Jack the Reaper (2013)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This film was produced by mad crapper productions (seriously, why would you name a production company, mad crapper anyway?) which does not surprise me why this film is totally crap.What kind of a genius would write a slasher script where NOTHING happens for the first 60 MINUTES???? Yes, almost 60 minutes! Not 3-5-10 or even 20. I understand the character development but boy, you could develop the frigging citizen kane in 60 minutes, leave aside a slasher movie character.You can maybe now understand how bad this movie is. From start to finish it's a painful 80 something minutes and even if you can bear till the end, you will see that you were right about guessing the stupid twist coming from 60 miles away.The story is about a bunch of high school students who are on a school trip to study the industry revolution and on the way, they encounter with a maniac who starts offing them one by one with a pick axe.Although the story sounds like a regular teen slasher, the script and directing is so bad that it makes it almost impossible to watch it till the end. The characters are extremely annoying and very unattractive for a screen cast, makes you wonder if they all accepted to play for free, in exchange of an IMDb credit.I don't know you, but I love slashers mainly because of the high tension, original killings, hot chicks and surprise twists. I can assure you that this movie has NONE of them. All the killings are off screen, a little bit of blood is spattered on the camera, that's all the visual effects you get from this flick. There's no nudity or gore or any actress whom you may think she is a cliché hot slasher chick.Now I'm not saying that heads should explode, guts should be torn or the students should go for an orgy, but why the hell are you bothering to shoot a slasher movie, if you are not going to show any of the killings??? This is like shooting an action movie where the camera never shows an actor actually firing a weapon! All in all, please do not let the fake rave reviews written by the cast and/or their families trick you. You are really better watching your turd float in the toilet ,rather than watching this one. Just forget about it and watch something else instead.Unbelievably awful acting, directing and script!1/10

It's interesting that this movie has such generally low numerical ratings here, but also several rave reviews. OK, given what a little-seen, low-budget effort it is, the rave reviews COULD have come from friends and family of the production itself (which was my initial suspicion), but having seen the movie, this phenomenon makes a little more sense now.There is indeed nothing particularly new here. I won't give the "surprise" ending away, but it's one horror-movie fans have seen A LOT of, from ever since a certain low-budget film was made in Kansas in the early 1960's. The story involves a group of disparate students who have to go on a bus tour of a railroad town with their teacher after they failed to turn in a paper (OK. . .). The students are the usual types--the obnoxious jock, the black best friend, the outcast, the slutty girl, the homely girl, the overweight kid--but right away there are some off-beat elements. The fat kid has a hilariously profane grandmother (a cameo by Sally Kirkland, who also produced the film), who tells him to take no sh*t from the popular kids as she drops him off. The homely girls seems to have a strange, perhaps incestuous, relationship with her father. The girlfriend of one of the jocks tells him she's pregnant right before he leaves. The slutty girl rather than being the stereotypical "high-school slut" is actually kind of a sweet, troubled girl who has been taken advantage of by the jocks at her school (maybe some shades of reality there). There are also TWO black guys, and, rounding out their numbers, a deaf girl.They stop at a visitor's center and meet curator Tony Todd who does his usual thing in an extended cameo and warns them of the legend of "Railroad Jack". Soon after they're involved in a bus crash and their teacher disappears. They take refuge in this this strange deserted carnival sideshow that is out in the middle of the desert for some reason where they are stalked by the creepy, eyeless "Railroad Jack". This is the other strength of the movie (besides the more interesting than usual teen characters),the deserted carnival is genuinely creepy. This is the rare modern-day horror film that actually relies on ATMOSPHERE as opposed to CGI gore and silicone breasts. True, some of the acting is awful (the performance of the actor playing the overweight kid is especially egregious). I never miss CGI effects, but a lack of female nudity can't really be considered an asset to a horror film either. But given there is only one particularly attractive girl here (Hope Jaymes, who plays the vulnerable slut) and she obviously has real breasts (only women with silicone breasts ever seem to do nude scenes in modern-day horror movies) the movie at least doesn't tease you with the promise there will be any.There is some ill-conceived narration at the beginning and the end, and the end doesn't entirely work. Still, I found this to be refreshingly old-fashioned and off-beat and interesting in places. It's much better than the numerical reviews would suggest if not quite deserving perhaps of some of the more hyperbolic raves. It's worth seeing anyway.

This film drew me into the horror genre the way no other could I've always been more into SciFi but there was something about it that drew me in. was it the Star names attached to it? was it the haunting Music in the trailer? or was it the top showing at Canes Indie? whatever it was Ms. Seilhamers enticing script and characters (both those played by the stars we know and the ensemble who are sure to be stars in their own right)kept me on the edge of my seat and showed me that even the most innocent of us has a dark side. She follows a format that I've come to see as reminiscent of classic 80s slasher films but brings it to life (death?) with a formula all her own. I look forward to more to come from this director who i see has already made quite the splash in the writing field of this industry and the stars both current and future involved in this slasher-thriller masterpiece!

"Jack The Reaper" a new Horror film that I really enjoyed. Now, I don't usually like teen horrors. The acting and story is always bad,and there is nobody to root for. But In this film however the acting was really good and although there are some characters you want to die, there are some characters to root for. The actors all got a good amount of screen time and some do stand out more than others, but it is definitely a good group. Tony Todd is solid as always and Sally Kirkland is in it for a scene and plays a grandmother I would not want to mess with. Railroad Jack is one cool character and Douglas Tait is a very imposing figure as that character. The design of the character is simple, but little touches especially those black eyes and his eerie smile gives the character that frightening quality you need to make a character stand out amongst all the horror movie monsters. Throw in the fact that he carries a huge pickax and is not afraid to use it only helps his status. There are plenty of violent kills in this film using that pickax to keep a horror fan happy. If there is a character that I hope I get to see again it would have to be Railroad Jack and that is rare because there aren't many memorable characters in indie films and I see a lot.The pace of the film is good. The beginning of the film introduces us to the characters and the pace picks after the bus crash. There is no lull in the film which is always good. The director/writer Kimberly Seilhamer does a good job keeping us interested. The back drop of the film is interesting. The crash takes place in the desert and most of the action takes place at this empty carnival. Now, the first question I had was what the hell is an empty working carnival doing in the middle of the desert, but at the end of the film you figure it out. Speaking of the end of the film it was very cool and reminded me of Twilight Zone and when you see the film you will know what I am talking about. Overall, the film is definitely worth checking out and Railroad Jack will quickly become a fan favorite. This is a must see if you are a fan of Horror like myself.