Vile

Starring: Eric Jay Beck, April Matson

Directed By: Taylor Sheridan

Rating: I Liked It

This is one of those low budget horror flicks that you stumble onto while browsing the selection on Netflix.  A friend and I were looking for something to watch a couple of nights before Halloween.  We kind of had in mind to watch a horror flick, and finally we just decided, after not finding anything we really wanted to see, to watch this one.

It's definitely not the lowest budget film I've ever seen.  It's also definitely not the worst horror film I've ever seen.  Here's the basic premise: four friends are camping, and on their way home, they offer off a ride to a hitchhiker.  Said hitchhiker pulls a trick on them and knocks them out with some kind of gas.  The four friends wake up in a house with a group of people, and they learn they must torture one another to be released.  This torture will produce chemicals in their brains that are siphoned out through a device on their back.  When their captures have enough of the chemicals, the group will be released.

The Good:

• I didn't expect the end of the film to go as far as it did to tying everything together.  It was a pleasant surprise.  
• The effects overall, though a few of the events happened off screen, were pretty good.  
• In just the past few years with the development of Saw, it's sequels, and other movies like Hostel, we've seen the "torture porn" genre grow, and with it, we've seen every type of torture and torture device imaginable...well, that is until you see a movie like The Human Centipede and realize that there's plenty of untapped sickness of the human mind out there.  This movie made things a little fresh, pitting strangers and friends against one another.  There's still a devious "puppet master" behind the scenes, though.  
• The acting wasn't bad for a low budget, unknown cast.  I don't think anyone is going to be taking home any Oscars, but still...

The Bad: 

• The crazy Asian chick in the movie is a little overboard.  
• The camerawork was a little shaky at times...not literally "shaky".  
• I'm not doctor or scientist, and I can completely apply suspension of disbelief, but the whole idea of collecting these chemicals out of someone's brain seems a little over the edge to me.  

The Ugly: 

• For what this movie was, I can't say that there was anything particularly ugly about it.  If you in the mood for a good horror flick, give it a shot.