Below Zero (2011)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

good back-story, and good acting

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Jack (Edward Furlong) has writer's block. His agent suggests he lock himself up in a freezer for 5 days. In northern rural America, he meets Penny (Kristin Booth) who has just the place. Penny is very likeable. She has the "Fargo" accent and laughs at her own jokes with a snort. She is single and says things like, "You can make anything good with ketchup, just not a marriage." She aspires to be an actress or a screenwriter, while she cares for her mute son.Once Jack is locked up in a room in a meat processing factory. The movie then becomes the account of his writing. But don't let this deter you from watching this film. Michael Berryman, the face of "These Hills Have Eyes" and an underrated actor becomes an unsavory character in the script. The film bounces back and forth from the script to Jack's imprisonment which is becoming more unbearable as the plot twists. Jack incorporates his surroundings and characters he meets into the story.At some point you have to ask yourself, "Is there a limit on plot twists before the movie becomes a BOSH?" This one approaches that number. In some ways this film reminded me of "Misery" i.e. a writer being tortured to write.I enjoyed the ending...at least I think that was the ending. Good indie thriller, for those who like twists. Most of the horror is generated in what we know to be a fictional story.Parental Guide: F-bombs, no sex, no nudity (woman bra/panties)

Saying this film is god awful in every possible way, would be putting it nicely. This is one of the worst lumps of crap I have ever seen, randomly threw it on while looking through Netflix (and I'm in Canada, Canadian Content Laws guarantee tons of garbage content, this is worse than the Don Cherry movies). This movie was not suspenseful, it was not thrilling, it is a horror by attempt, which it fails miserably at. It actually becomes angering when this movie tries to mimic scenes from The Shining or Misery, the only way this film could've been made, is if the screenwriter produced the film herself (which she partially did). All of the actors stunk, the sound mix was garbage, the directing wasn't the worst or causation for this debacle. Do not watch this film, watch anything but this film, if you want to watch a terrible movie find HardRock Zombies, if you want a good movie, go elsewhere.

The basic premise of the movie is that of a horror story writer seeking some inspiration for writing his latest story, by going to a rural farm where he'll have some peace and quiet, and a prearranged eerie atmosphere given that he'll stay inside the farm's slaughterhouse. As he'll soon find out, he got more than he bargained for. Nothing too original about the storyline, but it's always a good starting point for a horror movie.The problem was that the story didn't develop in a coherent way and many of the subsequent twists and turns in the plot seemed both trivial and unnecessary. There was no real moment of horror nor was there any eerie atmosphere throughout the movie. Many horror movies get away with bad scripts thanks to good directing, where a build-up of atmosphere and the occasional horror moment draw you into the story and make you forget about any plot holes or incoherence.The problem here was that there was no real atmosphere. Partly, this was due to bad character casting. Miss "piggy laugh" was way too young and ordinary-looking for her role as some redneck farm lady, and the main character seemed more like a bored heavy metal-loving teenager than a professional horror writer fighting his inner daemons. Even so, the director could have saved the day with some "camera magic", adding a few extra flashback moments here and there and backing up the dialogs with fitting background music, just to get some atmosphere going. That's what separates good directors from bad, good directors don't just follow the script as a textbook manual and leave it up to the actors to make or break the movie, especially not when it's plain obvious that the main actors are unable to carry out their parts properly.

* SPOILER ALERT! * > This movie had promise for me, after reading reviews and the storyline I thought it would be decent. But after the first ten minutes it went down hill. Because almost from the start you find out that most of the story is not real. It's what the main character Jack (Edward Furlong) see's as he writes his book. So you know that none of what's happening is actually real. Although parts of the film make you think it may be real, at the same time the film shows you it is not. Sure there was some nice blood and gory bits, but it's ruined by the fact that it's only what Jack is writing. The film sets up the ending to be a twist, but you actually see it coming too. It have to admit though, the acting was pretty good, just the script let it down. So I give this movie a 4 out of 10 for the acting, blood and some of the story which could have been better.