The Ugly (1997)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

A Masterpiece!

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I had been seriously looking forwards to this movie for the longest time, after seeing it on the otherwise bad horror clip compilation Boogeymen. And boy did it fulfill my expectations.The plot involves a controversial psychologist attempting to cure a serial killer, who claims that entities called "the Ugly" drove him to murder.First of all, this is a low budget serial killer movie from New Zealand. So right off the bat, their accents annoyed me no end. However, the acting was pretty good as a whole, but kudos to Simon's mother, I really wanted to kill her.The gore was inky black for a radical change, and I loved it. It was weird and strange, and added something stylistically to the film. Also, the suspense in some scenes is tense, and when you do get a glimpse of the Ugly, they are quite freaky.What I also loved is how the film can be taken in many ways, and isn't explained fully.Overall, this was a great serial killer movie, totally different from anything else I have seen.8/10

This movie was the single worst horror/thriller movie I have ever seen. The acting was terrible, the story is not at all believable, and the special effects are pathetic. The movie uses black instead of red for blood in all but one scene which comes off as cheap and fake rather than creepy. Also one of the rooms in the movie is supposed to have metal doors and you can clearly see that the door is actually wood that has been spray painted silver. There is little attention to how the main character gets away with the things he is doing and why he hasn't already seen punishment. I don't mind a thriller movie that doesn't explain these things if they at least present a story that gets your imagination and lets you know that they aren't trying to follow any sort of reason or rationale. This film moves at a very slow pace with little attempt to build upon itself. The characters leave nothing for you to hold on to and build interest in the film and the settings are forced and don't seem real at all. If you are looking to be pulled into a film and actually care about the outcome of the characters then this is not the movie for you. In fact skip this one all together if you can.

This movie had something original :introducing the serial killer after all that he has done was a good idea indeed .But ,after about fifteen minutes,it's the same old song:the shrink,the wicked mother,the young boy whom she treated badly.We've seen that before ,and a long time ago.Hitchcock's motherS had already told the whole story (I will only mention "strangers on a train" and Michael Powell did the same for the fathers ("peeping tom").Few ideas are really exciting here:we might, at a pinch, appreciate the scene when the shrink hesitates to release the prisoner from his handcuffs.Then a violent scene happens :is it in the psychiatrist's mind? or in the monster's?On the minus side,there's also a very unfriendly look at the psychiatric nurses ,whose works in real life must not be that much easy.The Ratched syndrome again.Pointless hints at Andersen's famous duckling tale.

Intelligent, attractive psychiatrist Karen Schumaker (Rebecca Hobbs) shows up at a mental hospital to re-assess Simon (Paolo Rotondo)--A handsome, soft-spoken schizo serial killer who left no pattern for a compulsive string of grisly mass murders. Flashbacks reveal childhood abuse at the hands of taunting bullies and an imposing, domineering mother and of his razor-wielding murder spree. It's all because of "The Ugly," his scarred alter ego that compels him to kill. Simon turns out to be so brilliant, he not only gets under Karen's skin... but inside her head as well.This unique thriller has excellent lead performances, flashy editing, stylish direction and top-notch production values, but the director blurs the line between troubling reality and twisted fantasy far too often and tacks on a clichéd and disappointing ending. An unusual touch was the usage of ink-black blood for the murder scenes. I don't care what the metaphoric implications of that choice are, I found it to be both annoying and ineffective. Despite those flaws, THE UGLY is certainly worth watching and showcases many talents (in front of and behind the camera) to watch for in the future.