The Plot: Some dweeb who ate his mother as a kid abducts a bunch of people, dumps them down a well, and starves them until they feel like eating each other... it's a cathartic exercise for an insane mind. That's what I'm guessing. I'm pretty sure that this was the script originally intended for Saw XVII, but it was so bold and brilliant the the filmmakers just had to let it stand on their own.... The stripper, the hot final girl chick, the bland hero guy that everyone cant help but love, the street savvy loose cannon and the timid and scared geek... all whom are at the mercy of Kenny Rogers' gimpy looking son!
This one had some merit to it, especially with as bloody as it got in the later going, but in the end it just wasn't my thing. Too many flash backs for my taste, and most involved the "bad guy" whom I didn't give one shit to know more about. For the record, the bad guy/killer of the movie looked about as threatening as Kenny Rogers, beard and all, and every time they cut to him, he was making odd faces or adjusting a button or something... I just didn't buy into his menace.
The whole "several strangers who are connected to each other somehow find themselves trapped in some inescapable place together as part of a game/experiment" thing has worn out its welcome with me as well. Too many low budget horror flicks have tried to walk the line that the Saw films have drawn in the sand since 2004, but most just tend to be cheaper and less engaging shadows of said series, rather than bold, fresh new takes on a clever story.
The movie is not without merit however, especially as everything got a little bloody and nasty in the third reel, and the ending was fairly satisfying, which was a nice change of pace. Aside from the "mental games" aspect of the movie, some of the action was fun and definitely messy, so it has its appeal.
Overall, I think that a lot of horror peeps will really like this movie, while I am more inclined to call it decent if far from perfect. Of the three we've seen so far, this is the Fangoria Frightfest movie to rent... if you're feeling brave and don't mind taking a risk that you may be as underwhelmed but it as I was.
