Customer Reviews

Open Cam

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Manny is a young artist, still reeling from a relationship that didn't work out, deciding to concentrate on his paintings and limit his social life to his small circle of other gay friends, plus nightly visits to a popular "Open Cam" (2005) website. One problem: the guys he hooks up with online later turn up dead, which puts Manny at the center of the investigation conducted by Hamilton, assigned by the police to work on gay cases. As the number of the serial killer's victims climb, the detective moves in as "live bait" into Manny's apartment with him, hoping to draw the attention of the killer as well as protect Manny. They play their role so well that they actually become lovers for a time, allowing Hamilton to gauge the reaction of Manny's exes and friends, one of whom may be the killer.

The film features an attractive (although inexperienced, and it shows) cast playing non-stereotypical and believeable gay characters, within an original story that gets points for being mostly realistic. Amir Darvish is especially effective as the no-nonsense, sarcastic gay detective, Hamilton. This unrated low-budget indie film would have drawn a NC-17 for nudity and explicit sexual content, but the sexual situations are all reasonable in the context of the story, rather than being gratuitous. Direction definitely could have been better at times, and the background music occasionally drowns out the dialogue. DVD extras include deleted and edited scenes and the trailer. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

I really don't understand the negative reviews of this movie. While it's hardly perfect, it's a fun, interesting, gay thriller. The acting ranges from decent to excellent and even the weakest is in no way as bad as others suggest. There are no real plot surprises, but the writing is solid, and I've seen many much worse mainstream thrillers. Characters do occasionally defy logic-- but that's not unusual in any movie. It's not a gay classic like Latter Days or Parting Glances, but it's definitely worth your time. Plus the actors are all good eye candy.

This movie was not even worth renting let alone buying. The acting was terrible, I 've seen high school productions that put more emotion into their characters then these actors do. Then there's the constant use of background music which is constantly drowning out the dialogue. I had to continually adjust the volume on the tv to hear what was being said.
The actors were nice enough to look at but no full frontal was shown, there was the appropriately placed towel or pillow. If nothing was there to use, any shot of genitalia was blacked out, kind of like watching a court hearing on tv when the witness doesn't want to be identified. This was diappointing as the book states "scenes that would make Queer As Folk fans blush." QAF definitely showed more than this movie does and the two sex scenes were not all that more inticing.
I was really expecting more from this movie overall, given what I had read about it. The plot just seemed to drag at some points and rush through at others. This movie would definitely be a "dust collector" on my shelf.

I admit I watched Open Cam because of its similarities to my novel, IM, which is also about a serial killer using gay internet hookup sites, but I was relieved to see the two stories are vastly different, although they do have the same basis. Relieved, I moved on, hoping for what the description sounded like would be a good gay thriller. Unfortunately, the storyline, which was pretty simple, didn't build the needed suspense very well for a film in this genre. The movie seemed more of an excuse for some admittedly hot scenes; however these scenes did little to advance the thin plot. The acting itself was mostly amateurish and this deficiency was distracting enough to remove me from the world the filmmakers tried to create.

This was an interesting rental. The film covers a crime spree in the gay community of Washington DC. Andreau Thomas in his first film plays Manny. Manny is an artist who has many friends. His fascination with an open cam website where men feel free to drop their drawers leads to his witnessing a brutal crime on camera. The gore with severed privates was painful to watch, even when removed by putting it on a small TV screen within the film. Amir Darvish plays the cop Hamilton who has been assigned to the case. Like all the rest of the men in the film, he develops an attachment to the handsome Manny. Hamilton is divorcing his wife and coming to terms with his preferences. Ben Green plays Maurice as Manny's best friend who from time to time is more than a friend. J. Matthew Miller plays the computer geek Conrad that installs software that tracks the email connections on the open cam site and eventually leads to the final climactic scene. While I couldn't catch his name, the guy who plays the wimpy upstairs neighbor does a good job. Director Robert Gaston will play Bartender Bob in his next film, "Two Minutes Later." This movie has low production qualities, somewhat interesting dialogue, and a lot of actors who do not appear to have much theatrical training. It's a "B" movie where its daring is more significant than the expertise with which it handles the material.

We rented the DVD out of curiosity. This movie was bad. Actually embarrassing. Bad acting and naive plot. Amir (the detective) was the best actor. The others were like high-school drama students. We were mainly interested in seeing the locales filmed here in DC (and maybe the hot men). But otherwise, pretty boring, and we fast-forwarded through a lot of it.

'OPEN CAM' could have been so much more than it is. Writer/director Robert Gaston takes a few risks with this latest entry into the gay cinema foray, adding a story that avoids the usual topics that stereotype gay men. He assembled a cast of young actors whose best attributes are physical appearance rather than technical training, and then covers the dialogue with incessant background music that makes the viewer strain for the conversations - and much worse, he hides behind the mores of restraint that prevents US films from achieving what European films do well.

The story revolves around a recently jilted young artist Manny (Andreau Thomas) who when not in front of the easel spends his time on the Internet dating on a sleazy chat line, keeping his physical encounters anonymous to avoid personal disappointment. On the Internet chat line (using 'open camera') some murders are captured and a detective Hamilton (Amir Darvish) takes over the investigation - a detective who also happens to be gay and acts out with just about anyone it seems. When Manny's friends (or ex tricks) begin to fall victim to the serial killer on the Internet, Hamilton moves in with Manny to protect him, and it is in this living situation (a very physical arrangement) that the serial killer is finally caught on camera and in person. How the episodes of loss of friends and re-establishment of trust and love replacing just lust brings the story to a bit of a disappointing end.

The cast (Andreau Thomas, Amir Darvish, Ben Green, J. Matthew Miller, Christian Jones, et al) are a good-looking group of men. There are a lot of sensual scenes, but unlike European films the men who are supposed to be nude for a reason are shot to protect them from full frontal exposure - and that seems so very ludicrous and insulting given the theme of the film. American cinema has a long way to go: even movies of heightened physicality in straight films have little problem showing every detail of the female body yet either blur or out-of-focus shoot or drape male bodies as though there were some secret that MUST remain off camera. Time to grow up - and where better to start than in films such as OPEN CAM. 'Tis pity....Grady Harp, November 06

A young (and very cute, frequently shirtless (or more)) aspiring artist in D.C. seems to be the center of a murder spree when every guy he sleeps with ends up horribly decapitated, sometimes murdered online.

By the time he figures this out, it has become clear that it's someone close to him, but who and why. So, a suitably gay cop (moves in (and then some)) to lure out the perp. This film is done well overall and hangs together sufficiently to keep your attention.

I question a few of the improbable turns of events, and there are a few extra characters that don't really seem to matter or add anything, but these are minor flaws in a generally good film. That this film goes well beyond an "R" rating could be a plus or a minus, depending on how you look at it. (I had no problem with it!) Might be a bit much for polite company, but certainly good for a quiet evening and worth checking out.

I thought "OpenCam" was a brave piece of cinema that may just start a trend of quality in gay films. It all has to start somewhere and I see this as the beginning. The plot is very solid and it seems like it has the potential to become a bigger film that it is now if it had different actors in it. The lead actor (Manny) was okay but I could tell he was far from theatrically trained. I thought the most natural reactions and deliveries came from two of Manny's friends played by J. Matthew Miller and Christian Jones. They seemed at ease in front of the camera and I wouldn't be surpised if the two of them were the only ones who moved on and did something that got them recognition. It always turns out that way...
And the little dog was cute as hell! Although these two had smaller roles, they both seemed far more natural than the lead or the best friend of the lead (Maurice, who was far too intense for me!)Some of the camera angles were off and the music did tend to be a little loud in cetain spots, but hey it was great endeavor and I dug it.

This movie was very unusual, as it combined soft-porn, with a mystery. The characters are well-defined, and intriguing...also good looking! Andreau Thomas has a KILLER body! But what really got to me was the soundtrack! Unfortunately, when I contacted the website, they informed me only itunes/clips were available!But I loved the film and the music. I definitely recommend it.