Abbreviated Entry...
So most of June has been pretty brutal for me schedule-wise. Big Time Life Events™ of close family members (weddings/funerals/reunions) have conspired to make the movie-every-day thing rather difficult. I've still managed to watch one every day, but the end result of everything life has thrown my way is that I'm as exhausted as I've ever been. So to keep my sanity (and this blog going), I'm going to do things a bit differently for a little while - I watched the movies, but rather than the standard entry, I'll just do a little synopsis, a little imdb research, quote some of the reviews (can you do that?) and bounce off of them. Followed up by my general impressions.
Okay, thanks!
Dark Fields
Some teenagers are heading out to a rock concert one night. The route takes them along a long desolate stretch of road, and they run out of gas! Unfortunately, it's right next to a dark field where there is a maniacal killer, who does what killers do.
Granted this was an amateur effort, but that's still no excuse. An original idea may have been all that was needed to elevate this film above the level of "absurd".
-Thanks "willy2004" via imdb
Amateur effort is right. Dark Fields is obviously a low budget number (if the title font wasn't a giveaway)... but even still, it's bad news. You don't necessarily need an original idea, but if you're trying to do the same old slasher stuff, you at least have to execute. And sadly, Dark Fields brings nothing to the table in terms of fresh ideas or decent execution. For a horror movie there is startlingly little tension, the kills are incredibly weak, the killer is a bumbling idiot, and the whole thing looks like shit. willy2004 here goes with "absurd" to describe Dark Fields - I'd lean towards "awful" or "terrible."
I have no idea how this movie made it to Lion's Gate. Poor script, poor characters, poor dialogue, worst psychopath ever, no idea what happened to the driver of the car -- yet, this made it to the video store. Lion's Gate easily spent more money on packaging than it did on the movie.
-Thanks "romanwheat" via imdb
The fact that this even got released by a major studio is a bit baffling. I mean, I'm sure that it was made independently of Lionsgate and then they just bought it for distribution. And sure, maybe they made a couple of bucks on it, but it's an embarrassment to the brand. And while the "more money on the packaging than the movie" may sound a bit snarky, I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. If you came across Dark Field in a more traditional avenue of indie horror - or even if the box art warned you "beware - this is Low Budget" - you might be able to cut it a little more slack. (But not much - it's really bad by the most relaxed of standards.) But if you rented this thing or bought it based on the box? Oooof. You'd have every right to be pissed.
even in the beginning i was seriously wondering, did they even WATCH the scenes they edited? surely there had to be a better take.....
-Thanks "booyaachieved06" via imdb
I always get a kick out of movies where boom mics or lights sneak into the frame. Dark Fields does that one better by including a scene where you not only see the bulb lighting the scene, you can also see the guy's hand that is holding the light. Real nice, guys.
Dark Fields is just crappy.
I would definitely not recommend this film.
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