Dark Reel (2008) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 2007
Director: Josh Eisenstadt
Cast: Tiffany Shepis, Edward Furlong, Lance Henriksen, Rhett Johnson, Tony Todd, Rena Riffel
Rating: R
Release Date: 16 August 2008
Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

The Movie Review

Dark Reel film still 1


DARK REEL
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Perhaps...
It tries to be interesting, but it turns out dull,
It tries to be horror, but it turns out tame,
It tries to be funny, but it turns out dry,
It tries to be dark, but it turns out to be reely reely Not dark (pun intended),
I tried not to watch it till the end, but Tiffany Shepis' daring performance convinced me too, and so I write this review for you.

Dark Reel tells a story about a bunch of B-movie filmmakers who try to make a movie called "Pirate's Wench". It's a movie that's supposed to be filled with lotsa T&A and blood splattered all over. But instead of presenting the blood on the big screen, the blood is splattered for real by mysterious serial killer who's killing off the actresses one by one in sadistic manners. The producer Connor Pritchett (Lance Henriksen), funky director Derek Deeds (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) and hottie lead actress Cassie Blue (Tiffany Shepis) of course are not too enthusiastic about this. So Cassie along with her new boyfriend, who is a new member of Pirate's Wench, Adam Waltz (Edward Furlong) investigate this matter themselves. But where are the police officers? Well, neither Det. Shields (Tony Todd) nor Detective LaRue (Rena Riffel) isn't very countable. Who is this serial killer and what is his/her motives? And will they ever finally be able to release their movie?

Dark Reel is a horror film, but it's some kind of parody film which resembles a lot another movie back in 2007 called Hack! (2007), in some similar ways and with its premise, Dark Reel should be cheesily entertaining. It has enough mangled body parts and Tiffany sheepis' bed and shower's scenes as the treat for 'sleepy' eyes, but with a lot of void moments in between, this horror movie has successfully reminded us the magical use of "Fast Forward >>" on our dearest remote control.

Dark Reel is a movie that tries seriously to entertain but it's the type that should not be taken seriously, we are supposed to enjoy how Dark Reel mock and mimic other horror movies with all its serial killer's mask and related stuff. But the director seem could not differentiate between entertaining and simply having fun. It's pretty clearly noticeable that all the actors were arguably in relax-mode playing in this horror movie, but it makes this movie feel amateurish. Not that it's entirely bad but it sure lessens the intensity, either in the horror department or in the comedy one. When the killing occurs, which are very graphic by the way, those scenes are intense, but that's just because of normal human's reactions to such sadistic behavior, and when Tiffany goes to the bathroom, we'd feel 'intrigued' because, well.., who's not? But that's it, it doesn't develop more than that. Although the mystery is quite engaging, still it is anything but a novelty. If you have read many detective stories or probably even comic books like Detective Conan or Detective Kindaichi, it's not surprising, how the story unravels is very similar to those in the aforementioned comic books. But speaking for the mystery as the part of this movie, that is the main thing that could glue every distinctive elements into one movie, and the mystery actually could mislead you into making several guesses of who the serial killer really is. And that...is a great element of a slasher film.

In Dark Reel, the characters are actually unique and interesting, even more unique than the gay Asian character in Hack!, we got an onion lover whose breath seem easily beats the one of a dragon named Jake Grace (Rhett Johnson), the obedient secretary Tanya (Broke Lyons) whose side job is to repeat words that the producer says, plus the supernatural element of the deceased actress (no, it's not a spoiler), Scarlett May (Alexandra Holden) which should be used to greater effect, however those too are failed to be used to advantage.

Probably the real magnet of this slasher film is the urge to know where would the story goes, and what kind of silliness that the characters would make? But if you're not a avid fan of horror movies, skip this, it's highly unlikely it will captivate your interest.