Plasterhead (2006)

Sadly Over-hyped

Excellent but underrated film

A Masterpiece!

The acting in this movie is really good.

The main characters had so many opportunities to just walk away and avoid the Plasterhead boogie man in this film. And, yet, they didn't. Of course, if they had, there would be no film. But, screenwriters have to do better than this. They need to inject a reason that the innocent cannot escape.I had high hopes for this effort, but it was extremely disappointing.Now, about that atlas: We're told that the disfigured villain was an over-the-road trucker on his way from Maine to Florida when he stopped in this town for a beer.But, the movie is set in West Virginia! How lost was the trucker?Reference is made to "Highway 95." Well, Interstate 95 would be the logical, direct route from Maine to Florida... but it doesn't come remotely close to West Virginia.Mistakes like this just shouldn't happen. It takes astute viewers out of the movie entirely.You'd be wise to stay out of this motion picture, too.

All you have to do is go to Netflix to see just how many god-awful horror films there are that were made in the last 10 years. It seems that every loser with a video camera seems to think he's John Carpenter. While this is no masterpiece, PLASTERHEAD still manages to create a good deal of low-key suspense in the first half, during which we rarely get a glimpse of the murderous Plasterhead. (In that, the film is very much like a lot of 1950's "monster" movies, where budgetary limitations almost dictated that the "creature" not be shown until halfway through {or later}). Since this is obviously a low-budget film, the filmmakers were wise to use this approach.Some other reviewers of this film have commented on how bad the acting is. The "teenagers" in the film are pretty raw and unpolished in their overly-dramatic performances, but you'll see plenty worse in this genre. And there's at least one really good performance by Gerard Adimondo as the local lawman. He's easily the best element of the film and one wishes the screenwriters had developed his "back story" better because he is the most interesting character in the film. From his first few minutes on film, one can sense that he is a conscientious lawman but there is something dark about the character. All of that is conveyed in the actor's performance: Adimondo is terrific.The film runs out of gas (and ideas) near the end, but that's not unusual for this genre. As for those "critics" who complained about the characters' accents -- Give me a break. This isn't Shakespeare!! All in all, PLASTERHEAD is an enjoyable, low-budget film, though it's far from a genre classic.

A group of friends on their way to Miami for Christmas break take a backwoods detour to avoid highway traffic. There, in middle-of-nowhere West Virginia, the friends run afoul of a faceless murderer who roams the woods looking for unaware victims.Using a tired old story with the typically undertalented cast, and the typically low-quality audio & video, and the typically subpar script. However, even without these three important components, a film can still find a way to be, at least, entertaining. Look at all the great B-movies that have come out over the years. They still hold an enjoyability factor that goes unmatched by 'quality' cinema. While Plasterhead doesn't have the same entertainment value that most of the classic B-movies have, it's still relatively watchable compared to other films in its category. Also, compared to those films, the direction & cinematography are both fairly well done. The film has a nice mix of comedy spread throughout, most of it unintentional. For instance, the biggest mystery of the film would be trying to figure out all of the continuity errors. Snow disappears and reappears (creepy!). Waitresses give out wrong orders. A house that's sat empty for a period of time is in perfect shape, extremely clean, and (best of all) has hot running water. Much of the story makes little sense. The killer randomly goes around murdering townies (who are still IN TOWN and not in the scary woods), even though he never does that. I mean, town's safe, that's why they moved there, right? Well, unless you're just innocently drinking in the local bar, that is. It's not a good film. At all. In fact, it's pretty bad. But, there are enough reasonably okay elements that make it good for a watch. Or, you can watch it for the really bad elements and have a few laughs. Either way, it's entertaining enough, but I still wouldn't recommend it.Obligatory Slasher Elements:Violence/Gore: There are some cool kills (I particularly liked the barbed-wire one(s)), and the gore's not too bad-looking.Sex/Nudity: There's a bit of unimpressive nudity at the beginning, but that's all.Cool Killer(s): I liked the idea. It's nothing new, just a deformed man seeking vengeance for being deformed. But, faceless and disgusting? Cool.Scares/Suspense: Eh, I didn't even find many good jump scares, let alone any quality suspense.Mystery: Not really any at all.Awkward Dance Scene: Ah, no. No opportunities, unfortunately.- -Final verdict: 4/10. Fairly generous here, I think.-AP3-

This was a poorly planned, poorly executed crapfest. The characters were so one dimensional, clichéd and unrealistic that I really didn't care what happened to them. Only one of them was a decent actor, and she barely pulled it off. Everyone else seemed like they were reading directly off cue cards.***spoilers ahead***There were SO many holes in the plot, most of them big enough to drive a Mac truck through. The killer goes to a diner and kills two people for absolutely no reason... at all. He smashes through a window and pulls a dude out... a minute later the dude apparently managed to get away from the killer, who some how forgets that he was chasing him. After magically recapturing him and nailing him to a chair, he just goes to sit in front of a radio and stare into space like some kind of vegetable. ***end of spoilers***In all, this was a horribly constructed mish-mash of typical horror movie clichés that are poorly strung together amid unbearable dialogue delivered by dense, unattractive actors.Don't waste your time.