Customer Reviews

Frayed

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Frayed begins in 1994, with an innocent looking video of a child's birthday celebration. We see family and guests engaged in typical, lighthearted games indoors and out. But as we continue to watch, it is with the creeping suspicion that all is not what it seems in this family. At one point, unprovoked, Kurt (the oddly dour birthday boy) slaps at his dad with his new baseball bat and shows no remorse for his behavior.

Later in this sequence, we follow Kurt into the house. Uncertain about what the focus of the story will be, we are not prepared for the events that quickly unfold. Soon the film makes good on its promise of an act that is more than horrific--and it is presented in a sustained frame, so you are not allowed the respite of a cutaway or looking from a different angle. [Note the warning on this site: The violence is graphic.] It is an act brutal enough to thrust Kurt and his family--led by his father, Pat Baker, who is the town sheriff--into a nightmare from which they will never emerge.

Kurt is sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he remains into adulthood. Sheriff Baker begins the arduous task of picking up the pieces of his life in the aftermath of this profound and traumatic event. Gradually the community comes to terms, and life goes on for thirteen years.

The news that the adult Kurt has escaped from the hospital sends shock waves through the town. Sheriff Baker prepares for the worst, and a hospital security guard, Gary, sets off to find Kurt before he crosses paths with any of the locals. Meanwhile Baker tries to reach his daughter, Sara, who has taken off to the woods on a camp-out with friends. In a twist of fate, Kurt becomes aware of Gary's efforts and begins tracking him with murderous intent, leaving plenty of collateral damage.

Frayed takes inspiration from (and pays homage to) many classic films in the psycho killer sub-genre, but its narrative avoids clichés and has a driving force all its own. The style fuses the momentum of stalk and slash with the eerie physical beauty of more ghostly horror films.

There are several dramatic twists, but the story is so well constructed that none of these manages to derail the plot. With each development a deeper level of the story is revealed, until the final scene delivers one great slap that knocks theory and jaded expectation right out of the viewer. Lazy audience members might scratch their heads, but if you've been paying attention, the pay-off is terrific. Even if you figure out part of the conclusion with the clues scattered throughout, you won't guess how it all fits together until the very last moment.

Believable and committed acting from the entire cast adds plausibility. Tony Doupé, Aaron Blakely and Jeanette Maus deserve special mention for their standout contributions.

The really brutal gory scene happens in like the first 15 minutes of movie. And it is GORY!! I'm a die hard horror fan but it definitely made my stomach turn. After that a regular horror movie, some twists.
It was a good movie, it has a good concept of troubled kid kills his mom and is sent to an mental asylum. They really aren't equipped to deal with his anger after 10 years so they decide to move him to a high security facility. He gets away and mayhem ensues. It definitely had a few twists in the end I wasn't expecting and I have heard it is being banned in the UK so grab this while you can.

This movie has its highs and low points.
I must agree with the description, of one of the most horrific, bludgening, quenching scenes in cinematic history. Which is one of its few highlights.

THE GOOD
the premise alone, is not new, but I like where it was headed.
storyline stayed on point and never deterred.
clear understanding of the concept the director was trying to portray.

THE BAD
film quality- mixed reaction on this one, b/c the quality (whenever the entire frame wasn't pitch black, was of good quality)
too much dark/black out frames/scenes with only audio.

THE UGLY
n/a

CONCLUSION
ITS WORTH A BUY, the reason(s) I would recommend
the behind the scenes, making of, commentary bonuses lays much needed insight, for reasoning.
the ending- a twist, that wasn't detectible. The ending was let down, but the scene prior to the ending, was remarkable (in order to clear things that occured in the beginning)

1 of the finest Direct to DVD films.

I saw this one in the video store, and paid little mind to it my first two or three visits. But when I ran out of titles to choose from that sounded or even looked appealing, I rolled my eyes, scoffed, and reluctantly pulled this one from its dusty and untouched place on the shelf. The goofy cover with the clown make-up and the "typical" horror-movie teen was the main reason why I passed this by time and again...but little did I know, this was to be one of the most suspense-filled, well-done horror flicks I'd ever had a chance to experience. Other reviewers have touched on the plot, the terribly gory scene at the beginning (not blood-gore, but brutality-gore), and the twisty-twist at the end, so I won't bore you with repetition and monotony; however, I will be glad to recommend this movie to you as one with all of the above plus a clear understanding that everyone involved with its production were putting their ALL into the project. This flick is exceedingly better than the vast majority of the Hollywood, big-dollar, horror movies out there. "Frayed" makes it perfectly clear that you don't need a big budget, a bunch of hype, top-billed actors and actresses, and Hollywood-induced special effects, to produce an outstanding and suspenseful presentation.
FIVE STARS!!! *****

P.S. This one deserves Blu-Ray status!

<strong>Frayed</strong> (Norbert Caoili and Rob Portmann, 2007)

I tend to be a little obsessive about movie-watching when I get going. In the period from September 4 through September 6, I watched a total of ten films, ranging from the horrific to the pretty-darned-good. Of the lot, <em>Frayed</em> was my favorite (by a bare nose over <em>Hanna</em>). Sure, there's not much new under the sun here, and you'll probably see the two Big Reveals at the end coming a mile away (though the movie's final shot, which comes just after Big Reveal #2, is an even nastier twist of the knife than was the true ending of <em>The Descent</em>, which was so depressing it was excised from the American theatrical release...), but here's something I don't often say: this formula has been done a lot recently, and <em>Frayed</em> does it as well as anyone else has, and better than a lot of higher-profile flicks that cover much the same territory (I'm looking at you, <em>Perkins' 14</em> and <em>Basement Jack</em>).

Plot: years ago, a policeman's son, Kurt (played as a child by Jimmy Castle in his first screen role and as an adult by Dino Moore, the movie's PA), a nasty, bullying little piece of work, was put away for the murder of his mother after he was sent to his room for bad behavior at his sister's birthday party. Now it's the present, his sister is in high school, his father (<em>Life or Something Like It</em>'s Tony Doupe) is the Chief of Police, and everything goes to hell when Kurt escapes from the hospital. One of the hospital guards, Gary Jordan (<em>We Need to Talk About Kevin</em>'s Aaron Blakely), is pursuing Kurt, who may be headed home to reprise his role with the new (well, new since he got sent up, anyway) stepmom Jolene (<em>Highway</em>'s Kellee Bradley), or he may be after his sister Sara, now all grown up and gorgeous (<em>Kabuki Mono</em>'s Alena Dashiell). Needless to say, they're on opposite sides of town, Gary's only one guy, and Chief Pat seems more concerned with covering up the escape than actually hunting his kid down...

Here's a hint: this is not a turn-your-brain-off slasher film. I've seen many, many message board comments and questions about things that make perfect sense as long as you paid enough attention to figure out the three key shots at the end that explain everything. But if you miss the significance of one or more of those three shots (without going into spoiler territory: the picture, the family in the kitchen, and the bedroom), you weren't following closely enough, which makes the impact of the final shot nonexistent (and without the impact of the final shot, this really kind of is a turn-your-brain-off slasher flick). They tell you <em>everything</em>, including the one thing I haven't seen a single person mention: what triggered the entire chain of events that movie's built on. That's extremely important, and no one says anything about it at all. (It's also THE spoiler for the film, so I'm not going to say what it is, but I'm going to let you know that it does exist, and it's contained in the film.)

One last thing: the opening sequence ends with the killing of Kurt's mother, a scene that is quite brutal (it has been compared to the similar opening-sequence-ending murder in Gaspar Noe's <em>Irreversible</em>). While the rest of the film never even comes close to that level of brutality (nor its special effects budget), those with weak stomachs might want to stay away, or fast-forward about two minutes when the action cuts from the birthday party to Sara's bedroom. I've seen more than one comment from people who turned the movie off at that point. *** ½

While I found the film to be technically competent and have decent production values for a low-budget horror film, the basic plot of "Frayed" was too derivative of "Halloween" to be very enjoyable. A forced triple-twist ending, which employs two of the most overused cliches of the genre and undermines the story's internal logic, does nothing to redeem the end product.

It's also a little sad that it took five screenwriters to create such a painfully unoriginal story. The co-directors have potential, and I'd like to see what they could do with some original material.

I went into this movie expecting the typical direct-to-video slasher fare; I was somewhat intrigued by the warning about "one of the most brutal scenes ever put on film", but other than that I figured the best I could hope for was a decent retread of an old formula.

From the get go, I wasn't disappointed in this belief; you've seen this before. The comparison to "Halloween" is obvious almost from the outset, and you get reminded a LOT of another, more recent European slasher that I won't name so as not to give anything away. Suffice to say, I was certain I had the plot figured out before the movie had reached the one-third mark, and while I thought the production values, cinematography, and acting were way above par for a low-budget outing like this, I still wasn't overly excited...it was formula, pure and simple (although the supporting role of "Veronica", featuring Tasha Smith was very easy on the eyes; a poor man's Megan Fox, but I digress).

Then, in the last reel...yes! I was vindicated (yawn) in my belief of what was going on and how the plot would unfold...

But then...

I was floored...the ending that I had deduced (and was completely correct about) still wasn't the ending that I thought it would be. The movie rolled on for several more minutes, revealing one of the best plot twists(actually SEVERAL plot twists, all contributing as a whole) I have seen in quite some time. I have to say, the filmmakers, like Romero and Hooper in the past, have no desire to make you feel better at the end...I for one felt very uncomfortable with the ending of this film, and that impresses me the most.

I say that anyone interested in horror films or mysteries should check this one out...I would rent before you buy (as I said, 95% of the film is nothing you haven't seen before) but the end totally justifies the path you take to get there.

As for me, I'm buying it. This is one I'll enjoy watching again.

(And yes...the "brutal" scene in question IS very, VERY brutal, both in circumstance and execution...not for the squeamish.)

FRAYED is a fantastic psychological horror movie w/ an introductory "home movie" segment that can only be described as gruesomely extreme. Thus begins the story of Kurt, a severely disturbed young man and his entry into adulthood. We are taken on a whirlwind adventure, full of insanity and murder, ultimately learning the shocking truth behind Kurt's condition. Or do we? I was taken totally by surprise! The ending of FRAYED is genuinely disturbing. Don't let this one get away...

As soon as it comes on you get a BRUTAL scene which kinda sticks with you I wish more directors were that bold. The movie it self is decent with lots of scares better than most. Its low budget but the movie is interesting enough that you wont notice. If it had more money attached i wouldnt mind a theatrical wide release.

The movie would have been better if the actors weren't so wooden in their performance. The sister was the worst of the lot in my opinion. I was wanting her to be killed off so my suffering would end. The movie was interesting in some parts, I liked the way the killer concealed himself. But aside from that it was fairly pathetic.