The Wages of Sin

2006

Directed by:  Aaron Robson

Written by:  Aaron Robson, Adam S. Leslie, Christine Locker, Lee Ann Riddle

Starring:   Ashlie Victoria Clark, Emily Lucas, Brandon Michael.

From IMDB:

"A Supernatural Thriller that weaves a tale of darkness and suspense. The past will never stay hidden. Sue Walker receives a letter from a lawyer informing her that she has inherited a mysterious house in the countryside. She decides to take a weekend trip to the house with her boyfriend, Ron and friends from college. By entering the house, Sue unlocks the dark secrets of her forgotten past. Hold on for this terrifying ride into darkness and despair."

Can't believe I even found a trailer for this one.

I'm afraid this one isn't going to live up to its log line.  These guys had twice the budget and then some of the first movie I ever directed (and only one as of this writing).  Hard to say which film is coming off better.

I'm sure they both play like a group of friends with a camcorder.

Camera work is weak.  I'm finding this really hard to watch.

So the girl gets her boyfriend to check out the gas station washroom before she goes in.  He does and proclaims it to be clear.

She goes in and is assaulted by a cartoonish "wino".  She runs out of the john and gives her BF shit for missing the wino on his examination.

He rushes into the bathroom to find it empty.  He tells her she's just seeing things.

She apologizes for over reacting.

Okay - you get assaulted in a bathroom and then when the guy appears to just disappear you just dismiss the event??  That makes no sense at all.

They got a good little haunted house - for the budget.  Obviously they couldn't afford to build sweet fuck all so this place is a good score.

WTF - Romeo drags his gal out to the car in the dark to ask her to marry him.  Not a very romantic setting - but then I asked my wife to marry me in a parking lot - but it was Hawaii.

The girl doesn't say yes right away and he storms off to start drinking.  Could happen i guess.

Now she's hacking up her guts in the sink - literally - but she's not overly worried about it.  She has a drink - a little hallucination (with a little girl who talks like she's MUCH older).

Then she's asked if she's okay - "Yeah, I'm fine."  What?l  You just blew a wad of bloody phlegm that would fill a Mason jar and you're fine?

I do like the location (I know, I've already said that)

Everyone is freaking out over a cut on the drug head's arm.  He tells them to chill because it's just a scratch.  There's a close up of the cut - it really is just a scratch.  No one would ever even comment on a scratch that small.

A lot of static medium shots.  Not much to be done about that if you don't have the time or money.

CLASSIC LINES:

"That's the old preacher's place.  You don't want to be hanging around there.  Bad things happen there."

Gack - the dialogue just isn't working for me - none  of it!!  One of the problems is the edit.  They're holding an extra frame or two after each line is spoken causing a retched pause that is just killing any hope for some flow.

Symonds the lawyer might be the worst performance I've seen since the last school play I was subjected to.  He didn't get a credit in IMDB.  I'm not surprised.  I checked just to see if he was the producer or director or something.  Lesson for everyone - leave it to the pros!

(post note - in the end credits he's listed with the unlikely name of Ray Gunn)

Alright.  I think I've said enough.  This thing is not going to get any better.  If something remarkably fun or hideous happens I'll report - but I seriously have my doubts.

Okay - I'm back.  This movie is not good.  I've been ragging on it more than most but a weird thing is happened on the way to the ending - I'm finding that it's getting a little bit creepy.  The characters are not believable.  The dialogue is shite.  The camera work is utterly amateurish - but there is something mildly creepy about this film - mild being the operative word here, but it's undeniable.  It's not going to give me nightmares or anything - but there is a creep factor.  I'm going to raise my .5 Bloody Eye I was going to give it to 2.  Many people will call me on this, I know but I watch at least 5 horror movies a week and don't remember the last one that made me even mildly uncomfortable.  Not sure why this one did, even as slight as it did - there's no good reason, but it did so it gets 2.