his lid, and after 13 years is being transferred to a psychiatric hospital, when he escapes. Ah you say, HALLOWEEN.... Not hardly, although some reviews have had trouble trying to review this movie without giving away all the twists and turns right into the end credits. Yes, the now 18 year old crazy did escape, and teenagers are dying, when the movie shows a security guard from the hospital being chased by a crazed killer. Other reviewers have been a little more bold, and said, it's a cross between Halloween and Haute Tension. I tend to agree, that "Frayed" has a lot more in common with "Haute Tension" than just about anything else I can think of, and even that comparison is rather remote. Which brings us to the fact, that the story is pretty original, even though you could say homages are paid slightly. This is a damn good horror film, and you do not know what exactly is going on, until even more reveals are exposed as the end credits start to roll. For gorehounds, even though the most graphic almost sickening scene happens right at the beginning, there is still plenty of good old kills to keep the blood flowing. I give this very very high marks as one of the best horror films in the past few years, and an absolutely superb screenplay. After the movie is over, all I wanted to do was watch it again and listen to the commentary. I ran out of time, but that is on the agenda very soon. Don't miss this one, it deserves every horror fans attention.

We're lead to believe that a single freak with a screwdriver can scare away and/or overpower multiple people at a time. Please. At one point, FOUR people are deathly afraid of this guy - again, armed with only a screwdriver - as he lurks around outside of the house. Absolutely absurd.

I could write a better screenplay in a single night while drunk.

The number of high reviews are obviously staged by friends of the crew or the crew themselves. This film follows a cliché formula from mediocre 80's B-movies. For a film beyond the 90's, that's really, really, really bad. And the twist at the end just make it worse, leaving plot holes wide open that any half-decent writer would've seen coming miles away.

3/10 for decent production value, a somewhat cool villain, and the totally shocking opening - which was the only good part of the film.

This is the first time that I have seen fit to leave a comment.

I was completely unaware of this movie's existence, and usually I'm pretty good at knowing what is coming out. Out of boredom, I watched it On Demand and was stunned. It's definitely not your average slasher film - instead, it is a psychological thriller that leaves you picking your brain for hours.

I truly recommend this for anyone looking for something raising the slasher-fic bar. I was only looking for the general entertainment and was more than pleasantly surprised.

Please, take my word for it. You'll be intrigued...

I went to the Nevermore Film Festival in Durham, NC (Daniel & Emily, Norb if your reading this), because of course I have a love for horror films. As I was browsing through the films for the Nevermore Festival, trying to pick which ones I thought I should see. I watched the trailer for Frayed, and knew it was one that I had to see. I was expecting a nice little low budget horror film, and got something completely different. Frayed is honestly one of the best horror films I've seen in a long time.

Frayed is a dream come true for horror fans, they don't lie when they say their is most brutally scene ever depicted on film, there's not a lot of scenes in horror movies that I find hard to watch, but that one was one of the hardest and gut wrenching scenes I have ever seen.

Frayed has a lot of similarities with Halloween, but believe me overall they are nothing alike. The ending was literally jaw-dropping, I expected a twist ending, but nothing like what I got. If this movie comes to a theater/festival or when it comes on DVD I highly highly recommend it.

The movie is done on a low-budget, but honestly it looks like it came from Hollywood with a much larger budget. It's impressive what the filmmakers have done with the film, and it really deserves to get released into theaters as a mainstream movie. I look forward to seeing more movies from this group, I really believe if they keep coming out with stuff like this they could be up there with horror icons like John Carpenter and Wes Craven...etc...

Good luck guys

I found this film online through a random search of genre specific movies. I was immediately attracted based on the brief "outline" I found on a movie view website.

I watched this movie and was delighted that this little know gem was out there.

The director and especially the editor did such an amazing job of providing seamless plot twists and turns. The "THRILL" factor was bar none! The theme of this film may not become evident until the very end, however, the course of the film is brilliant.

I highly recommend this movie for any and all that enjoy, horror, thrill, slash and suspense criminal styled movies. This film has it all and it is held together through the eyes of one very courageous character.

A town sheriff's mentally ill sun murders his mother and he is sent away to an insane asylum, years later he escapes and starts to wreak havoc in the community.

Of course the storyline is a lot more fleshed out than what I've summed up, like there is actually a reason why the child is mentally sick but I'm not going to spoil it, because this film is actually worth seeing for any horror fan, its probably one of the more unconventional horror films I've seen because with other slasher horror films I can actually predict who will die and who will live, with FRAYED I was way off the entire time and that was probably the first time that's happened to me in years and the array of plot twist at the end drove me nuts because that's when the film really took hold.

The suspense is kept surprisingly high thanks to the relatively casual pace of the film which helps to keep the viewer hooked and allow for some well done character development.

Note, I did say it was close to becoming a classic but there is only one flaw that keeps it from actually being a classic, its not 100% original despite having a great plot, if you look carefully you'll notice it seems to borrow from older films Like HALLOWEEN (1978) but en light of that I'd put it along with LAID TO REST as one of the more competently made slashers in a while.