Scrapbook (2000)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Wow....I cannot think of a movie I wasted my time as much as this. I would compare it to a Serbian Film in that the "so-called violence" is so poorly acted/portrayed as to lose any shock value they were hoping for. To quote Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory "this movie fails on so many levels. Script.....was there even an attempt to have a coherent story; soundtrack......nice to see people with no musical talent can still find work; editing....beyond the worse; the only bright spot is the actress - to not burst out laughing when Leonard is "roughing her up" must have taken incredible willpower. If you want to see a movie that shows it could be done, see Martyrs. Avoid this. Still cannot figure out how so many great reviews are given this.

Don't believe the hype. This movie is crap. It tries desperately to be "gritty and realistic" but it just isn't. From the opening sequence, we are disappointed: the acting isn't believable at all, the torture scenes aren't believable (is that how a person would REALLY react to being tortured? come on), the "violence" is seriously lame and the overall affect is flat and 2 dimensional. I felt like I was watching a high school film class project reject. It is really, really bad. As one of the previous reviewers said, I too found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of it and it was still too long. It fails to make a point or a statement. It is simply badly-executed, badly-acted pseudo-violence for it's own sake. And unlike many of the "positive reviewers" (who have apparently posted identical reviews on other sites, such as Amazon), I wasn't shocked by the "violence" or offended by it's depiction or worried I'd "burn in hell just for watching it." I found it utterly unrealistic and totally lame. At times it was laughable and pathetic. Scrapbook is one of those movies whose fans will claim the naysayers just don't "get" when the truth is, it's not that hard to understand or "get". It just isn't very good. In fact, it's terrible. A complete waste of time.*And by the way, this is not an original idea for a movie. The concept has been utilized in many other areas first, including an episode of Law & Order and most notably, the 1963 novel The Collector by John Fowles. The Collector was a source of inspiration for real-life serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, who dubbed their master plan "The Miranda Project" (after the main character in The Collector) and also videotaped most of what they did. After having seen some of these particular tapes and also being a devout (and long-time) crime scene photo, video- and audio recording aficionado, I can tell you that Scrapbook is simply an embarrassingly-amateurish attempt at something the director/writer apparently thinks he understands but clearly does not. The "serial killer's" pathology in this "movie" is wrong to the point of ridiculousness. This "film's" true target audience, people who appreciate the true crime genre like myself, will walk away laughing and seriously disappointed. Horror movie fans will be even more disappointed. This "movie" is a waste of time. Don't bother.

I thought I might give this movie a chance despite the multitude of bad reviews. Hell, August Underground's Mordum received a lot of them, and I still like it. And now here goes my review of Scrapbook which goes along the lines of the said multitude.Yup, I made a mistake watching this. Here's why.Scrapbook might be called a lousy attempt at no - budget, no - plot worth mentioning , almost no acting, silly yet pretentious, unjustifiably slow - paced and over - hyped cinematography. It won a prize? What for - the most unconvincing scenes of slapping ? It tries to be violent, gory, shocking, dark, even some sort of psychological thriller at times - and fails in everything. It's way too long, too unconvincing. I found myself fast - forwarding quite a few times, just to skip a minute or two of totally pointless garbage. And again, and again, and again... and it was still too long.Special effects and make - up are crap. Acting is mostly crap. Story too - banal, unoriginal and it doesn't really go anywhere. A serial killer abducts this poor girl, takes her to a decrepit house on a farm and subjects her to various forms of torture, all along ranting about his scrapbook full of mementos from previous victims and their descriptions of what they went through. He's going to be famous and rich after he's done with her, she's the last one to write in the scrapbook. So, is he psychotic or retarded? Because, you know, this story sounds stupid to me. By the way, we don't get to see much of the photos in the scrapbook, and they're supposed to be super - shocking. The torture is also supposed to look shocking, but it doesn't. It doesn't look realistic enough.So, this guy is giving this girl a very rough and degrading treatment, so she realizes that her only way out is to manipulate him... by writing some very unbelievable things in the scrapbook. Eventually/very quickly he buys it, succumbs to his masochistic drives, allows the girl to tie him up to the bed and they start some kinky sex... which quickly ends in his murder. Girl stabs him off - screen and for some part on - screen, takes several Polaroid snapshots of poor bastard screaming, puts them in the scrapbook and goes away. The end.I see absolutely no point in this movie. I don't find it educational. Too short of gore for gore hounds, definitely not suitable for fans of mainstream horror... so, what's the point? To earn some money and pseudo - cult status using sick cinematographic clichés that don't live up to the hype, internet gossips and reviews done probably by the film crew and their friends? Come on, we already got a lot of that.1 out of 10.

Scrapbook wasn't the easiest of films to watch but I can't say it was a bad film. It was very graphic a lot more than I expected. Most serial killer in films take their victims behind closed doors and leave it to your imagination for these kind of scenes. Its the best 'into the mind of a serial killer' film I've scene. The acting from Emily Haack was brilliant, it can't of been an easy role to play. The home movie style filming added to atmosphere of the film. It didn't need a big Hollywood if it had one it would not have been so gritty.I read a few of the reviews on here to help me write this one. Some people say its poor with WWE style violence and there was nothing shocking about it. I dread to think what these people watch with their popcorn.I thought it was shocking, not just because it wasn't quite what I expected but also because you know that these things happen in real life.