Land of Smiles

source: Land of Smiles

It's a waste of time. I watch low-budget films but this story was just crap, somehow. Acting was no different. Like they all just went for a holiday and decided to make a film for fun. All about Thailand but I think they were also in the Philippines. Couldn't help notice the background voices..

OK, I generally love cheap/low-budget films, mainly because of the unique story lines and this one had potential. However, the execution of this move was atrocious. It was hard to follow the story line and the links that this movie tried to make was unbearable. (thankfully Ben died though XD)

One Word Only, Terrible. It's far the most badly filmed movie I ever saw in my life. Bad acting, bad dialog and a shame for every low budget filmmaker. I live myself in Thailand for many years and it is not only a fool moon party over here. This movie certainly not promote Thailand whatsoever.

i don't get it why they had to add a preacher's voice talking in Tagalog when the setting is in Thailand. i had to rewind the part when i heard the voice preaching in Tagalog. For those who made the movie, do not mistake Tagalog for Thai. Totally different & irrelevant to the movie. kinda disappointing.

Abbey (Alexandra Turshen) and Penny (Krista Donargo) are best friends who have a falling out. Penny goes to Thailand on a holiday. Circumstances causes Abbey to follow and she meets Ben (Keenan Henson) and Jewel (Caitlin Stryker) who, like Abbey annoyingly film everything. Abbey is sent a video of Penny being held captive. She has instructions and gets the "if you tell anyone...." line. Abbey and her two irritating friends go on an instructed hunt for Penny with Abbey unsure who to trust. This was a found footage film. The acting was not the best. The plot was simple and straight forward with a dumb ending. I felt the film dragging many times. Apparently you are not allowed to do anything in Thailand without drinking. I can stay at home if I want to watch people sit around drinking and lamenting for 90 minutes. Guide: F-word, sex, nudity.

Was drawn into seeing 'Land of Smiles', with a cool poster/cover, a promising trailer, an intriguing premise and as someone with a general appreciation for the genre it fits under. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws present in those films are here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Land of Smiles' is really quite awful, with so many huge flaws and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is very little to recommend in 'Land of Smiles'. Beginning with the few positives, the setting is atmospheric and not cheap, but it deserved better. 'Land of Smiles' also starts off reasonably promisingly, it does intrigue and it does have creepiness. Going on to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it comes over as vague and under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less unsettled and never gaining momentum. All the characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. The chemistry is bland and unfocused. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and all of the acting is lacking severely on the whole and that is actually being kind, the worst of it is horrendous. Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film drags on forever after such an intriguing start and doesn't recover. The ending felt very unresolved and unfinished. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense. Thrills are none, thanks to stodginess and excessive over-familiarity, and found myself never invested in the drama, which tended to be overacted and statically directed. A lot of 'Land of Smiles' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations when the characters weren't used randomly with no point to them, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or unsettling. The threat is neither scary or interesting, no development and too derivative with no explanation for the motivations, while everything is unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of dread. The mystery elements fail to thrill and are very predictable and the drama is overwrought. Some badly sagging momentum too and a lot of weirdness. The direction is leaden, got the sense their heart was not in it. 'Land of Smiles' is very amateurish visually, making one feel nauseous and actually did feel a headache coming on. Altogether, very, very bad. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Look it's not the worst low budget film I've seen and I've seen lots pretty much I think they were trying to kind of copy the movie/s Hostel but this is no were close to this - the blond actress is at least nice looking but the acting is bad the story line sucks the clown is not scary and the film work sucks also when last did you see a flip up cell phone oh wait the good parts are the beach scenes and a pair of * gets a 3/10

1. Horrible acting. 2. Not scary at all. 3. Story is badly paced and stupid. Don't waste your time on this garbage. It stinks! There's absolutely no redeeming quality about this amateur movie. The clowns were just stupid looking. Just looks awful. Anyone giving this more than one star is obviously benefiting from the production of this badly made film. Probably friends of the cast members. Avoid this movie!

I do like killer clown movies so when I saw this in the budget DVD section of my local supermarket I couldn't resist. I only wish I had! To their credit the film makers do make good use of the exotic Thai locations. Sadly the film is boring, badly acted and when it reaches it's bloody climax it's nothing more than a damp squib. Made me feel cheated. There is a hint at a sequel, well that will be one to avoid judging by this rubbish!