Dark Reel Review

I admit, the only reason I even sat down to watch this film was because Edward Furlong was in it. He was in a lot of movies that I personally liked, and as soon as I saw his name on the back cover, I was sold. The movie however, despite being filled in 2008, is not exactly the most gripping of horror movies, and really shows a lack of imagination in a lot of ways. In fact, all things considered, Dark Reel, might be the worst movie I’ve review in quite a while, and that’s saying a lot because I don’t exactly have a long list of great horror movies I’m watching for review on this site.

Dark Reel has a simple premise. But it gets overtly complicated for no apparent reason. We start the film in the older times of Hollywood, with someone trying to make a screen test and career launch. The woman in the screen test is murdered and it sets up the backdrop of our film, for later on. The movie then moves forward with Edward Furlong, a movie fan and now winner of a horror movie contest. He wins a walk on role to a B-Movie and falls for one of the actresses. While on set, someone is murdered and people start to blame him.

Not the most unusual premise huh? Well, it gets creepier as starlets from the film get killed in a variety of creative ways, none of which are worth mentioning. The film is so formulaic that you see the turns way ahead of schedule, and that’s not something that you want out of any movie. These turns come to a boil in the final act, where we find out that there is a ghost haunting the film and the son of the killed starlet from the beginning of the film is killing of actresses, why? For revenge? It makes no sense, and he is foiled rather quickly in comparison.

There are sub plots that are featured here, but none of them are exactly that great. There is a tad bit of gratuitous nudity, which is nice, but the most awkward love scene happens after two hours or so, which really made me hate this film. Furlong looks like a teen, even though he’s thirty years old in this film, and man…it looks sick to see him in a love scene.

My major complaint about this film is the pacing. This film clocks in at around two hours and it is a long two hours. What “Urban Legend” or “Scream” did in about 90 minutes, this thing takes longer and harder to develop. Not only that, the ending and story is so convoluted and executed horribly, that you want to just kick your television. Dark Reel is not a recommended film, it’s not even that scary. It really feels like a made for television scary film for the scyfy channel, which can be a saving grace sometimes, however, not this time. I don’t recommend this film.



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