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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A gory spook story that we've seen before, and seen better, September 11, 2008
Crazy Eights, an offering in the second year of the After Dark Horror Fest, is a gory spook story that doesn't offer anything that hasn't been seen plenty of times before, and were it not for it's game cast, this flick would be a pure waste of celuloid. Crazy Eights revolves around a group of old friends (Dina Meyer, George Newbern, Traci Lords, Frank Whaley, Burn Notice's Gabrielle Anwar, and The Wire vet Dan DeLuca who also co-wrote this flick) who are re-united after the passing of a friend of theirs. Turns out that all of them were involved in some sort of dark research and experiments, and soon enough all of them become trapped and start to get picked off. What kills Crazy Eights is it's predictability: you know what's going to happen right before it happens. Not to mention that there are so many non-sensical twists and developments that the film ends up becoming almost incomprehensible as it winds down, and the road getting there is more boring than anything else. The grainy look of the film doesn't make matters any better either, but as said before, the cast is good. All of them, even Lords (who pulls off a great and blood-curdling scream), manage to accomplish some great work, but that's the only thing about Crazy Eights worth mentioning really. All in all, you'll certainly see worse horror flicks, but you can certainly do better than what you get here.
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Remembering the Past, November 12, 2007
"Crazy Eights" is enigmatic and brooding, a clever psychological thriller with a supernatural twist. It opens with some information: a number of research centers were built in the most remote areas of the south, and they housed a number of children for the purposes of experimentation. Most of the time, these children were never heard from again. From this, the story builds slowly, which gives the audience time to take in the stylistic approach. Practically every room the characters occupy is grimy, faded, and poorly lit, and this creates a satisfying level of tension that doesn't release itself too quickly. I appreciated the look as well as the overall sense of foreboding, and this is despite the fact that it's occasionally piled on too thick. There's genuine imagination at work, here--a film that unnerves just as much as it entertains.
The overall theme is that of remembering, and that's exactly what happens to six people who reunite after the death of their childhood friend, who had grown up to be a writer. These are: Father Lyle Dey (George Newbern); Gina Conte (Traci Lords); Brent Sykes (Frank Whaley); Jennifer Jones (Dina Meyer); Beth Patterson (Gabrielle Anwar); and Wayne Morrison (Dan DeLuca, who also co-wrote the screenplay). Their friend's will states that they must travel to a distant location and find a chest filled with their old possessions. Why their friend wanted this is a mystery, but they all seem willing to go (although some need more convincing than others). They arrive at a barn seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and it's there that they find the chest. Upon opening it, they make a gruesome discovery, one that kick starts a series of strange occurrences.
The six friends soon find themselves trapped within an abandoned medical facility, and it seems as if there's no hope of escape. All the windows are barred. Most of the doors are locked. And worst of all, they begin to remember things they never even knew they had forgotten. There's a scene in which Brent asks for a pot, a spoon, and a jar full of sugar; Jennifer is able to find every one of those items quickly, as if she had been in that kitchen before. Later on, Gina is able to find a blanket for Beth. She knew where to find the blankets, yet she has never been to this place before. Or has she? Have they all? Are memories from their past resurfacing after being buried for over twenty years? It sure seems that way because something is there with them, some otherworldly force that wants them to remember.
This force affects the characters in different ways, beginning with nightmares and horrendous visions. Beth, for example, is an artist, and we first see her sculpting a disturbing bust; she frantically kneads and smoothes the clay, whispering, "Who are you?" over and over. Now in the facility, she reads specific pages of the dead friend's novel, finding that the words echo the reality the remaining group is facing. The situation becomes extreme enough that she begins to regress, going so far as to suck her thumb. But it's not just Beth--Brent is also visibly shaken, and he gets angrier and angrier as time passes. He was always the more obnoxious one of the group, always having some wry comment for everything and never willing to accept what's happening. He repeatedly vows to escape this place, although deep down, he probably knows that he can't.
At a certain point, the ghost within the facility begins attacking, leaving our group in the dark about what to do or where to go. They start to remember something about guilt, about how society would not survive without inherent emotions--"The definition of a psychopath," says a college professor at the beginning of the film, "is a man without guilt." So then this has all become a test, a way for the group to find the guilt within them and remove it. But how? And what does any of that have to do with people lured to an abandoned building? The mystery keeps on building, so much so that I began to think we wouldn't get any answers.
Fortunately, we do, but not in a way that's straightforward. "Crazy Eights" is a horror film that requires some thought on the audience's part, which is refreshing and baffling at the same time. But on the whole, the film's good aspects outweigh the disappointing ones--I left the theater feeling as if I had actually used my head, which is a nice change from just sitting there and letting meaningless images pass by. I have to admit that I didn't think it would be so enjoyable; the title alone is awfully amateurish, like that of a direct-to-video clunker. But that's a case of judging a book by its cover, which should never be done. Bad title or not, this movie works, and works well.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Crazy Eights, April 22, 2008
I just can not recommend this movie, it's not bad, I just found it to be incredibly boring and formulaic. The cast is really good but they just look bored, and if they were bored making just imagine what kind of fun you're in line for. Nothing of consequence really happens in this movie. There's some blood and off camera kills, nothing special occurs there either. The plot is far from anything new but this movie still could have been something more, an utter disappointment.
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