Dead Tone (2007)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

**SPOILER ALERT**The movie started out with a montage of a killing. It was edited with the opening credits. I'm not sure the reason behind this but it wasn't effective. It honestly annoyed me a bit.Fast-forwarding 10 years later the killer comes back to haunt the children that viewed the past murder. He begins stalking them. In one particular scene he watches them from across the street. This scene was poorly edited. When we are seeing the killer's point of view, its blue and blurry. The last time I saw anything lie this was in the beginning murder scene. I'm not sure the reasoning behind this. I think it was very redundant and unnecessary. On their way to the house, the students stop for a bathroom break. One if the students dresses like a clown and scares his friend in a bathroom stall. This is so cliché. Most slasher movies tend to do this. Later on after the killings, we come to find out one of the students was the killer and had a friend aiding him. This is a great plot twist. This was the only thing I enjoyed in the entire movie. The movie had a great concept behind it, but was poorly executed and had too many "cliche moments".

This is a very good film. High production values; good direction. There are really good scares and lots of tension. Plus there is a lot of gore throughout.It has a violent montage in the opening credits which seems a bit gonzo -- but it does grab your attention and works for the plot. It's odd, most reviewers are claiming this film is just a "Scream" rip-off. Not at all. It does have a twist that is almost identical to a famous 1981 slasher, but it is well updated and put to good use.Another oddity: reviewers are claiming the film has a bad script and/or bad acting. I don't get it. This film is well cast and the acting is really on the mark. As for the script -- it made perfect sense to me. No holes in it at all. One last note -- this film isn't a throw-back to the 80s. The film feels up to date. Gay characters aren't just there for comedic relief. The black characters are real, interesting and sympathetic. I think the film avoids clichés while still working within the constraints of the genre.I will definitely watch this film again.

"Dead Tone" opens with a group of young children making prank phone calls while their clueless parents party and carry on in the other room. With one of the phone calls, they reach a psychopath who isn't at all happy to be bothered with their childish banter. This puts a damper on their game and they decide to go to bed. A short time later, the telephone rings. When one of the kids wakes up to answer it, he is greeted by an axe-wielding psycho- path who proceeds to murder his parents and their friends. Flash forward 10 years to a group of college students who decide to spend the weekend at the rich jock's secluded mansion for some partying and sex. All is going well when, while drunk, they decide to make prank phone calls as a game. The rule: you must keep the person on the other end for at least 75 seconds. Needless to say, they (again) reach a psychopath who ends up showing up at the secluded house with his trust axe.The Good: "Dead Tone" is a slasher flick through and through. There is no lame attempt at comedy or self-referential moments. In fact, in resembles something that came straight from the 1980's, where slasher films were only interested in one thing: getting a bunch of teenagers together in an isolated setting and killing them off brutally. The killer, though a rip-off of the "Urban Legend" killer, is quite brutal and it doesn't take long to realize he means business. The production is top-notch and the acting is fairly decent (Rutger Hauer gives some credibility to the film). For the most part, the action is fast paced and there is no real boring parts. Once the killer arrives at the mansion, the killing and action doesn't let up. The Bad: The script is clichéd as all get out and I swear I have some some of the exact lines uttered in this film said in countless other slasher film. Additionally, the film is VERY formulaic--it is like the screenwriter and director took a cure from "How to Make A Slasher Film in Three Easy Steps." We are even subjected to the "let's stop at the creepy old gas stations where we can get a few false scares while one of the characters ventures into the incredibly filthy bathroom and the be warned by the equally filthy and creepy gas station attendant before we speed off a tad shaken" scene. Really, the filmmakers offered absolutely nothing new to the genre and, again, this film could really be a combination of about twenty five other slasher films I have seen lately. The ending is predictable and a tad silly and unbelievable. Oh, and the main blond girl isn't that great of an actress and is definitely the weak link in the cast.Overall: An entertaining 80's style slasher film that you just might enjoy if you go into it with no expectations. The action is brisk, there are some decent death scenes for gore hounds, and the production is nice. However, it is clichéd and you will roll your eyes at the predictably of some of the scenes, particularly the ending.Fright Meter Grade: C+

This was a fun and entertaining slasher with brutal and bloody slayings but it was extremely unoriginal with a lot of dumb characters running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The whole concept has been done to death now and it tried too hard to be like a film like Scream or Urban Legend and it ended up more like a weaker version of Valentine. This film looked like it was made in the 1990's and it should of been released in that era because it might of done better because that's when this type of film was hip but now it's just not that scary or that suspenseful I mean it just failed at it though there was a couple of jump scares here and there but they were cheap. In the end there wasn't anything clever about this slasher at all and they could of done a better job with their material but I guess they wanted to rip off slashers of the 90's, very uninspired and pointless in the end and they left it opened for a sequel but I say don't bother. Overall Dead Tone was dead as a doorknob, BRAINLESS! It was kind of fun though while it lasted but not much thrills can be found in this slasher. Skip it or watch it if you haven't seen any of the slashers of the 1990's. More of a 2.5 out of 5 stars.