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Overall Rating : 6/10
Directed By : Matt Flynn
Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years (TV) )
William Forsythe (Halloween (2007) )
Sean Kanan (The Karate Kid Part III)
Lochlyn Munro (The Tooth Fairy)
Supplied By : Allumination Filmworks
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : January. 15, 2008
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| PLOT Reality filmmaking can be murder. Just ask Vincent King and his wife Mary Shelley, two passionate horror fans determined to create the ultimate slasher movie with the unwitting help of a cast to die for. Led by deceptively bookish biology major Emily, a group of horny college students visits the Kings' remote island to study the local flora and fauna, unaware that they're about to end up on the cutting room floor - literally! - as they are gruesomely dispatched in the style of both classic and contemporary shockers. Who will survive the Kings' insane homage to horror? | ||||
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| THE REVIEW In the Horror/Comedy HACK! A group of Biology students led by the bookish Emily, all pack up on a boat and head to a nearby remote island owned by a young couple, Vincent and his Wife Mary Shelley. The couple has agreed to allow the students to stay with them while they study the island's wildlife. Vincent and Mary Shelley, are a bit "weird" in the way that they act - Vincent seems to be a little quiet, while his wife, on the other hand, is more verbal, and more verbal when the subject of movies or filmmaking in general come up. Mary Shelley, an avid film fan, and aspiring filmmaker is seemingly always armed with a camera and uses her camera to film the students doing various things during their stay. As for the students. it seems that the only one that wants to do what they came to the island to in the first place, is Emily, the rest spend their nights partying, and not taking their grades or the trip seriously. But things for all of them would get very serious as someone begins killing off the students one by one in various cliched ways - all of which seem to be inspired by some of the greats within the Horror and Thriller genres. Before seeing this film, I didn't know what to expect, but since it was labeled as a Horror/Comedy, if I expected anything, I expected it to be just another unfunny forgettable Horror spoof. The fact is that, yes HACK! is a Horror/Comedy, and yes it is a spoof.....but it doesn't feel like one. The is nothing really complex and complicated, as it moves along like just about any Slasher film that has more than one sequel, but it's definitely fun, as it is a film that has very familiar elements, right down to film's brutal killings. The base plot of the film(the students coming to the island to study), is thin, because it is only the outer layer of another plot that is actually the really storyline for HACK! Getting the students onto the island and into their home, is nothing more than a pre-meditated act by Vincent, and wife Mary Shelley, two film fanatics(mostly when it comes to Horror), to lure the students into being the victims of a live action Horror movie of their own. This is all given away quite early in the film, in which the film basically becomes a "behind the scenes" look, as we watch them kill the students in various ways brought on by some of their favorite movies. At first I thought that this was a bad move for the killers to be revealed so soon, and I actually believed that this film would from then on head down hill, later crashing into a messy pile of nonsense, but once again, to prejudge was the wrong thing to do with this film. Just when you thought it was going to get worse and worse for HACK! it, picks up, and becomes almost brilliant in a way. Not only through the killings do we get to reminisce on some great films in cinema history, but we also have a twist thrown our way that we don't see coming(and it's done under a clever RINGU/THE RING guise as well). The twist, in my opinion, is what benefits this film the most, as it is what brings the film together, making you realize, that it's not the mindless Slasher film that you initially thought it was - it is then suddenly on the same level as SCREAM, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, and the like, except it has it's subtle hint of comedy still in tact. The cast of young characters are your typical, jock, black guy(who probably won't survive due to unfortunate default), the obvious bitch, the gay guy, the assumed tough guy with a soft heart, the foreign exchange student, whose a babe and doesn't mine showing her assets and finally, of course the geeky book worm Emily(played by Danica McKellar). With most of HACK's characters they seem very disposable, which is ok really, because every Slasher flick has such. Most of the development, when it came to the student characters, seemingly goes to the character of Emily in the long run. Danica McKellar(who was Winnie Copper on THE WONDER YEARS - and yes, she's still hot) is great as Emily as she plays the nerdy persona believably, and sometime later in the film, lets her hair down, and loses the glasses to reveal that she is a hottie(which is an obvious nod to the film SHE'S ALL THAT). I did notice some very visible and audile technical problems with the film however. For one, I thought that the film's overall lighting was entirely too bright. The indoor scenes are way over lit and some of the outside scenes seemed to have too much light, even for a campfire scene. I also noticed some audio problems beginning mid film, in which the audio seems distanced(tunnel-like), and noticeably low. But overall, despite what some others have said about HACK!, I thought it was actually good, and for once, it's a Horror/Comedy with something to truly offer, other than a few cheap laughs - I was surprised at just how many films are referenced here. |
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| GORE
METER 5.5/10 This film was much more gorier than I expected it to be. There are decapitations, dismemberments, impalements and many more gore demises. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 4.5/10 The score is a mix of pop music, along with a suspenseful and sometimes somber traditional scoring. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM I really liked this movie, and thought it was highly entertaining in the way it cleverly mocks/pays homage to the many films referenced within. This is definitely a film that you should just have fun with and not over-examine. It obviously isn't perfect and has it's flaws, but with a title like HACK!, I have a feeling that it wasn't intended to be perfect to begin with - it's a film that makes fun of itself. I recommend. |
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