User reviews

Mediocre warmed over torture-porn that isn't particularly awful, it's competent enough. But it's not that compelling I lost interest far before the boring little grue-fest movie ended. Some of the cast had been in much better genre film, Angela Bettis in the much superior "May" and Titus in the cult classic "Killer Klowns from Outer Space", both of which are much more worthy of your valuable time than this dreary number.

In the interest of full disclosure, seeing this on Netflix, it obviously wasn't the 3-D version, but I strongly feel it wouldn't affect my scoring of the movie that much

Eye Candy: Kristin Kowalski gets topless

I just realize that my title/summary could be confused with my rating. It wasn't my intention. Originally I would've given the movie a 5/10, but in the end (of the movie), I was more disappointed by the opportunities it missed, than the not so bad 3-D things it had (although once you watch a 3-D movie in an IMAX theater, there's nothing that can compare to that experience).

The movie is standard horror fare, so to speak, with some nice actors (some beautiful, some talented). I even liked the fact, that the movie didn't try to squeeze a big 3-D moment from every scene. It would have annoyed me. On the other hand, I heard people complain, that it didn't really make much of it's 3-D. So there you go, two sides of a coin. Depends on which side you will look then.

Truly shocking indeed, but for all the wrong reasons. Bad acting, poor plot ( clearly lifted from the likes of Saw, Hostel and Halloween and a whole load of others ) plot holes galore, diabolical script, the direction lacks originality and far too much use of colour filters in a desperate attempt to add " effect ". The special effects were not too bad, but for all the reasons mentioned I felt distracted. The ending was nothing short of an episode of Scooby Doo. Throughout the entire film my partner and I just laughed, rolled our eyes in despair and exclaimed " Oh as if ".

Thank God for " Hillside Cannibals " otherwise this would have been THE worst film I've ever seen.

I saw the 3D version of this movie in a Belgian theater last week. I did not expect anything special of this movie, but it was 3D, and the last time I experienced that, was in Eurodisney. So I thought it would be cool. Unfortunately the 3D didn't work out very well. Maybe the glasses weren't good enough. Anyway.

The movie has some cool new gore effects. Some effects that are really nasty to watch and twisted to even think of. The girls are nice to watch but unfortunately, this film is just another Hostel inspired teen movie. At the end there are some typical "no-one believes me" and "I did it because of blah blah blah". I don't know why this movie is shown in theaters. It's descent enough for straight to DVD.

To bad. This had potential

While driving to her hometown Ovid, Colorado, to visit her brother and local sheriff Jeff (Christopher Titus) and her niece Olympia (Kirby Bliss Blanton), Joan Burrows (Angela Bettis) recalls her traumatic experience with her best friend Susie (Tegan Moss) when they were teenagers. Joan (Brittney Wilson) and Susie are smoking pot in the cemetery and decide to snoop the caretaker Bishop (Ben Cotton) in the funeral home. Joan falls and hurts her knee, and Bishop invites the girls to enter in the house to clean the wound. Sooner they are sedated with chloroform and submitted to a cruel torture in a sick game where Bishop tells each girl to ask to kill the other to stop the suffering. When a copycat killer kills Olympia's friends, Joan tells the police officers that Bishop is back but nobody believes in her words. When Olympia is abducted, Officer Lucas (Chris Nannarone) actually believes that Joan has abducted her niece and might be the serial-killer.

"Scar" is an impressively gore and sadistic horror movie that follows the style of "Hostel" or "Saw". The story is reasonably well developed through flashbacks, but it is not difficult to guess the identity of the killer; the predictability is due to the few numbers of characters. I am a fan of the cult actress Angela Bettis, but in general the acting is good, highlighting Ben Cotton and Devon Graye. The special effects and make-up seems to be great, but I saw the DVD without the 3-D glasses and the image was completely blurred. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Scar – A Marca do Mal" ("Scar – The Mark of the Evil")

This umpteenth entry in the successful trend of Torture Porn cinema definitely succeeds in being one of the most nauseating, stomach-upsetting and sickening pieces of trash I've ever seen, but – as expected – it's also very little else than that. I presume the creators were so focused on surpassing the gore level of "Hostel" and "Saw" that they simply didn't have any time left to put some thoughts into the script. The story is mundane and predictable; with a laughably implausible finale and certain plot holes so gigantic you could drive a bobsled through them. Still, "Scar" is nonetheless a fast-paced and occasionally very unsettling thriller and – as said – the accomplishments in the gore department most certainly justify at least the price of a rental DVD. Angela Bettis, the oddly attractive horror starlet of "May" and "Toolbox Murders", stars as a mentally and physically scarred woman who returns to her hometown to celebrate the graduation of her niece. She left the place, understandably, after she narrowly survived an encounter with a deranged serial killer at the tender age of seventeen. The psychopath ran the local funeral home and practiced his sickest fantasies on Joan and her best friend; who didn't survive the ordeal. Now, all these years later, the little town is once again faced with a series of brutal murders and the police assume Joan's return isn't coincidental. Has she really become a copycat killer of her own assailant or has the original killer risen from the grave? While the plot of the new serial killer unfolds, we gradually learn about Joan's grueling experience as a teenager through short but powerfully morbid flashbacks. These flashbacks are undoubtedly the highlight sequences of the film, since they feature Ben Cotton as the lunatic mortician and a whole series of truly nasty & engrossing images of torture and mutilation. Some of this stuff is even really difficult to look at – whether with or without 3D goggles – like the tongue removal or the toe-cutting scene. Obviously this is a very derivative and highly unoriginal movie, as you've seen this at least two dozen times before in only the past five years or so, but that's hardly a reason why you should check "Scar" out to begin with. The gore is astounding and, admittedly, there are some nice and unexpected positive details in the script. For example, the present day teenage characters, most notably Joan's niece Olympia and her closest friends, are surprisingly likable and non-stereotypical girls that you don't like to see butchered.

During the intro credits we learn from newspaper headlines that a bunch of teens were killed by a mad mortician. In the present, a woman named Joan with a nasty scar on her face visits her family. In flashbacks we find out how she ended up scarred. As a teen girl she and a friend of hers ended up spying around a funeral house. They got caught and were invited in by the mortician to whom young Joan is attracted. The mortician is indeed twisted and has the girls play a nasty little torture game. He will keep mutilating one girl until she begs him to stop and kill the other girl instead.

Back in the present, the town is celebrating all sorts of festivities. Suddenly some of the teens, friends of Joan's niece Olympia, start disappearing. Joan keeps having nightmares, memories, flashbacks of the mad mortician. She has a hunch that things are not as the appear, it feels all too familiar, even though the funeral home is now turned into a horror museum. Olympia in the meantime is falling for a shy guy; her father is the town's sheriff. Joan gets herself in trouble with the law as she turns up at the scenes of the crimes just as law enforcement arrives. Because she keep investigating, she eventually finds herself yet again involved in the torture game.

This movie is quite outstanding compared to most formulaic and sanitized horror flicks. There are really two stories here, that could have made for 2 movies. The story taking place in the past, which is also the more interesting one, is focused more on the horror and gore, and it's pretty horrific stuff. It also stands out because of Brittney Wilson's excellent performance. She plays young Jane, is a very cute girl, and gives one of the best victim performances I've seen. Her screams and cries of agony are very believable. Kirby Bliss Blanton performance as Olypmia, in turn, makes the story taking place in the present interesting. The director is particularly good in portraying teenage dialogue and relationships.

This movie does not look good though, the coloring, mostly yellow/brown, is gimmicky, distracting, and pointless- it makes things look unreal instead of making the torture seem real. Sounds is excellent. The story and the twists were good. This isn't just about torture for torture's sake. There are some interesting death scenes- my favorite a death using some vacuuming device used by morticians that is plunged into a living persons abdomen, to well, suck out their guts. Other effects are very well done and realistic, not CGI, fortunately. I'm not so thrilled about the casting of Angela Bettis. She in a way is suited for the part of the troubled and traumatized victim. But when she's on screen, things become less interesting and watchable.

This movie stands out because of a good and rich story, some great performances by attractive girls, realistic gore effects, and a welcome cruder and bloodier approach to horror. Highly recommended.

Lets just say I won't be leaping out of my seat and saying this is the most awesome movie ever, although I did like the movie and it did have a few unnerving scenes that were tough to look at especially if you're squeamish, what I mainly don't like is that its just another addition to the ever popular torture porn trend, if you look at films like SAW & HOSTEL, this will pretty much seem like a by the numbers gore fest, that doesn't offer anything new except a collection of gore and some painful torture scenes, which are painful actually.

The concept itself is pretty good, there was definitely a lot of potential there, and the acting was above par for a film of this standard.

Its good because it certainly has the concept, but in fact its not that great because if you know SAW & HOSTEL, which I'm sure every horror fan knows, this one will feel pretty much by the numbers.

The rating I gave this movie may not tell it, but the premise of this movie was excellent. The execution of it was awful. The 2 rating should give you a hint of just how poorly this movie was done if I'm admitting that they had a good concept.

In 1991 a man named Ernie Bishop (Ben Cotton) captured two girls, tied them up and forced them to play a game. The game was: "If you want me to stop torturing you say 'kill her'" (i.e. kill the other captured girl). It is quite sinister and quite clever if you think about it. He doesn't ever kill anyone unless he has permission from the other captive. 15 years later mutilated bodies are popping up in the small town of Ovid and Joan (Angela Bettis) believes it's Ernie Bishop again.

But let's talk about the execution of this movie because I have many complaints--though I will limit them to a few. From the beginning it had a T.V. movie feel to it--the cinematography, the sound, the sound track, the editing, the effects and the acting. It was all around a cheap production. Even as cheap as the production was I think they could've pulled it off with better acting (I know, I know, the acting is a byproduct of being low budget) and a tighter story.

Throughout the movie we kept getting exposition through flashbacks from the main character, Joan. It was done to show how she narrowly escaped a serial killer and how she got her "scar". I put "scar" in quotes because it was barely noticeable. Never mind that it was significantly smaller than it should've been, but when they did bring attention to it the 15 year old scar looks days old. I mean, it's still red!

Just to expound upon Angela Bettis and the job she did-- I hope they didn't pay her too much. She was very much the anti-heroine. The non-make up wearing, perpetually confused looking actress looked like she belonged in a methadone clinic. I know they were trying to sell us on the effects of her traumatic experience but it was all too convenient. You know, the one character that's paranoid and happens to be right--that was her.

The exposition is all to set us up for what's happening in present day Ovid. Again, because of the obvious low budget the bloody scenes still took on a sanitized look. They weren't gritty like a "Hostel" or other films. It was more or less blood neatly placed or spattered around to give the effect of gore.

Combine the low budget look and feel to the movie with the contrived methods used to push the story along and you get a low rating. There were some ridiculous events in this movie that were absurd even for a horror movie. It says a lot about your movie when you can make "Friday the 13th" look believable.

Angela Bettis of "May" fame stars as a woman who returns home for her niece's graduation.There her haunted past resurfaces and the serial killer whom she thought she years ago killed once and for all is out to make her life living hell.This 3D/HD horror thriller is very bloody and gruesome.There are some graphic torture scenes of teenage girls that made me cringe.The script is utterly ridiculous and the film is clearly influenced by "Saw" and "Hostel".The identity of killer comes across as laughable.There are some huge lapses in logic and several young characters are downright annoying.Angela Bettis is pretty much wasted in this mediocre flick.5 out of 10.

I enjoyed watching Scar in 3D. While driving to her hometown Ovid, Colorado,to visit her brother and local sheriff Jeff and her niece Olympia, Joan Burrows recalls her experience with her best friend Susie when they were teenagers. Joan and Susie are smoking pot in the cemetery and decide to look for the caretaker Bishop in the funeral home. Joan falls and hurts her knee, and Bishop invites the girls to enter in the house to clean the wound. Soon they are sedated with chloroform and submitted to a cruel torture in a sick game where Bishop tells each girl to ask to kill the other to stop them suffering. Olympia, friends have the same happen to them. The film is full of gory moments with teeth wrenched out, and tongues removed. I felt the 3D version of the film was quite good.

A cop gets murdered in his own car, then the killer breaks into the house, kills the other cop, kidnaps the niece, and even waits to be seen by Joan across the street, and the other cops still can't figure out who it is. Classic plot involving idiot cops, stealthy killer, and falsely accused underdog...until she ends up solving the whole thing.

I was putting this movie off due to the low ratings on IMDb and I was quite surprised on how much I did enjoy this. The main reason I watched this was for Christopher Titus ( Who I found from comedy specials ) and was interested in seeing him in a horror movie let alone play a serious person. He did a great job playing Jeff and I was very impressed how he went from funny to serious in this movie. Although I figured out the killer pretty early on I still enjoyed this movie. I do love violence and gore so that might be why but I did like the actors/actresses as well. All in all great movie. I give "Scar" an 8 out of 10.

~Joe

Maybe it's because I share a birthday with Angela Bettis but I tend to like things she's in more than a lot of people.

Whatever the reason (secretly I think it's the gore factor) I enjoy this movie.

If you're after great acting then this isn't the place however I really like the story.

Not for those with a weak constitution.

"Scar" is a Crime - Horror movie in which we watch a woman returning to her hometown after a long time since she was kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer who also killed her best friend. She soon finds out that something strange is happening and her dark memories return too.

I did not have high expectations from this movie and I was sure that I am not going to be disappointed by it but I was wrong. "Scar" is a truly bad movie and watching it was a waste of my time. If you want to watch a horror movie then do not watch this one because it is boring, it has poor interpretations and many plot holes. I am sure that you can find other horror movies far better than this.

Whoever initiated the irritating trend of desaturated colours in horror films should be strung up by their genitalia and flogged until dead by a rabid, hunchbacked dwarf: the muted palette, which has become a cliché in itself, seriously robs some films of their impact.

Take Scar, for example, a 3D 'torture porn' film which revels in its gore and nastiness and yet reduces all that lovely blood to a colourless mess; how could any sane film-maker make such a dreadful decision? (there are scenes that I would swear had been shot in black and white if it wasn't for the occasional almost subliminal watery hue).

Other than this very noticeable and pointless absence of colour, Scar is actually a lot of fun; the theme might be derivative, the plot full of gaping holes and contrivance, and the benefit of an extra dimension questionable, but the likable cast and the relentless sadistic violence easily outweigh these negatives.

Teenage honeys Kirby Bliss Blanton, Monika Mar-Lee, Brittney Wilson, and Tegan Moss, in particular, all deserve a special mention for their convincing performances as the victims of some exceptionally cringe-inducing torture, including razor blade slicing of the sole, stapling of the flesh, and tongue removal. These gruelling scenes are what Scar is all about, and they don't disappoint—it's just a shame that they couldn't have been in colour!

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Scar (2007): Slasher/Serial Killer flick.As a teen Joan was abducted and tortured by a serial killer who murdered her friend. She returns to her hometown to attend her niece's graduation but the killings begin again, body pops up in a a lake during the Town's Fish Festival. More teens go missing and Joan becomes a suspect. Typical incompetent cops. The film cuts between Joan as a teen and the present day. Really disturbing torture scenes. Not just stabbing but being drained of blood (takes place in a funeral home). Some interesting plot twists. Directed by Jack Weintrob & written by Zack Ford. On the Horror Channel. 6/10.