20130808: Horror Film Review--Chop

Chop

1. American live action theatrical release 2011, Horror, Comedy, Thriller, 98 minutes.  Filmed in Los Angeles County, USA.  Rated NR; language, indicated sex, drug use, but mostly blood and gore resulting from savage intentions.
2. Starring Will Keenan (Lance), Timothy Muskatell (the stranger), Tanisha (as Lance's wife), and Elina Madison (as Tammy).
3. IMDB: 5.5/10.0 from 690 user reviews.  From the Storyline section, IMDB says, 'Lance Reed is forced by a psychotic stranger to confront his duplicitous past.'
4. Rotten Tomatoes: 'no score yet' from critics; 43% liked among responding ticket buyers.
5. That first sentence from the IMDB storyline pretty well sums it up.  The movie is about how the stranger encourages Lance to remember bad things he has done in the past, and that Lance did some of them to the stranger.
6. The hideous edge of the film comes from the methods that the stranger employs.
7. Among other things, he tricks Lance into killing his brother.  Then he kills Lance's wife, and cuts off Lance's left index finger.  The police know Lance is involved in the deaths, and Lance retreats into drug use.  Lance looks for bugging devices, and descends into a drug-aided rampage where he tears up his own house.  Upon awakening, he's down the other three fingers on his left hand.  His interview with the cops after this does not go well.  After all this, Lance is still making zero effort to remember his tormentor.
8. Lance eventually admits to a hit and run felony and to a murder, but he still does not remember what he did to the stranger until it is too late.
9. One star in five. 20130927: two blackholes for acting and screenplay.

One line summary: Bad acting and screenplay make this film not worth the time.

Cinematography: 8/10 Hulu streamed this film in HD, and it looks good throughout.  There was sufficient light for the cameras.  Framing and focus were usually both good, but with a few glaring failures.

Sound: 10/10 The actors were well-miked, and the incidental music was fine.

Acting: 0/10 The people billed as actors here hit their marks and read their lines.  They went through the motions successfully.  However, I laughed at none of the lines, and cared about none of the characters.

Screenplay: 2/10 This does not work for me as comedy of any type.  I found nothing funny in this particular portrayal of the depredations of a drug addict, or the self-righteousness of a 12-stepper. The psycho stranger was even more savage than the drug addict.  The film did not work as a thriller, because the acting done for the protagonist role was so hollow.  The blood and loss of limbs was indicative of horror, but the lead was cardboard.   I might have thought of the film as a mystery, but by the time the central secret was revealed, I did not even shrug.  Perhaps it was meant to be a knee-slapping good punch line, but it failed at that was well.