What Did I Just Watch?: ‘#Horror’

#Horror could have delivered, but ends up missing the mark.

Every few years a horror movie will come along that defines a generation of fans. In the 90s that movie was Scream. Sadly, today that movie is most likely #Horror.

#Horror only served to remind me why I’m not one to follow trends. Does #Horror have any redeeming qualities? Read on to find out. A few spoilers may be there from here on out.

Synopsis: 

A group of spoiled rich preteen girls who are obsessed with an online social media game. At a sleepover, their cyber bullying comes back to haunt them as they are stalked and killed one by one.

Review:

At first glance #Horror seems like an interesting premise, along with having a good actor and actress on the cast with Timothy Hutton (The Dark Half) and Chloe Sevigny. Even with these veterans on the cast #Horror falls short in almost every conceivable way.

First time Director, Tara Subkoff shows some promise behind the camera, but the writing causes a bit of a problem. You know you’re in for an interesting time when the seizure-inducing opening credits go by so fast, you can’t even read them.

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Throughout the film, I wasn’t sure if I was watching a horror movie or an angst-ridden afterschool special. Every character is simply the most obnoxious mirror of our society. I couldn’t identify with a single one, though that’s probably because the majority are 12-year-old girls.

True to real life the girls spend a good chunk of the movie on their phones, as do the two adults. One of the adults even has TWO phones for whatever reason.

This plot device is used to have some incredibly annoying pop-ups all throughout the movie so we can see just what the characters are doing and/or saying on their phones. It gets so bad I thought I was watching an episode of VH-1’s Pop-up Video.

When the movie finally remembers it’s supposed to be a horror movie, it’s too little, too late. By the time the deaths begin to pile up it’s so blatantly obvious who the killer is, a 12-year-old girl could figure it out before the end.  #Horror could be very taboo as it shows the twelve-year-old girls being killed, which could be the only thing people remember from the movie in the years to come.

Something that may have saved #Horror would be to have spread the murders out more through the movie instead of cramming them into the twenty minutes.

Timothy Hutton steals every scene he is in, but it’s just not enough. His character is a doctor whose daughter is picked on by the girls at the sleepover yet she still hangs out with them. The daughter has had a rough time since her mother died.

The message of #Horror is so clear it’s almost preachy. We as a society need to put down our phones and spend time with our families. While I can agree with this message, I feel there could be a better way to get it across.

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If after reading this review you may believe me to be a masochist, but I digress. If you must see this mess of a movie #Horror is now on Netflix for your viewing (dis)pleasure.