Nine Dead (2010)

Review by Tim-O



Starring: Melissa Joan Hart
Directed by Chris Shadley

Sometimes a movie comes along that really tries to be something special and intelligent but seems to just miss the mark across the board. Such is the case with Chris Shadely's horror/thriller, "Nine Dead". A Clear rip off of the "Saw" series, "Nine Dead" attempts to steal all the plot devices without the torture porn aspects of the former. The plot for "Nine Dead"' is as follows; A masked man locks nine strangers in a basement and announces that he will kill one of them every 10 minutes until they uncover the mysterious connection they all share. Starting without a single clue, they attempt to solve the puzzle in less than 90 minutes before there's no one left.

As I stated, the movie is a VERY tame clone of the "Saw" series. It all takes place in a room with all of the characters handcuffed to poles. The characters are of course all from completely different walks of life and watching them struggle to cooperate to search for the thing that connects them makes for some interesting moments. However, those moments seem to always drift into an argument or an interruption courtesy of the killer every 10 minutes to shoot one of the characters. Being that the movie is all dialogue, when that "drifting" occurs, things become dull and my attention drifted along with the movie. The finale is lame, too. The one positive thing I can say is, I thought the acting was pretty decent for what is obviously a low budget film. I really felt like the actors got into their roles and saved the film from being a total turkey. The one exception being Melissa Joan Hart. I felt her performance was uneven, at best. I found the writing, direction, and general production values were just as lukewarm.

"Nine Dead" is a disappointing film. It has potential and has some interesting moments. Unfortunately, the time between those moments with no real payoff at the end, make for a really unsatisfying viewing experience. Skip it. 4/10