muninwing
Don't watch this movie if you love special-effects driven gory horror movies. it is far more subtle than that.Six friends, who seem to remember little about their childhoods except that they were all on a baseball team together (the "Crazy Eights" of the title) reunite for the funeral of one of their members. they discover the secrets that they have been blocking out, and why all of them have been having nightmares, and how these nightmares and their pasts all tie together. interesting premise, but so much more is given here.the directing was perfect -- lighting, music, pacing, lack of showy special effects, it all served to build an excellent new take on the "haunted house" or "amnesia" style of plots. but the very pacing that makes it scary is a turnoff for people expecting a fast-paced Hollywood horrorfest. it's much more like a foreign horror movie, where technique matters over showiness. if you thought that "A Tale of Two Sisters" was scarier than its remake "The Uninvited," this is the movie for you.
bazillionand1
This movie isn't good enough to be fun or bad enough to be funny. Luckily, I saw it on the channel formerly known as Sci-Fi, and was able to accomplish some things (like folding laundry) while it was on. I kept waiting for something to happen (ho hum) and then I kept looking for the control (dang those new-fangled TVs), and finally just left the room. I love grade B horror flicks, but this hasn't anything to recommend itself - oh, and the score, there's some syn-instrument that keeps plinking out the same chords - the tune reminds me of that Intel commercial - THAT was the best thing about this movie, and when the best thing about a movie is that it reminds you of a TV commercial, then 'nuf said.
slayrrr666
"Crazy Eights" is a potentially good movie undermined by a lot of flaws.**SPOILERS**Following a friend's death, friends Jennifer Jones, (Dina Mayer) Father Lyle Dey, (George Newbern) Gina Conte, (Traci Lords) Beth Patterson, (Gabrielle Anwar) Brent Sykes, (Franky Whaley) and Wayne Morrison, (Dan DeLuca) who have known each other since childhood, gather together to go through the belongings left to them. Despite being initially apprehensive, they go out to an isolated cabin where everything is located and set about looking through the valuables, eventually discovering a strange facility located within. Trying to understand how everything fits together, they realize that all of them were involved in a top-secret project that had experimented on children, including them, and that someone is still there trying to get revenge on them, forcing them to race to find it's secret and stop it.The Good News: There wasn't a whole lot to like with this one. The fact that it starts off with a potentially-promising premise that sounds pretty cool and should-be fun to occur. It's quite unique, about the experimentations going on and it does have a ring of plausibility about it, one of those areas that could've happened in the past and really could've been done, making it all that much better. The fact that the locations on display, when we can see them, are pretty creepy is a plus. The giant bunker underground looks really creepy when we get to see it, being large, spacious and, in one of the highlight moments where we follow one of them who goes in circles trying to get out only to arrive back at the same spot, is inspired and ingenious, full of great shots and really makes for one of the creepiest times in the film. Another minor one, where the professor has the flickering images pop-up on the video-screen after the classroom lecture is really nice, considering it's unknown what's happening then and it doesn't take an eternity to get through like the others shortly after. The last good plus here is the fact that there's some nice deaths in here, when it gets around to knocking them off. One is impaled through the neck with a spear-on-the-wall, another is stabbed with a glass shard, one has their leg broken in a fall down stairs, one has a windowsill closed on their neck and another rips their eyes out, so this one has some gore. Otherwise, it's all that's good here.The Bad News: This one here can only be called a major disappointment, as there isn't too much good stuff here. One of the many problems is that there's hardly any real interest going on at the beginning of the film concerning what's going on. Despite the fact that they meet together to discuss the funeral, yet it's just so dull and lifeless that it hardly gets anything going. From an abundance of failed scares, such as whatever was happening to the sculptor as that scene lasted an eternity while she kept smoothing out a piece muttering to herself yet not once was there a clear revelation of what she was making or why that was a scary situation to be in, or the haunting of the priest in the rectory as he spent another eternity searching for something making noise off the distance, yet because of the way it's edited, it appears that he's looking for the source of the music playing over the scene. That the film then proceeds to spend close to ten minutes with them all talking to each other about the significance of it, with no resolution only to suddenly throw out an idea that no one made a trail to so that it seemed logical, and then even more wandering around in an area so dark it renders the hopeful-suspense moot before finally finding the underground bunker that leads to even more time wandering around. Half of the movie is literally devoted to wandering around the different locations spouting off the same thing about trying to find out why they're there and what it all means. This makes it incredibly difficult to get into the film and take anything about it in any way, shape or form seriously, meaning the whole thing is just deadly dull. Another big flaw here is the film's lack of explanation for what exactly happened at the bunker in the finale. The film just had a bunch of actions carried out, including some gruesome deaths, then just ended without really saying what happened. It makes no clues as to whether it was a ghost, one of them, or what, and the stopping suddenly without explanations tactic isn't comforting. The last flaw to this one is that, because of the amount of time spent elsewhere, most of the big revelations concerning the story occur at the very end. The reason for naming the group as such, what happened to them to get to know each other, what was happening to them, left unexplained until the last half-hour of the film, rendering them of their importance and making it seem as though the film had forgotten about them. It's not a good feeling to have, and these here are what's wrong with the film.The Final Verdict: This wasn't all-out bad, as there's a nice amount of potential on display, but fails mainly into the disappointment area. Really only seek this one out if you're a fan of the cast or feel the need to complete the series, otherwise those who know this isn't something for them are advised to ignore.Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence
kahunaj-1
...er...did anyone notice that this film had the soundtrack to another far more happier sounding, albeit odd film? Also is the name 'Chuck Hammer' nestling comfortably in the list 'Top Ten Names to avoid giving to your child at all costs or he'll seek his revenge by composing ill fitting musical accompaniments'?Does 'B-Movie" now mean 'Bad' movie?If however you absolutely need to fill 80 minutes, may I recommend the following course of action - get some paint, a brush, one wall and a chair.After enduring the painful experience of watching 'Waz', 'The Happening' and now this film, i fear these may be the last coherent sentences I am able to extract from my tortured mind.*****SAVE YOURSELVES*****READ.
