The Culling

The Culling (2015) is an eminently watchable, waste of time. Spoiler Alert ahead. It was Written and Directed by Rustam Branaman, I suspect that he is the only one who can say whats going on here. On the plus side, the group seem well defined, an average and likable group. Less then two minutes in, the movie identifies itself by its particular horror movie genera. This is to be a group of collage age kids, going off in a van, into the country. Everyone knows that no good will come of it. The parts are well acted Jeremy Sumpter plays the lead Elizabeth Di Prinzio plays his girlfriend. Their four friends round out the group. Things turn sinister when they encounter a spooky little girl in the parking lot of a closing restaurant. Meet Lucy, played by Harly Graham. Things unfold in a logical order, and but for Amanda's (played by Lindsy Godfry) bad premonitions, everything seems in order. Then the clichés start to kick in,Spooky Girl, weird noises, stalking camera-work, the whole ten yards. Particularly when the characters of Lucy's parents, Wayne and Mildred, played by Johnathon Schaech and Chelsea Bruland. start to do, "their thing" The movie fails when it tries to explain itself. By introducing snippets of supposed clues along the way, for example, when running through the woods at night, we catch a glimpse of some ritual that seems to have nothing to do with the plot. Lots of horror movie hanky panky like this going on. "We got Shadow people, living in the basement" Ah it's satanic rites now, is it? The computer feeds back; "Too little information, it does not compute" I do know that some of the characters were cheated out of a decent death scene. Speared by a tree branch, fer gosh sakes; He deserved better. It would be best to just let the lack of a story not get in your way of enjoying the train-wreck of the final quarter. Otherwise, Good tech stuff, lighting, sound and music all up to snuff. as it were. Seven out of Ten, "Wanted to like this one" Stars

I have actually sadly seen worse than this but it greatly tops the charts in a bad one! I found it too incredibly predictable and the lighting where there was much of any at all through the entire movie was far too dim to see much of anything! For the most part it was too dark to identify anything really going on which dropped any interest I may have had right from the start! There were no characters you could relate to or care enough about whether or not they survived which any good or decent movie has! This cast was whiny and not very likable so I honestly didn't care what happened to any of them! I can't believe I made it through the whole thing considering how bad it was but I kept hoping it might actually get any at all better than it actually was! That never happened and all this did is to leave the viewer with questions never answered during the movie! I previously enjoyed things with several of the cast members so I tried to give this a fair chance but it was so unbelievably bad I can't see myself making that mistake again any time soon! I have always tried to be fair about movies and TV shows reserving my thoughts and opinions until I see the things in their entirety and to form my own unbiased opinion however in the case of this story I honestly wish I had read the reviews and opinions of people who had previously seen it because it would have spared me a bad movie viewing and the time spent struggling to watch it all the way through to the very end for what seems like nothing but a horrendous movie experience I can't undo! I think from now on I am going to attempt to read some of what people have to say about something before I spend time viewing it to spare myself this! Future viewers beware!

The movie portrays itself as a terrifying supernatural thriller but comes across as a B grade try hard horror movie. The basis premise of this movie is that a group of friends plan a getaway for a weekend together. On the way to their destination they find a lost girl and then proceed to take her back to her house. While at the house strange things happen. The plot definitely had potential but the script is rubbish and the acting is amateurish. There is perhaps one good jump scare in the entire movie. This movie is more laughable than scary. The ending does not even make sense. Is the girl real or not? How does killing strangers help build this army made of children? By the way the ending leaves you guessing what will happen, as if we care when the rest of the movie is a waste of time. Wait for this on free to air TV. Jackal

I got this movie on DVD without knowing anything about it. I watched it, and I really enjoyed it. it was good. It wasn't amazing, and I have seen much better horror movies, but it had all the good points of a horror film. A scream, an ending you don't expect, and has you theorising about what's going on throughout, and overall has a good atmosphere and length. It felt like there were some part of of it that were unpolished, the acting and directing seemed a little off in certain places, and I think that perhaps the director hasn't done too many movies before, but its a good effort, with good special effects and a very good story. Could have it been better? yes. Could it have been worse? MUCH more so. Definitely worth a watch for anyone who likes horror films.

Let me start by saying I understand the collaborative nature of the film-making process. When a movie is particularly well made, the accolades go mostly to the actors and directors, while the scores of set and costume designers, lighting technicians, and sound editors go largely unrecognized. When a movie is well made, fans quote it endlessly, it rakes in cash at the box office, and people remember it for years or even decades. When a movie is well made, it introduces memorable characters the audience can identify with because they see a part of their own personality being played out on the screen. The Culling is not a well made movie. There is nothing relatable or even recognizable as natural human behavior present in any of the characters. The acting is stiff and wooden across the board. The dialogue sounds as if it were written by a 12-year-old Juggalo. The only thing more prevalent in the script than plot holes, loose ends, and red herrings is the question mark at the end of every other sentence. I have sat through some terrible films. I have seen Mark Wahlberg pant his confused way through "The Happening." I have seen three-foot-tall trolls fart on each other for interminable spans of time in "The Garbage Pail Kids Movie." I have seen a topless woman in a gorilla mask wordlessly rob a man at gunpoint, stealing only a horribly disfigured fetus floating in a jar in 1997's "Hideous!" The Culling is the worst movie I have ever seen. Avoid it at all costs.

A group of friends who get stuck in a random place where weird things happen mmmmmm where have i heard of this before????? Oh yeah 90% of horror flicks. If your going to do the same old stuff at least make yours stand out and sorry but this one don't! With a cast of up and coming actors like jeremy sumpter and Elizabeth Di prinizo you would of hoped the folk behind the cameras would of made this half decent but the script writers and director must of just come out of education as this was awful. And what is it these days with horror flicks constantly using evil kids? Its been done already so move on, as you can see my review is more of a rant but thats because of how bad this film is the only saving grace is that i only lost 2 hours of my life watching this.

I must say I didn't like this film. Allow me to summarise the ludicrous plot for you. Some kids find a lost girl at a roadside diner and decide to drive her home. Once there the parents of the lost child come home and invite the kids to stay. Everyone gets drunk and high. The Mom of the little girl cuts her leg with an axe then the parents of the year drive off to the hospital leaving their child in the care of a bunch of drunk young strangers. Then a load of stuff happens that is very tiresome, nonsensical and boring. The acting is good by the two main leads it's just that the story is never really engaging. Also it's one of those movies where the plot is fairly vague with reasons for what's happening and I didn't really care enough about it afterwards to try and reason anything out. There was a pretty weak twist in the end that added nothing to the enjoyment factor. The effects aren't great either a bit of blood some poor CG overall a bit lazy. Certainly not one I'd recommend.

The Culling manages to look like it could have been a lot better but let's look out how things played out. We do follow the clichés there is no question about that and we do get the characters making stupid horror movie mistakes, separating and not listening to instruction. The issue I had was that the film doesn't seem to want to identify the force until it is too late which takes away the reason why the characters are running around aimlessly at times. When we do finally get the reveal it does again come off clichéd but works for what this horror is trying to achieve. You can see the low budget used on this film which doesn't help because the acting takes away from certain moments that are highlights. I think this had a lot of potential but just went in the wrong directions. (4/10) Actor Review Jeremy Sumpter: Tyler the ex-boyfriend of Emily but still friends with everyone, he goes on the trip hoping to win Emily back but really comes off as a big softy. Jeremy manages to make us get annoyed with his character as he clearly looks out of place in this role. (2/10) Elizabeth Di Prinzio: Emily the head strong trainee nurse who really takes charge of the situation, she manages to stay calm while the rest overreact and tries to understand the situation. Elizabeth tires to be a good lead and shows all the character needed but really isn't strong enough for the role. (4/10) Brett Davern: Sean the trademark asshole of the group who only ever thinks about himself, you will grow to hate this character quickly. Brett does a good job making you really hate this character. (6/10) Chris Coy: Hank the fifth wheel of the group who panics way too much making all the wrong decisions. Chris really looks like this was mailed in. (2/10) Linsey Godfrey: Amanda fresh out of rehab but hasn't learnt her lessons because she still wants to take drugs, she becomes an easy victim for the spirit because of her weaknesses. Linsey doesn't do anything of any quality in the role. (2/10) Support Cast: The Culling has a supporting cast of the children and the family but never really uses them to the best of the abilities. Director Review: Rustam Branaman – Rustam manages to take every possible cliché and turn it into a film that really isn't very character driven but does have one very good horror moment. (4/10) Thriller: The Culling you don't seem to want to care about the characters as they just make the silly mistakes over and over again. (2/10) Settings: The Culling does create the isolation factor needed nicely. (8/10) Special Effects: The Culling has a mix of good and bad effects, but I will say it is due to low budget. (5/10) Suggestion: The Culling is one that you could watch on late night TV only I wouldn't go out of my way to see it and I wouldn't suggest anyone else too. (Late Night TV) Best Part: When Amanda looks in the closest, good jump scare. Worst Part: Not following instructions. Believability: No (0/10) Chances of Tears: No (0/10) Chances of Sequel: It is left open for one, but I doubt it. Post Credits Scene: No Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes Tagline: When the devil breeds...a new evil is born. Overall: The Culling is a very clichéd horror thriller that doesn't come off as well as it could, but it really did have potential.

Yawn. There was nothing new, and I wasn't drawn in by the characters or the storyline. I know some have criticized the acting, but I didn't see anything wrong with it. I've seen better, but I've also seen far worse acting in horror movies. The storyline wasn't original. It doesn't necessarily have to be. I've seen plenty of recycled story lines, but the execution of this was just...yawn. The kids should've thought something was amiss when the parents run to the doctor and leave their little girl in the care of people THEY DON'T KNOW! Even stranger, the stupid kids accept that responsibility. The story wasn't awful, just boring. I know some can look at those as being one in the same. I will say Elizabeth Di Prinzio and Chris Coy did good acting in their roles. Di Prinzio was the lead, so you have to hope she can act at least a little. She brought the right amount of emotion to her scenes. Coy was good in his role. This was, however, a step down from his role of Martin in The Walking Dead. The CGI monster at the end was silly. He was only there for about two seconds. It's just as well it was for such a short time. It was poorly done. I don't recommend, unless you have the need to see every horror movie out there. When voting commences on this, I'll give it a 4-star rating.

Traveling to a music festival, a group of friends returning a young girl home to her parents' house brings them into contact with a ravenous supernatural entity and must find their connection to the family in order to get away alive. This one wasn't all that bad and did have some enjoyable parts to it. One of the best parts here is the fact that there's a rather creepy air to it that does make things far more chilling than expected. Though it takes awhile, the scenes of the group walking through the house in the darkened hallways and hearing the strange noises throughout here before the eventual meeting with the parents that begins all sorts of fun in here. Hearing the voices over the baby monitor and the phantom accident makes for a stellar introduction to the fun here where it leaves them isolated in the house. These here become much more fun as the rattling furniture and unseen possession upstairs kicks this nicely along while providing some rather enjoyable set-ups with the growing realization of what's happening as they begin being assaulted by all sorts of paranormal actions which includes the fun of the car crash out in the city streets, the basement pit full of burnt dolls and the various supernatural entities found within the house that it makes for a great sense of atmosphere here. Even with this kind of cliché action leading through the finale where they begin chasing each other throughout the area, there's some frenetic action on display with the way the escape attempts are laid out which gives this a somewhat fun and enjoyable finish here. These here all manage to make this one enjoyable enough over it's few minor flaws. Among the main things with this one is the fact that there's just so little time here with this one that it really manages to come off as too rushed and hurried at times. The opening meeting with the girl and getting to her house is way too quick and done with rather quickly, then it stretches out them hanging around before the accident and kinds of stuff starts in from there which leads to a rather disjointed and rather messily-plotted with the rather start/stop nature of the pace. There's also the other problem here of managing to go for the rather traditional and cliché manner of the finale here which is pretty predictable and not all that surprising which gives this one quite a familiar ring to it at times whether it's really intentional or not. It does take a lot of the tension out of the potential tension out of the finish here going for this rather simplistic and giveaway route, and all told these here do manage to hold this one down. Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, children-in-jeopardy and some drug use.