Cookers (2001)

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Three junkies enter a derelict house in order to cook crystal meth. Soon they start sampling their own product and paranoia takes over. Or is there something spooky going on? Director (and DOP) Dan Mintz makes great use of the old boarded up house with its creaky floors and doors and where nary a ray of sunlight can enter. He also offers some effective jump scares, but it's the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere which makes this surprisingly strong horror film stand out for me. I also love that it offers only a hint of the paranormal and remains ambiguous until the end.Also worth mentioning is lead Brad Hunt who can act all kinds of nervous and paranoid and really gets under your skin.

I wasn't much of a horror/gore fan, but late one night, this movie converted me. Rescued from a $1.99 bin at a video store on Halloween, we fully expected this to be a standard, low-budget haunted house flick. It turned out to be so much more. Creepy and compelling, the film builds in tension with every frame and surrounds you with a constant feeling of dread. You just know something bad is going to happen, you just don't know when. Helped along by decent acting and some very clever audio design, there are a couple of scenes that should make your flesh crawl, a few that will surprise you, and some that will make you say "wait...was that reality or a hallucination?" Good movie for a late night fright or two.

Most low budget horror movies are pretty bad, hence the desire to watch a lot of them hoping to find the gem that publicity has overlooked. This is that gem.The storyline deals with a crew of methampetamine cookers who hole up in an old house to make drugs. Since this is a horror movie, the house must be haunted, and of course it is. That the plot is predictable doesn't take away from the entertainment; you might know what's coming, but the way it's presented is the enjoyable part here.The pacing, the story, the acting - all good. The way that tension was gradually ratcheted up throughout the film speaks well of the director. I especially enjoyed the brief hints that the people were not alone in the house, somewhat reminiscent of The Grudge, but not as blatant.You'll know how it's going to end, of course, and that's OK. Again, knowing doesn't detract from the movie in any way. The humor is understated, the horror is creepy, and the cast is entirely believable.

I wanted to like this movie, but many elements ruined it for me. The use of a fisheye lens throughout and choppy editing did not give me a sense of being in the world of the meth head, but it did make me think I was watching MTV for a few short moments. The movie never did seem to go anywhere and the acting was truly an excellent example of over acting. I love movies that give us a glimpse into the seedy underworld, but this film couldn't decide if it was a bad horror film or an even worse serious commentary on the horrors of addiction.