Plasterhead (2006)

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

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The main characters had so many opportunities to just walk away and avoid the Plasterhead boogie man in this film. And, yet, they didn't. Of course, if they had, there would be no film. But, screenwriters have to do better than this. They need to inject a reason that the innocent cannot escape.I had high hopes for this effort, but it was extremely disappointing.Now, about that atlas: We're told that the disfigured villain was an over-the-road trucker on his way from Maine to Florida when he stopped in this town for a beer.But, the movie is set in West Virginia! How lost was the trucker?Reference is made to "Highway 95." Well, Interstate 95 would be the logical, direct route from Maine to Florida... but it doesn't come remotely close to West Virginia.Mistakes like this just shouldn't happen. It takes astute viewers out of the movie entirely.You'd be wise to stay out of this motion picture, too.

All you have to do is go to Netflix to see just how many god-awful horror films there are that were made in the last 10 years. It seems that every loser with a video camera seems to think he's John Carpenter. While this is no masterpiece, PLASTERHEAD still manages to create a good deal of low-key suspense in the first half, during which we rarely get a glimpse of the murderous Plasterhead. (In that, the film is very much like a lot of 1950's "monster" movies, where budgetary limitations almost dictated that the "creature" not be shown until halfway through {or later}). Since this is obviously a low-budget film, the filmmakers were wise to use this approach.Some other reviewers of this film have commented on how bad the acting is. The "teenagers" in the film are pretty raw and unpolished in their overly-dramatic performances, but you'll see plenty worse in this genre. And there's at least one really good performance by Gerard Adimondo as the local lawman. He's easily the best element of the film and one wishes the screenwriters had developed his "back story" better because he is the most interesting character in the film. From his first few minutes on film, one can sense that he is a conscientious lawman but there is something dark about the character. All of that is conveyed in the actor's performance: Adimondo is terrific.The film runs out of gas (and ideas) near the end, but that's not unusual for this genre. As for those "critics" who complained about the characters' accents -- Give me a break. This isn't Shakespeare!! All in all, PLASTERHEAD is an enjoyable, low-budget film, though it's far from a genre classic.

Four college students are on holiday driving to Miami for some sun, making the mistake so many idiotic characters in slasher movies make..instead of staying on the main highway, the driver, Steve(Josh Macuga)decides to take a "short cut" onto a country road leading into "middle of nowhere" West Virginia. Almost out of gas, the group encounter a book bag containing money and a person's belongings(..a journalist we see fall into the trap of a psycho at the beginning)when David(Ernest Dancy, the token black character with attitude, who likes hip hop and saying the f-word)finds it while draining his lizard. Nearby town of Rolling Glen(..with no gas station?!)has a buried secret that will be unleashed on these kids and selected citizens before the night is over..a black truck driver named Ray Williams was severely beaten, face rendered a hideous visage, by drunken locals and dropped at the old Dixon place in Ellis. Ray's body wasn't recovered because he isn't dead..far from it. Creating a plaster mask to hide the monstrous face he now endures, his identity and humanity lost, now lives off the animals of the wilderness, killing anyone who dares "invade" the territory of the Dixon area. David pleads with the others to leave for Miami with the 500 dollars they found, but Steve's girlfriend, Maggie(Kathryn Merry)insists they seek out the identity of the person whose bag was found. An address of the Dixon place written on paper in the unknown journalist's bag, Steve and company find it, deciding to stay the night due to the fact that they are in fact out of gas. Audra(Raine Brown)and Steve decide to wait at the Dixon house while Steve and Maggie see about information regarding the nearest gas station, heading for a local bar. That's where they hear about the local legend, and the truth regarding Rolling Glen's crooked sheriff, Earl Taggart(Gerard Adimando)who covered up the attack on Williams, the ones responsible never seeing a moment in prison. Returning the house, Steve and Maggie will find out from David that Audra's missing and the terror commences.Polished cinematography aside, PLASTERHEAD is simply another cheap, run-of-the-mill slasher with limited graphic violence shown on screen. The fate of Audra is pretty unsettling(Williams uses barb wire to drag her by the mouth from behind)and another victim's guts appear from an open wound. The killer of the title is merely a black version of Jason Voorhies..uniform, walk, weapons, everything. The bad casting of Adimando, fighting a thick New York accent, doesn't convince as a hick sheriff. The premise has been done to death regarding college kids making the wrong turn into West Virginia due to heavy highway traffic. And, I have a really hard time believing these kids are gonna pick up 500 bucks and constantly pursue the identity of whose cash it is. The most unpleasant moment is the make-up work for Williams, seen at the beginning, before applying the materials needed for his plaster-cast. Raine Brown, as slutty Audra, fails to convince with that phony Valley-girl imitation..a bit old for such a tired cliché. None of the characters rise above their stereotypes, and the cast is pretty amateurish. Jason Snells score loudly intensifies, attempting to add suspense to a movie that lacks atmosphere or dread. The house is about as menacing as Micky Mouse and doesn't particularly seem as ancient as the Rolling Glen locals(..or the outsiders who make plenty of snide comments regarding how old it looks)would have us to believe. The film does feature a really grim conclusion, but PLASTERHEAD lacks the necessary budget needed to truly grip us..having to shoot away from Williams' attacks on victims proves this. Confusing attack on employees at a diner made little sense to me..how come Williams decides to attack them? If they have been around for a while, why would he just up and decide to kill them? Ludicrous performance from Tom DiNardo as Artie, a foul gas station mechanic who doesn't have any fuel for Steve and his friends(..woefully attempting to sound and act like a disgusting redneck, his New York accent remains bleeding like an open wound as DiNardo fails miserably to hide it). If you wish to have realistic hick carciatures, hire southern actors who actually have an accent..don't hire New Yorkers who sound like they came right out off the streets. A real waste of time.

On paper this movie looked good for fans of the 'slasher'genre. It starts of OK, but as soon as the four main characters are introduced, it all goes downhill fast. Their performances are not great, not even good. But it is not there where this movie fails. Since there is no thrill of tension in the story, the makers decided to work with 'scary' music, throughout the e-n-t-i-r-y film. This will get on your nerves within 15 minutes or so, and you forget about the bad acting. For the gore hounds there's more bad news: there seemed to be no money at all for special effects or gore so all you get to see is people lying in blood. The plasterhead himself could have been scary, but the film simply doesn't work on any level. The killer is like a Candyman (also black and murdered and now the town's urban legend) and the murders are taken directly from films like "Friday the 13th" but without effects. Two examples of how stupid the reactions of the characters in the story are: -When the sheriff finds two bodies, he decides to have a quick drink before checking what the hell is going on and if he is in any danger. -The last two survivors explain the whole story to the sheriff while they are being chased by the killer (come on..) I myself am a great fan of slashers such as "Friday" and "Hills have eyes" but I still wonder why I saw this one 'til the very end..