I know the title of this review is harsh and I told myself I was going to “lighten up” and not be so rough on the films when writing the reviews. But just like my passion for writing about a film I love, I can’t hold back my passion in writing about films I loathe. So you will see no lightening up on this one guys.

The DVD starts off with someone (I don’t believe they even state who this guy is) from Pollygrind (an underground film festival in Las Vegas) talking about how great the film is… um oh sorry award winning this film is. After doing some research the film won BEST POSTER ART and most INNOVATING award at POLLYGRIND FILM FESTIVAL! Did I mention Pollygrind is one of the distributors of the film. Anyway this unknown guy is talking about how great the film is and how happy he is to have this as their first Pollygrind release. I don’t know about you guys but when I go to watch a film, I don’t want some guy trying to sell it to me before I watch it. It’s unnecessary. Do they not realize if I’m watching this segment I already have the DVD in my player and am ready to watch it. This dude just wanted a few minutes on screen so he could say he was on a DVD… a horrible, horrible, DVD.

PLAY HOOKY has a bunch of cliche High School kids ditching class and going to party. They end up in an abandoned mental hospital, though there is never any connection as to why it HAD to be a mental hospital nor any evidence that it ever was. There was no medical equipment left, no hospital bed’s, it was basically an abandon building. Once they get there they meet up with a psycho that starts killing them. Nothing new here as far as a plot.

The movie is 74 minutes long, as with all found footage films, I knew it would take some time for it to get going, though this one never really goes anywhere. It’s not until 47 minutes into this garbage that there is even a hint of a threat, and about the last 19 minutes really has any conflict going on. The rest of the film is just these high school kids (who are way older than high school kids) driving around looking for a place to start this party. It’s not often that I dislike characters so much I want to grab them out of my TV and strangle them to death. This is how I felt about every single character in the film. So for an hour of the film we are just watching these guys banter on about nothing we would remotely care about, nothing driving the narrative, no plot points unraveled, just filler so someone could call this a feature film. Literally, you could put this movie on at the 60 minute mark and just watch the last 17 minutes and you would not miss one ounce of story, or character development. I’m dead serious. It’s just useless, useless shit.

When they do encounter the killer he is so horribly portrayed by actor Tom Petrone, that it’s laughable. He’s running around over acting every line and every movement in this game of hide-in-go-seek. Not to mention there are four characters, two guys and two girls, left when we meet the killer, Buddy. Of course four strong and healthy high school seniors can’t take on one guy that doesn’t have super human strength. This isn’t Jason, Freddy, Pinhead, or Michael Myers, it’s just some dude, much older and larger (not muscular) than any of them. Instead of defending themselves, or helping their friends that are getting attacked, they run, scream, squeal, cry, and do everything else to not save their lives. Well except Brad who has the camera attached to him, he sticks around and watches, so the camera can see the kill, then he runs.

There’s actually a scene where Buddy kills Lance by smashing is head with a pipe, well Buddy is smashing about 2 feet from Lance’s head. Jesus, really?

There is not one ounce of entertainment in this film… NOT ONE. The characters are horrible, the plot is horrible, the killer is horrible, and the running time is horrible.

I really don’t like to say this but stay away from this one at all costs. I sacrificed so you wouldn’t have to. I would normally put an Amazon link where you can buy this film, but I’m not going to support this film at all, because these guys don’t deserve a dime.

Play Hooky from this DVD at all costs!

 

PLAY HOOKY 2014 Review: Hands Down Worst Film Of The Year… So Far