Late Fee

Late Fee is the kind of movie that could have been good, but just failed on every level. The wrap around story is about a couple renting some scary movies is dull, with no real pay off, and the two takes of Terror are mediocre at best. There really isn't anything too redeeming about this one. Give it a pass.

I like to support independent films. I watched this one because I'd read it wasn't bad. I was mislead. It stunk big time. The acting was absolutely terrible. Especially the guy that ran the video store. The writing was only slightly better than the acting. The director needs to take some film courses. The cinematography was poor. I would imagine they had little or no budget for this film. I bet most of the background actors were friends of the film makers.

About the only good thing I can say for it was the monster effects in the hotel room episode were okay. Who ever did the FX on that scene was able to do a lot with very little.

Don't waste your time on this garbage, it is an insult to film lovers. Obviously it was made by untalented people hoping to make a fast buck.

I am an avid horror fan and love finding a good movie amongst the bad ones and boy, was this a bad one!! If you have read a good review on this they are lying to you. The acting in this was the pits, i am all for giving the characters a chance but they are so wooden it is unbelievable. With a tiny cast the actors are regurgitated throughout the movies anthologies in different roles showing no depth of script or talent.

The stories are weak which is a shame, jumping on the bandwagon of the likes of creepshow and tales from the crypt of being tongue in cheek but there is no plot, no storyline and most of all made no sense.

So don't waste an hour and a half of your life only to be left feeling disappointed and robbed.

A couple goes on Halloween night to a video store to rent some movies. They pick two movies but the owner tries to convince them to rent something else. He gives in and warns them to return the movies the same day no later than 12am.

They go home and watch the movies, and we watch them too. At this point it's 10pm. The first movie is called The Pick Up about a guy who picks up a prostitute and drives to a motel were they are welcomed by some obnoxious attendant. The man has a briefcase with him with all sorts of nasty torture/kill accessories and tools. But the woman has different plans for him.

The second movie is called Damnation, about a woman who gets pulled over by a female cop and taken in. She's put immediately on trial and jailed by some weird judge. There book of the law is some Satanic book. Her cell mate is a pregnant girl who is one day taken away into a lab where a some wild woman is stashed in a cellar. She comes out and rips the baby out. Then our other jailed woman is released into the care of a client, who has certain plans for the woman.

When our couple finishes watching the movies it's just past 12am and they get an unexpected visit.

This is the kind of movie that has you wondering what they were thinking. Even for a low budget independent movie, not a lot makes sense here or has much of a point. The first story is almost too plain and simple. The highlight I guess is supposed to be the sex scene between the customer and the prostitute, who's more than just some woman. But the scene is poorly filmed to be special. The second movie on the other hand is too messy and complicated and senseless.

The couple is alright and likable; the girl is cute, the guy does a good job acting. The main villain though is terrible.

A couple rent two dvds from their local video-store (which is the 'Rare Flix' store in NJ, but is supposed to be another nameless store in the film I guess) despite the warnings that they return the movies no later then midnight because they have a rather strict late fee. Anyways, the couple returns home to watch said films (which we are, i hesitate to say treated to so I'll just say forced to watch as well) one has to do with a woman luring random guys back to a seedy motel, the other revolves around a girl getting thrown in a weird jail. Both of them are amateurish in the worst possible way.

Apparently both short films were already made and the 'movie' just cobbled a horrible wrap- around segment to showcase them. To make matters worse both shorts are quasi-sequels to two other films. 'The Pick-Up' follows the atrocious "Flesh for the Beast" and 'Damnation' follows the almost equally rancid "Shadow: Dead Riot". Naturally this would be quite confusing for anyone who hasn't seen either of those aforementioned films (and if you didn't, trust me I truly envy you) As an aside, why the couple would rent two films both sequels to films they've never seen before is never explained. But long story short (too late), don't rent this. It's excruciatingly bad.

My Grade: F

Media Blasters DVD Extras: a 6 minute Behind-the-scenes featurette; 'the Cutting Room floor' (15 worthless minutes of 'found' TV footage); photo gallery; TV spot for Rare Flix; and trailers for "The Devil's Hostage", "The Pick Up", "Wicked Lake", "Shadow Dead Riot" & "Flesh of the Beast"