Poker Run (2009)

Wonderful character development!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

If you are into biker flicks then this is one to see. If you think you will see a top notch flick sadly you wont. I can dig the story but there are a few problems.Problems I noticed are the conversations going on. Some bikers are as stupid as hell and they don't talk very smart. It's all cliché for the writers but it doesn't add a good thing towards the flick and towards bikers.The other thing is the use of rather shaky cams and most shots are zoomed in too closely so things are sometimes a bit confusing. Naturally many do watch this for Jasmine Waltz, well known not afraid to show some flesh. But listen, it's all fake, when she's tied up on a bed laying naked it's so obvious that their boobs are fake as hell. What is good are the effects. There are some scene's that can be brutal for some. The red stuff flows frequently. So it's difficult to say for who this flick is. For an action it's a bit on the rough side and for horror it's too low on the creepy side. Low budget it is with good effects but full of clichés. Gore 1/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Take-charge Allen Shaw (a sturdy and likable performance by J.D. Rudometkin) and his more passive best friend Robert Cohen (a solid turn by Bertie Higgins) are a couple of lawyers who ride their motorcycles on the weekends. Allen and Robert find themselves neck deep in serious peril when they run afoul of vicious, but cunning psycho biker Ray (a deliciously wicked and credible portrayal by Robert Thorne) and Ray's totally unhinged drawling hick partner Billy "Bones" Eady (gleefully overplayed with eye-rolling hammy panache by Jay Wisell), who have abducted Allen and Robert's wives and force the pair to go through hell in order to get their spouses back. Director Julian Higgins, who also co-wrote the engrossing script with Larry Madill, relates the gripping story at a quick pace, builds a good amount of tension, puts a hopped-up kinetic style to genuinely exciting use, and delivers a handy helping of in-your-face gory'n'graphic violence and unflinching savagery (grisly highlights include one guy having both his hands hacked off with a hatchet and an especially juicy decapitation). Stunning brunette Jasmine Waltz burns up the screen as the foxy and enticing Cheri while Debra Hopkins bitches it up nicely as the snippy Susan. Thorne and Wisell make for entertainingly foul, nasty, and depraved villains. The last third provides plenty of riveting suspense and offers up a double of truly surprising downbeat twists. Ben Watkins' crisp cinematography gives the picture a cool slick look. The thrashing rock score likewise totally smokes. A fun flick.

This "movie" has it all. Bad acting, direction, writing, and lighting. How this was ever approved is beyond me. I admit that I do not know a lot about Hollywood but it seems that the people that made this movie know even less than I do about making films! The only reason that I continued to watch this film is normally I am a fan of the "nice person/people" that are put in a bad situation by a psycho, i.e. "Unlawful Entry" or "Cape Fear". I guess that I really should not have expected much from a low budget film such as this but it really aggravates me to know that I cannot unsee this movie. The only redeeming quality I can think of is it only lasts 90min.

Caught a screening of this one at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in August '09, introduced by co-writer/co-producer/star Bertie Higgins. While it certainly wasn't the best film that I saw at the festival, it was still a gritty, gruesome and - at times - very tense little thriller.The plot centers on two suburbanite wannabe bikers and their wives taking part in a "Poker Run" - a high stakes poker game taking place through numerous stops across the American south. But when the crew meets up with a dark, charismatic biker and his crusty partner, they stray from the beaten path and it before long everything goes straight to Hell. The women are kidnapped, and our heroes are forced into a brutal game of cat and mouse.It's nothing that we haven't seen before...think Saw meets Last House on the Left by way of Easy Rider, essentially. Still, once the ball gets rolling there are some super intense scenes and plenty of the red stuff (if that's what you're into).One of the films flaws lies in the cast. Certain cast members are pretty dull...our 2 protagonists especially. That said, Robert Thorne gives us an unpredictable, strangely magnetic villain and his partner (who's name escapes me entirely) is wonderfully insane and has moments of being creepy as hell.My only other real gripe with the film was the pacing near the first. Things seemed to take forever to get started, but once things hit the fan it managed a pretty breakneck pace until the end. I'll go easy on this particular flaw though: in his introduction to the film, Higgins explained that we weren't quite watching the final cut.Assuming they get the pacing issue sorted out, this one's a pretty tight and gritty thriller. Nothing earth shattering and it doesn't bring much new to the table, but if you're into this kind of flick you'll find a lot to like in Poker Run.