Genres

Visitors Review

charlytully 2012-05-20 06:59:02

Cannot top even a free TV show episode

There was an episode on "CSI--New York" during the past month with avery similar plot to RED HOOK. Despite having just an ad-shortened 38minutes or so to work with, CSI-NY's Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and hiscrew got about five times as much accomplished entertainment-wise asthe bumbling New York City police detective Lt. Tom Fox (Terrence Mann)and the rest of the RED HOOK cast managed to provide in 85 minutes.It's a sad commentary when an "unrated" feature film--where presumablyanything goes--comes off as duller and less sexy than a prime-timenetwork TV offering on a similar subject. While RED HOOK is billed as ahorror flick, it's a sure fire bet to put the viewer to sleep morequickly than a CBS police procedural aimed as bed-time fare for the 60-to 90-year-old demographic. Gavin (Tate Ellington), the perverter of alame Welcome Week scavenger hunt for the RED HOOK collegians, offsabout half the campus, with less a sense of plausible threat than thatcreated in just a few seconds of screen time by the twisted frat pledgemaster in the CSI episode, whose game playing is intended to kill noone. RED HOOK may spray a little crimson fake blood, but it offerslittle to hook the horror buff's attention.

Scarecrow-88 2012-05-19 15:00:38

Red Hook

A scavenger hunt is concocted by an annoying guidance counselor, andit's only when her beau ends up supposedly kidnapped and in danger thata paranoid, Jenny(Christina Brucato), who saw her sister stabbedrepeatedly by a killer posing as a cop, will join in on thefestivities, looking for clues in New York City with other participantswho reluctantly join in the hopes of winning a pair of White Stripestickets. What seems like a harmless game turns deadly as a psychopathstarts plunging his knife into the bodies of the college kids, withJenny not only worried for her own life, but of Gavin(TateEllington)and her fellow students as well. The scavenger hunt itselfseems like a novel idea, but it takes so long to set up the scenariothat I imagine many slasher fans will find it intolerable andfrustrating. So much of the film is dedicated to the Gavin and Jennyromance, and the scavenger hunt itself doesn't get particularly bloodyuntil well over and hour. I think the film's plus is that the castisn't too bad. Brucato and her new lesbian friend Deena(FrankieShaw)actually have good chemistry together(..the film seems to flirtwith the idea of a possible intimacy, but, sadly, nothing ever comes ofit, although Deena does attempt to kiss Jenny, interrupted byPaula(Karla Mosley), concerned about her boyfriend Higginbotham(DecargoSanyal)). Bryan Fenkart is the insufferable Tim, who is so pleased withhow he designed the hunt, yet has a really hard time getting others topartake. Hollis Scarborough is a wannabe drama actress, AnGela(shereally stresses the "GEL" in her name), whose love for her craft tendsto make her a bit of off-putting. Other characters include Roy(AlexBrightman), Chappy(Brian J Smith), and blond hottie slutCamille(Karissa Staples)..they service the plot as extra fodder for thepsycho in a hoody. The movie has those scenes where cell phones don'twork and characters get out of the car when a suspicious sound is heardon the outside. To the film's credit, there are moments of potentultra-violence through the vicious use of the knife, such as when thekiller guts one victim like a fish, and plants it in the mouth ofanother who attempts to cry out(not to mention the murder sequencewhere the knife goes through the victim's head and out her throat).Ultimately, "Red Hook" is simply just another slasher which willeventually find itself darkening the back of a rental store on some DVDshelf with all the others collecting dust. The identity of the killerwill come as no surprise to anyone, I imagine, unless you are totallyclueless, and the reasoning behind such heinous acts leaves much to bedesired. Bottom line, "Red Hook" is bland, mediocre, and forgettable.

Paul Haakonsen 2012-05-17 18:59:24

Slow, so very very slow

Don't let the nice cover of the movie fool you! This movie is somewhatof a disappointment.The story is slow moving, but will get you there eventually. There aretimes where the story becomes stale and brings down the flow of themovie. The plot is somewhat interesting, but it fails to shine throughgiven the slow speed and lack of thrills throughout the movie.Some of the good things in the movie were some of the killing scenes,that they were actually adequate to look at. Also, despite having asuper predictable story, there is a brief moment of interest when thereason for what is happening becomes revealed. But nothing to get youchoked on your popcorn.I found most of the acting to be adequate, which helped me actually sitthrough the entire movie. But this movie is definitely not a movie thatyou will watch again once seen it. I do not recommend that you pick upthis movie if you are looking for a good horror or thriller.

2012-05-16 22:59:48

So much better then the usual crappy horror that I have watched recently!!

I thought this movie had a decent plot, and kept you interested in what was going to happen next. In the past few months I have seen the worst of Hollywood, and indies have to offer and I say this movie tried and succeeded in being interesting, keeping my attention, and did not have me yelling at my television demanding my money back!=o)

2012-05-14 22:33:58

Its not so bad

By no means is this on my list of favorite horror movies, but it wasn't bad. It is fairly predictable but I didn't feel like it was a waste of time. The film quality is okay, the acting has some hits and misses, and there are a couple of good kills. The DVD cover is more menacing than the actual movie, but if you keep your expectations low, you might like this one.

Heislegend 2012-05-14 16:33:44

Punching you in the face with suck

Wow...just...wow. I don't even know where to start with this movie. Itwas just so, so bad. Have you even sat down and thought to yourself "Ilike the idea of slasher movies, but can't they make one thatimpossibly boring and pointless?". If you have, this is your lucky day.Then again, you also might consider professional help.Nothing about this movie stands out as good. The acting is fine, butthat's about it. Stalker movies are a dime a dozen so to make yoursstand out you should probably add something at least slightly originalto it. Or at least make the kills cool. Or do something...ANYTHING...tokeep me from nodding off during it. Alas, Red Hook does not do any ofthese things. The story is horribly put together and boring and there'snothing original going on. Hell, even the kills are extremely lame.Also, I know it's not the movie's fault, but why in the world does IMDbhave this listed as a comedy first and a horror second? It's not reallyeither, but definitely not a comedy. It's just plain awful.

2012-05-10 08:54:19

Good, but nothing I haven't seen before

Red Hook is, at best, a watchable Scream, I know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, type slasher movie, with a few flaws. I was surprised Red Hook was only 120 mins. in length, because I felt like it was 2 hours at the most. I was already thinking that they should've edited out the prolonged character/victim intros and just cut to the start of the scavenger hunt. It just dragged out even more when you already knew who the killer was (Yeah, I figured it out before the killing started, just like the rest of you). But the acting is good, the kill scenes are effective, though lacking any real "guts" for any respectable gore hound and has nice little pop soundtrack. Not really a bad effort, but just watchable, nothing memorable. The makers of Red Hook should really use this film as something to look back on, note the flaws, and if they're filming any more slasher films, improve on it if they desire to be successful in this already overstretched genre.

sol 2012-05-09 23:35:00

Game of Death

***SPOILERS*** Over the top slasher flick that besides it's deep red aswell as other garish color photography also skillfully juxtaposes theaction in the film on a New York City Subway map much like the 1979inner city cult classic "The Warriors".Jenny has never gotten over the brutal murder of her big sister back inNorth Carolina when she was 10 years old and developed a serious caseof agoraphobia because of it. It's now ten years later when Jenny isnow about to attend New York University she's obligated to go on ascavenger hunt with her fellow classmates as some kind of collageinitiation rite. Being text-ed and e-mailed by her student instructorTim on clues that would lead Jenny and her fellow collage classmate tothe pot of gold, or free White Stripe concert tickets, at the end ofthe rainbow that as it turns out happens to be the Red Hook section ofBrooklyn.What at first looked like a fun walk in the park or city later turnedout to be fatal for almost all the students participating in thisscavenger hunt. The fact is that the students who participate in thisscavenger hunt will not end up winning any of its prizes but end upbecoming victims of it! Victims of a deranged psycho who has it in foranyone who didn't go through the sufferings in life that he did. And toeven the score he's to make sure that everyone participating in thishunt will not come out of it not only with the free White Strip concerttickets but with their lives as well!It's not until well into the movie that Jenny & Co. finally realizethat their being targeted for murder by very probably the person who'sgiving them the clues, by cell phone text massages and photos, thatleading them straight to their own murders not to the free concerttickets! The blood letting never lets up with almost all the studentsending up butchered by the faceless psycho killer with Jenny for somestrange reason seemingly immune to his wild and murderous rampages!That's until Det.Fox from back in North Carolina who's been hired byJenny's parents to look after her safety uncovers who the killer isjust before he adds Jenny to his long list of murder victims.