Crazy Eights (2006)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Very Cool!!!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Much like "Unrest", "Crazy Eights" is the same thing currently oversaturated in big-budget horror and something that shouldn't be showing at a horror festival. I would've thought the people hosting it would have the sense to instead show something with imagination and ambition behind it, not some concept produces every other month.Some old friends reunite after the death of one of their own. On request of the dead man they journey to somewhere they buried a time capsule, which they dig up.While trying to leave, they seemingly travel in circles, passing the same house again and again. It's similar to the spacial distortion trick commonly found in haunted house films except they haven't entered a haunted house yet. Additionally, the mandatory "no way out" scenario provides the only other haunted building tradition.And then, well, people stumble about, jump scares will substitute for attempts at atmosphere, and a ghostly woman goes around killing anyone who - sorry, there's no "anyone who", she kills people she's intending to murder, but takes longer to murder them than you'd expect. Seriously, they can't hurt her - lets not forget, she's a spirit! And they're locked in the building through her powers so therefore, nothing's really stopping her from slaughtering everyone very quickly.Of course the ghost's past becomes relevant. Of course the opening scene involves people studying a subject important to the plot. Apparently someone forgot to write one of the characters as a skeptic who doesn't believe a spirit could be killing, but don't worry, people will have other things to be skeptical about as the plot progresses.Jump scares cause most problems here because while normally a poor replacement for atmosphere, for "Crazy Eights" lacking atmosphere leaves viewers watching people sitting in a room while daylight pours through the windows talking about how there's no escape. The building refusing its captives an escape route is a commonly used idea, no atmosphere means the building comes across as nothing more than some building.If it was some big budget Hollywood film this would get four stars on account of its what I expect from them. However it's a horror festival selectee and whoever runs Afterdark should've known better. Higher expectations equals lower rating therefore.

Don't watch this movie if you love special-effects driven gory horror movies. it is far more subtle than that.Six friends, who seem to remember little about their childhoods except that they were all on a baseball team together (the "Crazy Eights" of the title) reunite for the funeral of one of their members. they discover the secrets that they have been blocking out, and why all of them have been having nightmares, and how these nightmares and their pasts all tie together. interesting premise, but so much more is given here.the directing was perfect -- lighting, music, pacing, lack of showy special effects, it all served to build an excellent new take on the "haunted house" or "amnesia" style of plots. but the very pacing that makes it scary is a turnoff for people expecting a fast-paced Hollywood horrorfest. it's much more like a foreign horror movie, where technique matters over showiness. if you thought that "A Tale of Two Sisters" was scarier than its remake "The Uninvited," this is the movie for you.

I got sucked into this by people who said it was scary and a good psychological thriller.I must have missed the scary parts because it just didn't have any. I heard screaming, but there wasn't anything there.The background music was very good and helped to set the tone, but nothing else delivered on that setting.None of the actors did any work to impress me. It seems as if they were just collecting a check for a weekend of work.I love the After dark films, but this is probably the worst one I have seen.

In a classic Old Dark House situation, a bunch of people are trying to find out what they have in common. Slowly a memory returns of something they tried to forget. And it's terrible enough to be lethal. Kudos to the camera department: there are great shots of faces in the shadow while light comes from behind, this is a good technical means to symbolize the psychological destruction of the individual, yet it's not overdone. The music often consists of slowly rising and fading synthesizer pads, deliberately creating an atmosphere of time standing still while it is impossible for anyone to get out of the house. "Crazy Eights" is neither something completely new (if you saw some Japanese movies recently), nor a masterpiece, but it captivated me for the whole running time and I can't say anything bad about it.Fortunately I decided to rent the DVD by chance, i.e. without reading any reviews first. That would have told me little about the movie, but a lot about horror movie reception in the 2000s. So, if no maniac with a chainsaw jumps at you every 2-3 minutes, a movie is "badly paced", "slow", "boring", "lame" and so it goes on and on. Oh my. Thankfully, many directors get into the movie business who have other intentions than just the body-count.