Tiki (2006)

Undescribable Perfection

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

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.

Hey ! let me see you do better effects for 372 bucks and some out of pocket. I've seen much worse with big names and big budgets.

This movie is extremely low budget and it shows. I would say it is a 2000s equivalent to the 80s shot-on-video films. The acting is below average, but it's also a low budget horror, so that's kind of expected. The effects are cheap looking and could've been a lot better. (that really is a lost art)The story is simple, unoriginal, but simple. Some might refer to this movie as a "so bad its good" type of film, and I can see that. "Inspiring" what I mean by that is, if you've ever thought to yourself "I wonder if I could make a horror movie" this movie will answer you with "yes". As bad as it is, it was made and distributed on DVD. The best thing about the DVD, in my opinion, is the making of special feature on the disc. It shows what people are capable of if they want to get something done. My thoughts on the movie aside, it does give others hope they can to can make their own horror film.

It is rare that a horror movie comes along that manages to make me actually nervous, afraid, or downright scared. This one did none of those things, but it does make me laugh. I like this movie for two reasons. The first reason is the gore. I am a sucker for a good gore fest. For a movie with a micro budget, this one has some really good effects. I can only imagine what they could have pulled off with a larger budget. The second reason is that i am running MST3K in my head while I watch it, trying to imagine what the crew would say about this one. The story itself does nothing new. Its a rather by-the-numbers revenge tale that's been done better. The acting is what you would expect for $10,000 or so budget (but there are topless girls). In all fairness, this is better than most of the Sc-Fi original movies, but that ain't saying much.

I was always a big fan growing up of the early work from Charlie Band's Full Moon pictures. The Puppet Master series being a shining example. I really wanted to like Tiki, but sadly there is little to recommend it. One could argue that the idea of the killer puppets, or dolls in Full Moon's pictures', was unrealistic as a menacing threat, and just campy. And I'd have to agree with that, however those films had charm, and some of the entries were much better than the critics gave them credit for. There are limits to one's disbelief, and sadly the design in Tiki was really bad. The Tiki doll's kills are just hard to watch, and not in a good way. There was some mildly redeeming gore, but the Tiki was just to pathetic to really care, and took away any small impact the scenes had. Remember I actually liked many of Full Moon's epics', so take my poor review of this into account before you view it. Also yet again a B movie sin is committed, and thats a lesbian scene, that cut away before any real flesh was revealed. Don't mean to be crass, but I know thats what you guys want to know about. It is worse to tease a scene, and not really deliver, than it is to not even have it at all. The acting varies, but is alright for a low budget film, with local theater talent. Ultimately a film like Tiki needs to be either funny or scary, and Tiki is neither. It just ran way to long, and they could have learned something from Full Moon.