“I can’t believe this is the last week for the theater.”
A group of employees is working its last week in a failing movie theater when a mysterious character begins to murder people.
With Movie Theater Massacre, Ian Courtney delivers a horror comedy that is neither funny nor scary. A poorly made and completely failed film.
Zero Technique
Written, directed, and produced by Ian Courtney, this film was shot entirely with an iPhone 12 PRO. This is not the first time that a professional film has been shot entirely with an iPhone. But unlike Michel Gondry’s “Detour,” Movie Theater Massacre is a complete failure technically.
Filming with a phone is no excuse for having a crappy image. Especially since an iPhone offers excellent image quality. Thus, with a minimum of lighting talent, one should be able to create an image that, without being as deep as the one can find in a film like Nosferatu, will at least be equal and successful. But here, in every camera shot, we find ourselves with an image color that does not match. We go from an image with orange hues (clearly the natural lighting of the theater) to a white light. As a result, we only see these flaws in the lighting change. The addition of a simple spot with a gelatin would have at least created an equal image.
Then there is the sound. Does filming with an iPhone mean that you can’t use microphones to take the sound, again, at least equal? But instead, we find ourselves with a sound that gives the impression of having been recorded at the bottom of a tin can. I could also mention that sometimes we hear one of the two actors much louder than the other actor with whom he has a face-to-face conversation.
I will finish my analysis of the technique with the practical effects (although I could continue to name many other things). Blood has a certain texture, a thickness. In Movie Theater Massacre, it is as liquid as water. But we could excuse it if, at least, the knife blows given by the killer looked real. But no, that too is completely missed.
Honestly, I’ve been looking for something positive, but I can’t find any. The 72 minutes that this feature film lasts seemed really very long.
Is there a director in the house?
This so-called horror comedy is neither funny nor scary. The only moments when we laugh is when we disconnect and laugh at the mediocrity of the scenes.
Even the actors don’t seem to know what to do during the scenes. We simply have the impression that the director was not directing his actors and was not composing his scenes. At times, a few camera shots surprise us because we find a certain quality there. But it is quickly ruined when the sound starts to wander. Because yes, sometimes there is just no sound and suddenly the sound comes on. Like the character walks and shit, we didn’t record the sound. No big deal, we use the shot anyway. Then in the middle of the scene the sound comes back… We could think we are in a bad porn movie from the 70s, without the naughty part.
Oh yes… There is also the death of the villain which leaves… which is… well… shitty! I’m going to give the ending, so if you don’t want to know, don’t read the rest of this paragraph. At the end, the director / screenwriter found nothing better than to make the villain fly away, in the sky, a bit like he was falling into a hole. And pop, he vanishes into the heavens. End of the villain. The thieves come back with the stolen money to give it back to the young people who have now bought the old cinema to save it from bankruptcy. Happy end.
A little more…
I’m not going to surprise you if I tell you that this film is not worth the detour, is it? The only value it can have is an educational value in college. Show it to film students so that they understand that to make a good film, you need creativity and a minimum of logic.
