The Crooked Man

Saw 'The Crooked Man', being fond of horror regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'The Crooked Man' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Crooked Man' is a great film (mediocre actually) because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'The Crooked Man' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected.

The setting is effectively spooky. Initially, there are spooky and suspenseful moments, it isn't dull, and the storytelling in the first half does intrigue.

However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.

Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense (where there is barely any of either), scares could have been more consistent (again nowhere near enough) and some weren't surprising enough and had no atmosphere, the over-obvious sound not helping.

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a fair bit of cheese and blandness going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. There is very little menace to the villain, the direction is phoned and generally the acting is subpar with Michael Jai White being little more than a barely used commercial device seemingly.

Overall, mediocre. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This is a pretty bad movie. Bad acting, bad CG effects and plot holes so big you can stick your head in them. However, the effects on the Crooked Man itself were pretty creepy and there were a few gory death scenes here and there. And I could've looked past the subpar acting if the movie had a creepy atmosphere or brought something new to the monster genre. I still can't rate it lower than a 5 because I can tell the people involved in this film were trying very hard to whip up something genuinely scary. And I have a soft spot for horror flicks that make me laugh more than gasp.

So, if you don't mind a laughably bad movie with a decently creepy-looking monster, I'd say give this a watch. And as a horror buff, I'm glad I saw this.

This is truly the worst movie I've ever seen. I feel bad for the actors, the writing is so bad it's painful every time someone speaks. The storyline is directionless and plain boring. Don't waste an and hour and a half on this.

"The Crooked Man" has got to be one of the worst horror movies I've ever sat through. The storyline felt weak and uninspired, and the special effects were terrible, so noticeably bad that they constantly pulled me out of the experience. The characters were flat, and the acting didn't help either. Honestly, there was nothing remotely scary or engaging about it. If you're looking for a good horror flick, you'd be better off skipping this one altogether. It's a waste of time and does no justice to the genre. Even background noise would've been a better use of my time than watching this mess unfold.

So toward the start of the movie, one girls asks, "Have you heard about the song that kills you if you sing it?" Hmm... substitute "video" for "song" and "watch" for "sing," and you have a used premise. And the Crooked Man himself bears a striking resemblance to another legendary figure that kills people. There IS something of a plot here-kids unwittingly unleash an evil force, it kills a bunch of people until the protagonists (this is NOT a spoiler alert) figure out a way to stop it, and then they do. Somehow, the fact that the production values are pretty good and the cast is adequate makes this even more frustrating.

I'm glad Michael Jai White made some pocket change for his blink-and-you-might-miss-it appearance. But they really didn't give him much to do. He didn't even take his shirt off.

(Well, I was at home with a cold, and it let me pass two hours without having to think. That's my excuse. If you watch this movie, what's yours?)