Just in case you could not grasp the subtle undertones of my review title above...
My recommendation in a nutshell: NO. I guess to justify the one star I left I could base it on Keith David and Brad Dourif doing their best even when the material to work with is utter crap. Both are the only ones in the movie who made my brain perk up when they were on screen. You may have heard talk about the show-stopping opening. I was about to point out that hardly qualifies as 'show-stopping' quality in my book, but it SHOULD have stopped the show. The credit sequence to follow was an eyesore. It all goes clumsily and rapidly downhill after there.
You want a longer explanation? Okay, then. First, I cannot believe I actually read a few fairly good reviews on horror sites. Possibly due to some of the gore I rattle (har) off below. Yes, the movie has a nasty, mean-spirited, creative dismemberment before the title credits. Actually, the entire movie is very mean-spirited, not just the gore. Here is some but not all gore included (I saw the unrated version): victim's arms being dislocated/Achilles tendons cut, then the face sort of scrubbed off slowly with 2 chains (yes, this all happened to the same poor guy, arguably the ugliest demise in the whole firm), hook through jaw, upper body crushed w/heavy object, giant hook through shoulder, heat split open by chain ...see now, I don't even think it is worth the use of my brain to recount them all. In at least one scene I got this specific creepy feeling I get while watching a horror film that usually causes me to classify it as 'torture-porn': getting an icky feeling during a drawn-out torture scene that someone involved in the making of the movie got off on it. Some creepy duct-tape and/or mutilation fetish, or something, bleh, I don't want to think about it any more. I'm pretty sure if I searched here I'd find that a frequent tag associated with CL is "Torture Porn", but that is NOT a recommendation at least I hope to God it isn't!
Where oh where to begin with the bad? Here's some. 'Teenagers' in high school that appear to be portrayed by actors mid-20s at youngest, and some closer to pushing 30. Keith David not getting to be bad-ass enough. Characters (all of them) that the "writers" did not even TRY to give the flimsiest of personality traits or a back-story to, so you could not care less who lives or dies. A couple of the 'highschoolers' did their best, but you can only go so far with a boring, sloppily-written script. One 18-year old character's mother looks 30 years old, tops. Not enough reasons to avoid? Try adding in these! No real ending. They try to convey a message about technology and that those who give up their privacy in trade for the newest, most convenient, "cool" tech/apps don't deserve safety, but that message only would have been original or effective 10 years ago (and a LOT has happened between now and then). We get hit over the head with this message so much it gets insulting to most people's intelligence, and far before the movie is over. Motive for killing is very vague, and there's only so many ways you can kill a person directly involving a chain and keep it "new".
Also--and I hope people are through having to pay money in a theater to see CL and go for rental only- my DVD had no subtitles, not even CC for the hearing impaired (when I used the standard TV CC settings) .Bare bones for the special features. In fact, I don't even recall if there was a trailer. NO back-story on the killer, even though he has one distinctive (but unoriginal) feature, it isn't explained, and could have added a teeny bit of depth.
Don't get me wrong. I never set out NOT to like a movie, I don't rent them out of spite, life --and my funds-- are too short. I've seen more horror movies --just over the past couple years--than most people see in decades. I know what mindless, fun, entertaining horror movies look like; I grew up in the 80s, so trust me, I know mindless horror fun when I see it. This is not one of those movies. Want some movie that is a gory blast to watch, has some scares or at least very creepy moments, doesn't follow a complicated plot, and that you could keep up with plot-wise even if you had a few drinks in you? Chain Letter is NOT one of them. Try, oh, any of the Evil Dead series, the 80s re-make of The Blob, Planet Terror, 2001 Maniacs, Dead/Alive, Feast ...and those are just off the top of my head. No wonder Fangoria didn't bother to cover this train wreck to do a feature.
Finally, another BIG minus is the fact that this had a lot of potential. I had a little hope before I saw the movie, since the plot, and even some of the buzz, was along the lines of what could have been another Final Destination franchise. Now I sincerely hope a sequel does not happen, but I think they were trying (and WAY too hard) to be the next Saw or FD. Not even close.
Avoid! If you rent it just to see the gore, don't do it. You'll hate yourself after, take my word for it!
My recommendation in a nutshell: NO. I guess to justify the one star I left I could base it on Keith David and Brad Dourif doing their best even when the material to work with is utter crap. Both are the only ones in the movie who made my brain perk up when they were on screen. You may have heard talk about the show-stopping opening. I was about to point out that hardly qualifies as 'show-stopping' quality in my book, but it SHOULD have stopped the show. The credit sequence to follow was an eyesore. It all goes clumsily and rapidly downhill after there.
You want a longer explanation? Okay, then. First, I cannot believe I actually read a few fairly good reviews on horror sites. Possibly due to some of the gore I rattle (har) off below. Yes, the movie has a nasty, mean-spirited, creative dismemberment before the title credits. Actually, the entire movie is very mean-spirited, not just the gore. Here is some but not all gore included (I saw the unrated version): victim's arms being dislocated/Achilles tendons cut, then the face sort of scrubbed off slowly with 2 chains (yes, this all happened to the same poor guy, arguably the ugliest demise in the whole firm), hook through jaw, upper body crushed w/heavy object, giant hook through shoulder, heat split open by chain ...see now, I don't even think it is worth the use of my brain to recount them all. In at least one scene I got this specific creepy feeling I get while watching a horror film that usually causes me to classify it as 'torture-porn': getting an icky feeling during a drawn-out torture scene that someone involved in the making of the movie got off on it. Some creepy duct-tape and/or mutilation fetish, or something, bleh, I don't want to think about it any more. I'm pretty sure if I searched here I'd find that a frequent tag associated with CL is "Torture Porn", but that is NOT a recommendation at least I hope to God it isn't!
Where oh where to begin with the bad? Here's some. 'Teenagers' in high school that appear to be portrayed by actors mid-20s at youngest, and some closer to pushing 30. Keith David not getting to be bad-ass enough. Characters (all of them) that the "writers" did not even TRY to give the flimsiest of personality traits or a back-story to, so you could not care less who lives or dies. A couple of the 'highschoolers' did their best, but you can only go so far with a boring, sloppily-written script. One 18-year old character's mother looks 30 years old, tops. Not enough reasons to avoid? Try adding in these! No real ending. They try to convey a message about technology and that those who give up their privacy in trade for the newest, most convenient, "cool" tech/apps don't deserve safety, but that message only would have been original or effective 10 years ago (and a LOT has happened between now and then). We get hit over the head with this message so much it gets insulting to most people's intelligence, and far before the movie is over. Motive for killing is very vague, and there's only so many ways you can kill a person directly involving a chain and keep it "new".
Also--and I hope people are through having to pay money in a theater to see CL and go for rental only- my DVD had no subtitles, not even CC for the hearing impaired (when I used the standard TV CC settings) .Bare bones for the special features. In fact, I don't even recall if there was a trailer. NO back-story on the killer, even though he has one distinctive (but unoriginal) feature, it isn't explained, and could have added a teeny bit of depth.
Don't get me wrong. I never set out NOT to like a movie, I don't rent them out of spite, life --and my funds-- are too short. I've seen more horror movies --just over the past couple years--than most people see in decades. I know what mindless, fun, entertaining horror movies look like; I grew up in the 80s, so trust me, I know mindless horror fun when I see it. This is not one of those movies. Want some movie that is a gory blast to watch, has some scares or at least very creepy moments, doesn't follow a complicated plot, and that you could keep up with plot-wise even if you had a few drinks in you? Chain Letter is NOT one of them. Try, oh, any of the Evil Dead series, the 80s re-make of The Blob, Planet Terror, 2001 Maniacs, Dead/Alive, Feast ...and those are just off the top of my head. No wonder Fangoria didn't bother to cover this train wreck to do a feature.
Finally, another BIG minus is the fact that this had a lot of potential. I had a little hope before I saw the movie, since the plot, and even some of the buzz, was along the lines of what could have been another Final Destination franchise. Now I sincerely hope a sequel does not happen, but I think they were trying (and WAY too hard) to be the next Saw or FD. Not even close.
Avoid! If you rent it just to see the gore, don't do it. You'll hate yourself after, take my word for it!