Hardcore Poisoned Eyes

This could have been a passable Blair Witch clone if it had taken more of a reality TV approach. Instead the contrived dialogue (sub-porno quality) made this film seem like something thrown together by some first year film students. None of them resembled anyone I remember in the 70's when this film supposedly took place....no one had hair treatments like that back then. I think the film maker and actors have a great future in amateur sex education video....you know - the kind where they try to portray kids that are supposed to be cool, but in reality nobody would ever say things like that.

The plot also flops on originality. It seems to play off the teens get drunk and goof off in a secluded house with maniac on the loose theme....sorry that went out in the 80's.

I actually got this movie by accident somehow and had never even heard of it before. When I first watch it I thought it was going to be a dull cheap movie. But as a matter of fact it was actually quite impressive for a little independent horror flick. Three careless girls seek a house in the woods to spend their long weekend. One night they begin to experience a terrifying encounter who is known as Mr Crowly as the three girls not realize that the house they are staying in belongs to a satanic cult plotting to cause mayhem around the world. Overall there are great performances from both characters and actors. It was a cast of four people. And a great plot all filmed by a hand-held camera under the direction of Sal Ciavarelo. I wouldn't say that Hardcore is a scary movie but it is creepy as Hell. I give it 7 out of 10.

I was sent a screener of this film from the director and I wasn't expecting much from the movie, but it was actually pretty good. It had an interesting premise and there was a lot of interesting topics brought up about religion in this film.

It's pretty slow through most of it to set the character and mood, then really picks up towards the end. It's not necessarily scary, but it's a horror film on its own. The director has great potential and I'm looking forward to more of his work.

I found this film hidden in a 12-disc collection of low budget horror films. I usually watch these things for humor value and expect no form of decent acting or storyline. This one was however rather complete and devoid of the usual trappings of the typical B (or C) movie. The three characters are well developed and believable. The storyline actually makes sense and the religious comments throughout are thought-provoking at times. If you have about 90 minutes to kill and have this flick handy, it's definitely worth the time to watch. I liked it well enough to watch it again. I hope to see more from this crew in the future. Good job.

I first heard about this film a long time ago. I can't remember how but I remember it had glowing reviews and that it was in the style of the Blair Witch Project.

Well, it's NOT in the style of BWP. Yes, there are 3 youths out in the woods being stalked by an unseen psycho but they never acknowledge the presence of the camera because it's not that kind of movie.

Three girls Sarah, Ellie and Angelique go to Angelique's grandfather's cabin out in the wilderness for a weekend of boozing it up. But Angelique has a hidden motive. She's there to go through her grandfather's notes and find out who murdered him and why. It turns out he may have been murdered by a group of hardcore satanists. And when one of the girls makes a prank call to the leader (one Aleister Crowley the man who apparently did zillions of black magic rituals in Boleskin House up at Loch Ness) all hell literally breaks loose.

Their car vanishes, a man in a cloak is seen standing before the trees in the distance and sinister notes are shoved under the door. Sal Ciavarello does create a good amount of tension and mystery but the cheapness almost kills some of the big scares. Some of the chase scenes and especially the ending are just plain confusing because it's cut too fast and shot too darkly. He does however make up for it in sheer brazenness.

It's one of those films where what you don't see is scarier than giving us a full-blown monster (like BWP). However, I personally wanted to see more of the villain.

Most cheap horror films force the characters to do stupid things and foolishly walk into obviously dangerous situations on their own in order to get slashed. HPE does not do this. The girls are forced to spew out hate for religion and their nerves send them almost crazy.

Sal Ciavarello is guilty of cramming way too many ideas into a 90-minute film though. I would like to see this remade with a bigger budget and stronger technical skill. Much like El Cheapo El Mariachi became the much bigger and livelier Desperado.

The DVD of this film is IMPOSSIBLE to find. I managed to hunt down a copy and while it's not a film I would watch again it does make a change from junk like I Forgot What You Did 7 Summers Ago 50, 000, 000.