Chaos (2005)

Simply Perfect

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

But that is still not saying much about this film. I'm not even sure where to begin. I guess I'll start with the "message" at the very beginning. As others have already said, it was a very lame attempt by the filmmakers to justify the content of their little film. Very lame. If you're gonna make a somewhat violent film about rape and murder, then just make the film and leave it at that. There was absolutely no reason to try and pretend that it was made as some sort of message to parents and kids about being safe from murdering rapists. They could have just said, "don't walk through the woods with a stranger while trying to score drugs" and not even bothered with trying to make a film out of it. While it is not the worst movie I have ever seen, or even the most disturbing for that matter, it is not worth watching either. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Some people can't resist the temptation to see what all the "controversy" is about (myself included), but I can assure you it's not as disturbing as some would have you believe and it's just not really worth the time. Pass.

I'll state the blatantly obvious: Last House on the Left ripoff, as in up until the ending, it was the exact same story. Horrible acting and dialog. Cheap and unprofessional look and feel. A pointless attempt at movie making.One major problem was the warning before the movie started. Really? I'm not a fan of the phrase "victim blaming," but this was a prime example of it. And the interview with the director and producer further illuminated their stance on blaming the victim. Is it safe to go buy drugs from a stranger? Of course not always. But this doesn't mean that you're going to get killed, and it doesn't mean that you deserve to get killed. People are abducted by people they know well all the time and most people who trust strangers are fine. It's really a backwards, old fashioned idea to perpetuate. It only aids in fueling the idea that you shouldn't help someone in need, which is what they claimed to be against when talking about the person who could've helped, but chose to ignore her.The only saving grace was the ending, but not in the way they intended. At that point I had given up on the movie completely, only to find myself laughing hysterically at the ridiculous chain reaction. I could tell the director and producer were really proud of themselves for delivering what they thought was such an edgy and controversial ending, but it was nothing more than a joke.And the so-called disturbing torture scenes? They were very cheap, unbelievable, and unimpressive. It was a pathetic attempt to shock the audience and it was in poor taste. They chose genital mutilation because they knew it's a taboo and that people are particularly squeamish about it. They took lines from reviews out of context which stated that they were effected by the mutilation to make it seem as though they effectively portrayed emotions. If they were truly setting out to make a cautionary tale, they wouldn't have needed to include these scenes, as they ultimately added nothing to the film.This film is an insult to women everywhere. It portrays them as weak, stupid, and deserving of violence. It makes the statement that women should not seek independence, nor could they hold their own in an altercation. It shows them as sexual objects to be brutalized and disfigured. If anything, this film does the exact opposite of what it claims it's intentions are.

Teenage girls Emily and Angelica, while looking to score Ecstasy in preparation for attending a rave, are instead lured to a remote spot in the woods where they become the victims of a group led by a man who calls himself Chaos.I stumbled onto this film late last night, and thought "Hello, here we go again - cabin in the woods time." I was looking forward to a routine horror/slasher of the sort we have seen many, many times since Jason Vorhees first raised his masked head. It may even be the case that this is what the filmmakers intended to deliver, and thought they were making (which is speculation on my part, of course).But what is on screen is very different to your standard horror / slasher / cabin in the woods / innocents abroad movie for a number of reasons.One, there is some very strong acting here, particularly from the two girls (Chantal Degroat and Maya Barovich) and Kevin Gage as Chaos.Two, the violence is altogether more believable than the routine gore in this sort of movie. It is easy to believe that the girls have fallen into the clutches of someone who derives immense pleasure from carrying out fairly simple but very disturbing acts on people: there are sequences which are genuinely distressing without necessarily being especially explicit - you are not always shown what is happening, but you know.And, three, there is not a single element of redemption or retribution in the movie. To put it bluntly, the bad guy gets away home free.Yes, I know that this sometimes happens in real life, and I think that may well be one of the reasons why this film leaves me so queasily conflicted at the end - what is, in many ways, a cheap and cheerful formula film actually contains some elements of real quality (acting, realism), but arrives at a morally repugnant conclusion. Is it worthwhile? Possibly. Is it entertaining? That's the question, really. Many of those watching it will have identified it as a genre movie and will be watching it to be entertained. Personally, while I could admire qualities which came out of a low budget movie, I found myself appalled and disturbed rather than entertained.

So can anyone say complete rip off? If you have seen Wes Craven's 1972 film Last House on the Left, then you have pretty much seen this movie. It is almost an exact rip-off from characters to story. There are a couple of things that were added that may make this film be one to watch, but this is totally not an original idea. Even the poster is a ripoff from both the Deranged tag line and The Last house on the Left tagline and nowhere in the credits does it mention Last House or even Virgin Spring, the film that Last House is based on. I know there has to be a copyright infringement buried somewhere with the releasing of this film.