Husk

Five friends on a road trip crash into a ditch in remote farmland, and on passing through a cornfield to get help at a nearby house blunder into a ghostly trap.

The action sparks off with minimal set up - no beating about the bush as they ... beat about the bush. The cornfield setting is effective, the house adds to the claustrophobia, and the whole thing is brought home in a well judged run-time.

Characterisation is poor, but the acting is tolerable. A lot of frustration with characters' choices, especially their insistence on not sticking together for safety. The group should have had a coherent dynamic, but they're little more than a random selection, and the dialogue is bog standard. Also the cheesy insistence on splashing gasoline on the ground but then oddly not setting it on fire - you raise a loaded gun, you better use it.

The story is saved by a coherent mythology that adds depth and allows a plausible twist to bring about a satisfying end. Helped along by the pacey sound effects and music.

Overall, basic concept that's well executed.

When I marked this movie to record, the 1988 Scarecrows came to mind, and made me come up with a small checklist of things which I would like to see: the scarecrow would have to have a good design (they have to look pretty decent, or no one would take this movie seriously), and a decent plot and back-story. More so, the main characters have to be realistic enough as to not make me sigh in pity for the movie. The camera angles aren't too crucial, nor the music, but they do have the potential to add to a movie. This movie had all the requirements I would have liked, though some of them could have been improved.

The scarecrows had my approval of being threatening, malevolent beings. Their make- up/costume was pretty cool, I think. The back-story behind the scarecrows was interesting, though why only the nerdy characters could see the flashback, I don't know. Also, for the most part, the actors played their parts pretty well. One of the things I think that this movie does quite well is the avoidance of the normal cliché slasher-movie characters. There's no blonde-haired girl who's messing with three guys' affections or a shy, well-behaving female who survives the onslaught. This just has four males and one female, and they all get along with each other decently well.

I found this rather nice for a change. As aforementioned, I didn't care too much for how we found out about the origin of the scarecrows (via flashbacks that only one character could see), but I can try to look past that. Also, the chess analogy with such little evidence concerned me a bit, but it wasn't too big of a plot point, so I can deal with that also. Gore-wise, this had some pretty painful-looking deaths and injuries, but as I only saw an edited version, I don't know how much total bloodshed this had to offer.

Overall, I feel that this movie is something that a horror movie fan should be able to watch without grimacing. 7.5/10, rounded down to 7 to fit IMDb.

I viewed the trailer for Husk a few months back and remembered that it looked impressive. Considering there hasn't been many decent slasher releases for some time (excluding Scream 4) I was excited. So on finding the DVD at my local rental I jumped at the chance of renting it.

Plot:

A group of friends look for shelter in an old farmhouse after becoming stranded after a bizarre car crash near a vast cornfield. The teens soon discover an angry spirit haunting all those who enter the fields.

Hot or Not:

Disappointing!

Thats all I can say, the film wasn't bad, but was a let down overall. The film looked decent and is shot reasonably well and there are creepy moments, however I feel it lacked any originality, which isn't always a problem if their is a strong script however a strong script is what this film lacked.

Another problem for me was that the farmhouse just seemed to be just picked up straight from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, and many of the scenes also seemed borrowed especially when walking around the house walking around in the house.

I think the killer in the film although looked great, but wasn't menacing, he seemed to have a comic aspect even though that wasn't the intention. There was far too much quick editing in the corn scenes, this meant the film couldn't create the right mood and in places it was liked they were being stalked by roadrunner.

Bird and the Bees:

Nothing here, in a film that could of maybe done with some.

Acting:

Scott (Devon Graye) I hated, he was annoying and stuck up for the very annoying Brian (Wes Chatam) who played the annoying brainless meat head! The best actor and the best developed character was Chris (C.J.Thomason) I also like Natalie (Tammin Sursok) Shame her role wasn't bigger.

Overall:

This film is less than memorable and I'm yet to see a decent scarecrow film. It had potential and I do appreciate they tried to do something different with he story, but the script was week and the random flash back were very poorly shown and they felt they were just put in randomly to explain the plot.

I have to say I enjoyed this movie. When I got my hands on it there wasn't much info about it here except negative stuff so I wasn't really expecting much. Still I decided(like always after seeing a new movie w/ no ratings yet bashed here) to peep the trailer. The trailer gave the impression that it could go either way so I decided to give it a shot.

I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be a nice little Horror movie. Even though at times It felt like I was watching a TV movie it still held my attention throughout the film. Most of the characters were only one one dimensional, but its a horror flick so thats forgivable. The unfolding of the back-story of the house was done just right not getting ahead of itself and becoming too predictable. Generally a good flick for a rainy Sunday afternoon or a late-night movie.

Probably only deserves a 6, but since I love Horror flicks and this movie had about 20 "1" ratings before it was even released I gave it a 7.

IBMD really shouldn't allow people to vote on movies before they're released because all the people with grudges against the writers/directors come along and vote 1. Or the opposite happens and the whole film crew gives it 10's which prompts trolls to counter it with 1's and the crazy loop continues. Anyway, final vote is a 7.

Recommended to those who like Haunted house films.

I would at one point refuse to watch movies, but i have become a real movie fan and i always give more positive reviews than i should.

I would say this is a good movie but i had a feeling it could of been a lot better i felt that the film was lacking something, it lacked something that really good movies have.

I would say this film is just to pass time and not to just sit down and watch a really epic movie.

I would say watch it if you have nothing else to watch, you will be slightly entertained.

I give this movie 5/10

Peace from the U.K