Do you think revenge is a dish best served cold? In July 2014, we watched as two brothers dished up some plates that were long over do.Directing this 100 minute horror is Jack Thomas Smith.
Some of the cast is: Jason Mac as John Stiles, Eliott Armstrong as Kenny Stiles, Ana Shaw as Andrea, Catherine Trail as Patti Stiles and Don Henderson Baker as Joe Stiles.
Brothers John and Kenny Stiles grew up in a life of hell. When help finally came to the boys it didn't last long, then they were right back in the same spot... if not worse off. Years later, the boys have grown up and tried to live a normal life. Unfortunately, the past is something they can't let go of. That's why they've decided to
take the road trip they've been planning together. A road trip down memory lane you could say. Complete with stops to see the important people in their lives from back in the day. Since this trip is so important, the boys had decided to video tape the entire thing from start to finish.
Writer/directer Jack Thomas Smith penned an interesting script for this found footage style flick. The story has two brothers on a journey for what some might call justice, others could call revenge, or just plain murder. Of course, this is a storyline we've seen before, but I thought Smith did good on making a version of his own. One of the things I liked was the banter that Smith came up with during the "justice" scenes for the brothers. Smith's script brings up some good questions during these exchanges about life, or makes us think about the choices we make. Other than those moments, the script does enough to keep everything moving but is kind of weak in the down moments.
The playthrough was a lot like watching a heart monitor, the flick keeps this timely pace as it runs it's course. We follow the brothers (even flow), they deal out "justice" (spike) and we follow them some more (back to even flow). Even though the up swings where pretty good, there was no suspense to it really. Once you know why they're doing what they do, it pretty much ends up being a flick about people justifying why they're killing and fighting.
The cast was a mix of ok to bad acting sprinkled throughout the film, with no one special standing out on either end of the spectrum.
The visual effects by Ted Maniatkos and special effects makeup by Vincent J. Guastini did help the scenes a bit. Then, throw in Joseph Craig White's work with cinematography and you have some pretty good looking stuff. I did like the fact that for a found footage film the camera work wasn't very shaky, like you find in a lot of the other flicks. Down side, the whole thing is supposed to be the found tapes of the brothers trip, but some of the camera work doesn't always line up with it. Like the viewers are watching someone run through the woods and there is no camera to explain why we can see this person. Small glitches really, because for the most part the cameras were spot on telling the tale.
Overall, this was a pretty good one-time watch but it doesn't have anything special in the way that I would want to watch it over and over. So, if you have some free time and are looking for a flick built off of revenge, then here you go.
It's rated NR (not rated) but has language and violence.
2 stars