Reeker's a new indie horror film that is getting a ton of buzz at SXSW right now, and I just wanted to share it with you guys. It sounds really, really cool. Check out these IMDb user comments: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393635/usercomments

Here's the plot synopsis from the SXSW website:

"When a lonely highway is inexplicably closed, five students sharing a ride to a desert rave find themselves trapped at a recently deserted travel oasis. Led by a blind grad student with heightened senses, they must survive the night and confront what appears to be a terrifying abyss between the living and the dead."

The trailer is great, too. It looks a lot more high quality then you normally find in indie horror:

http://www.fastmonkey.com/reektrailer.html

So, what do you guys think? Will this be another huge indie horror success story, or not? I personally can't wait to see this.

What's SXSW website? For horror fans? It looks pretty good actually. I'm getting used to this stuff. IMDB link says page not found. Is it coming out in theatres or is it a dvd release? Maybe if its comin gout in theatres I'll get up the nerve to go see it. My one problem is, ala NIght of the Living Dead, that I tend to lose interest in the story if its just a story for survival's sake, and this looks very similar in nature to NOTLD actually. I thought Night was a well done movie, but random attacks just aren't as interesting to me because there is no mystery and no intrigue. It gets good when the ghosts are there because of something. Some past secret that needs to be uncovered, or something along those lines. When I saw Devil's Backbone I was completely hoping the secret would be better than that one guy going nuts, which is too bad because the first half hour (maybe even a little longer) were great in that movie before it fell apart.

SXSW is a film festival in Austin, TX. They get some great stuff down there. Here's the website: http://2005.sxsw.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393635/usercomments

There's the right IMDb link. I put a period at the end in my original post. #-o

I'm not sure if it's getting a theatrical or straight to DVD release. I'd imagine if it can pick up enough buzz someone will swipe it up for, if nothing else, a limited run. You could actually see the film in theaters before the rest of us if you wanted to, Galia. It's showing at the Tribeca Film Festival next month.

Scroll down to Reeker

I think you'd enjoy this one. It sounds like it has a lot of really original ideas going on inside of a kind of generic plot. People seem to think it's some kind of noxious gas that is killing everyone, but from the info i've gathered I think it's some kind of rotting corpse who's smell is kind of it's "I'm coming to get you" thing. I'd like to see where they take the whole concept about the motel being a conduit between the living and the dead, too. The only thing that worries me about the film is the writer/director's history in really bad B movies. Rome wasn't built in a day, though, and because of the great WOM i'm willing to accept that he has moved past that stuff.

Galia, if you can see it, do let me know. I'll be hounding you for details the moment you get home.

I will look into it. What else has the director done? I still have doubts about this being about anything more than the experiences of that one night. Damn, no government conspiracies, war secrets, or family burdens! Ahhhh, I wish I knew how to review these, because then i could even try to write a review for it next month.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0668292/

There's the director's filmography. Embarrassing, to say the least. Like I said, though, i'm willing to cut him slack because of the great WOM Reeker has gotten thus far.

And it probably won't be about anything more than one night's events, but I have heard there is a twist ending that adds a pretty nice layer to the film and makes you think about it.

As for how to review a horror film, i've always thought that a successful horror film should be a visceral and emotional experience. When you're watching a great horror film, you should never be able to stop and think, "I'm watching a movie". If you notice yourself looking around the theater, not really paying attention, chances are it's not a good horror film. If, however, you can walk out of the theater knowing that you had a great time, were legitimately scared at several points, cared about the characters on some level, and noticed artistic success as well (good direction, good writing, good cinematography) - you've just seen a great horror film.

Of course, there's some of us that don't need any of that so long as a guy is wearing a mask and chasing a group of people around.

Someone is bound to use the quote "Reeker reaks" when they post their review. Its gonna happen :mrgreen:

Or that its a "stink bomb?"

Oh well, I'm still waiting for something were the phantasms are actually attached to something bigger than raw survival. I used to read books were ghosts were pretty much the spirits of dead people who's "business" on earth wasn't yet finished (for one reason or another) when they'[re life was taken. I love when seeing a phantasm led to locating a body, led to locating mysteries on the body, led to old newspaper clippings of some murder, or case trial, or government secret during the war, or something like that. Those are great, there aren't enough of those around.

Either that of the horror has to be visually stunning. I didn't get too scared in Suspiria, and felt the ending fizzled a bit, but after seeing NOTLD I'm starting to find Suspiria much more intelligent in peripheral discussions (outside of who the Queen was) and it was visualy haunting.

Anyways, an abandoned oasis seems like it could be rich for visual play. Since its a resort area rather than just a plane old house, its probably not going for realizm like NOTLD did, but more so for color play, etc, like Suspiria. My only misgiving is that it is just a Motel (Bates anyone?) and not, lets say, an abandoned casino (hey, it is in the desert southwest right?). I could just picture how visually haunting an old abandoned casino with all the gaudy wall and ceiling decorations, and all the vastly over-sized rooms with machines still in them, could be. A Motel just seems kind of blah and boring.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393635/usercomments

Three new, extremely positive reviews from SXSW. One of them even goes far enough to claim it as one of the ten best horror films they've ever seen.

http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11673

The first review from an online film critic. Positive, of course.

There seems to be quite a bit of buzz growing about the twist ending. It's unanimous that it's good - but some are saying it's one of the better twist endings they've ever seen, while others are saying it's a nice little way to wrap up the film, but nothing astonishing. We shall see.

Galia - you seriously have to see this when it runs at Tribeca. I'd imagine if it goes over as well as it did at SXSW, it'll be picked up by a studio for theatrical release.

*bump*

When a group of students heading for a rave end up at a lonely desert rest stop on a closed highway, their trip goes dangerously wrong. This sure-to-be-a-classic horror film blends slasher film elements with a smart script with many twists and turns.

Well it's playing there in late april, which gives me a good 40 days to work up the nerve. I'll do it if you remind me closer to the date. :wink:

Oh, trust me - i'll remind you. I can't wait to hear what you think about it. I'm always intrigued to know what non-horror fans think about horror films. Generally, horror fans are too blind by their love for the genre to speak honestly about it.

Looks great to me, but at the moment I am just eagerly awaiting the local release of Dead Birds!

It's a shame that Dead Birds went DTV here in the US as I've heard it is a really good film. I might try to check it out sometime in the near future.

Well, Tribeca is in three weeks, so I thought it was time for another update. First, we'll do Tribeca showtimes and locations for all of you lucky fools in NYC that we'll be able to see what is fast becoming the most hyped horror film of the year:

TRIBECA screenings
Regal Cinemas Battery Park
102 North End Ave (Vesey and West Street)

FRIDAY APRIL 22 11:45 pm at the Regal Cinema 11
TUESDAY April 26 2:00 pm at the Regal Cinema 4
FRIDAY APRIL 29 11:00 pm at the Regal Cinema 4

Individual tickets go on sale April 10th. Get them here: http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/purc ... ckets.html

Okay, and now some new reviews from actual film critics instead of, you know, over anxious horror fans like myself:

Film Threat - 3 1/2 stars out of 5

http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=7200

"....I’ve seen a lot of these types of movies lately as I’m sure you have. And they usually suck, don’t they? Yeah, if you’re not completely bored to suicide, then you’re so annoyed by the awful characters that you want to strangle someone. “Reeker” miraculously avoids both of these pitfalls. Well, it’s not really miraculous, it’s just the work of a good filmmaker...."

"....The characters play a big part in the film’s success as you really don’t mind any of them, in fact they’re even kinda likable, definitely the anti-thesis of your average knuckleheads in a desert horror movie. When the characters in “Reeker” start seeing that shit hit the fan, you’re actually scared for them instead of relieved that you won't have to put up with these bothersome turds for much longer..."

"....Another factor that plays into the success of “Reeker” is that director David Payne knows horror movies. He knows what makes them tick, he knows what makes the audience tick and he does all he can to keep the pace of his film rolling, all the while fucking with the conventions of horror to provide plenty of really cool surprises and twists. And then there’s the gore…oooo yeah, the gore. There are several juicy and creatively over-the-top gore scenes that'll give horror lovers a swift kick in the ass...."

The Austin Chronicle

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/d ... dup11.html

"....You've never seen (or smelled, for that matter) anything like Payne's note-perfect, middle-of-nowhere nightmare, a good thing considering most of us would like to get a decent night's sleep once in a while...."

"...Payne's direction is never less than assured; he has a knack for throwing out unexpected shocks as fluidly as a doomed teen vomits grue, and his sense of blacker-than-black humor is a thing of wonder...."

So, yeah, this one is looking more and more like it's coming up aces. Galia, I really hope you get around to seeing it at Tribeca.

More reviews!

File Thirteen give's it an A+, and the reviewer is not a horror fan.

And, to be fair...our first mildly negative review: Culture Vulture. They loved the first half, though!

Galia, i'm half tempted to book a flight out to NYC and see the damn thing with you. \:D/

New review!

Scott Weinberg gives it four stars.

"....Reeker dusts off this potentially tired old chestnut and polishes it up with a lot of wit, exuberance and goopy gore effects....."

Can't wait for Tribeca. There should be a boat load of reviews after it, hopefully one from our very own dolcevita!

\:D/

I''m going this for you makeshift, and the other horror fans on the forums. But I;m having trouble downloading the site for some reason, keeps timing out. Will you go in and find me the specific time/day? If its showing more than once let me know. I tried to find it in TimeOut edition this week and couldn't. I hope its not playing when I have class?????

Great one sheet. Tribeca's in two days!

So, Galia, are you gonna be able to make it tonight? Or will it have to wait for one of the next couple of showings? I'm really excited to hear the buzz after tonight's showing.

I wanted to go today, but the 11.45 pm showing time killed it because I would have no way of getting home afterwards. But don't worry, I have pencilled in the very next Tuesday 2 pm showing of it, so you will have a nice full review hopefully by Tuesday night. If not, wednesday review at the latest! As a little break from the norm, I'll release the rough draft for it into this thread instead of the usual reviews thread. That way only the hardcore fans (you) get to read it.

Nice avatar there. Really makes me want to dive right into this...

Good stuff, Galia. I can't wait to hear what you think about it. :2up:

If bABA and Eagle are cool with it, you could submit a link of your review to big horror sites, like Bloody Disgusting. Hits would go threw the roof.

Think you'll be able to make it tomorrow, G? I've heard surprisingly little response from the first showing. Dunno if that's good or bad.

Can't wait for the review!

Wow, that trailer really looked amazing! It doesn't look like an indie at all. I can't wait to see it!

Going to leave the house in a few minutes. Been on a bus all morning (ugh), so I think for fun and energy boost I'm going to dress up and everything. I've never actually been to a film festival. This should be fun even if the movie isn't. Damnit! I'll make it an experience.

*gets out dress and heels*