Craving

I venture to say that horror movies perhaps have the most enthusiastic following of all genres of film. CRAVING is a slow starter that gains momentum as it rushes toward the finale . The prime setting is a rural bar inhabited with regulars, doing what they usually do. They are interrupted and threatened by a group of dangerous people who seem to be in great danger themselves and who have been followed by another group just as intense. All very mysterious and confusing until the pieces begin to come together through a series of flashbacks. Extreme close-ups enhance the unfolding action. When the gore finally comes, it is hot and heavy making excellent use of special effects. Michael Turner Tucker, as Carl, has a strong presence and comes across as highly believable in these unusual circumstances.. This film will most likely appeal to the heavy duty horror fan.

I don't see how anyone could rate this movie favorably. The monster is cool, especially for this no budget video. Prior to that, low achievers in a bar are invaded by more criminally involved druggies who are running from some vigilante citizens group talking about 'the monster'. After nothing happens for 100 minutes, finally the monster appears. The gorefest continues for another 13 minutes, & then we get a 4 word explanation. Aaaaand back to the gorefest for the comedic outro. No perspective, no story - not sure there was even a plot - no atmosphere, no visual interest, dialogue was meaningless...

I thought this was going to be a werewolf movie, but it's a bit of something else. For low budget fans, the premise feels familiar but the execution is head and shoulders above most crowdfunded movies.

A group of people spend an evening in a local bar, which i soon invaded by another group of people who seem to have bad intentions. Yet there is another group of people on their trail, giving a dire warning that someone in the bar will turn into a monster and no one will be leaving unless that person is surrendered to them.

The premise makes for some fun tension as we move slowly toward the inevitable - a monster. Most of the gore in this movie really works and the cast is solid. Everyone puts forth a grand effort and makes for a very entertaining watch.

Making an indie film is no small feat. What the makers of Craving accomplished was impressive. The production quality overall was good. The practical makeup FX was impressive.

Now to the not-so-good. Early on in the film particularly, there were a lot of focus issues that were distracting. The story could've use a couple more rewrites. It jumps around A LOT. My main issue with the story is that we're not really following around one main character. It's an ensemble piece that doesn't allow you to emotionally engage with any of the characters. At times, the music was too melodramatic, which didn't seem to fit the tone of the movie.

With all of that said, the climax will not disappoint horror fans. If you love B horror movies, I think you'll like this one.

I will preface this brief review with a couple of facts. One, I LOVE horror films, especially creature features, and let's face it...there just are not enough good creature features made anymore. Two, I truly enjoy independent film and cinema. While budgets always place constraints on projects, a good script and good team can produce an excellent, enjoyable film without the help of Hollywood or a large purse.

Now about "Craving":

• the acting is terrible. It's one thing to have "wooden actors..." you know...the ones that are a bit stiff, but the folks in this movie (the ENTIRE cast) are amateurs at best. Stagnate, posed, lifeless lines & deliveries...timed and contrived screams...unconvincing in every way.

• the script is actually not the worst I've followed. In actuality, had this been a big budget movie (eg better actors, better sets, better FX, bigger budget), I might have enjoyed it. But the acting was so terrible that even had the script been adapted from a Pulitzer Prize winning book, it wouldn't have mattered.

• the special fx were not good. I can often overlook this, as we all know that fx are among the most costly part of a film, but these were pretty cheesy. Most kills are offscreen, followed up with immediate pan to whatever pile of substance they're using for blood. It should be noted that film makers did indeed TRY to make it gory (toward the end) but like most other aspects of this movie, this fell flat.

-very slow. Very very slow. Very very very slow. Tediously slow...I mean like fall-asleep-in-the-middle-of-the-movie. The first nearly 2/3 of the movie is nothing but listening to unemotional dialog .

Really wanted to like this, as it gets harder and harder to find good horro films. Sadly this is not one of them, even though all the reviews rave about it - seems like these folks maybe got screener passes. I would not recommend a single aspect of this movie.

>>> minimal gore >>> some fun violence and guns >>> no nudity >>> some profanity. But not heavy.